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If February's first town council meeting was any indication, new La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman is in it for the long haul. The marathon Feb. 13 session covered new and old business and multiple discussion and action items before concluding with a closed executive session. "I thought after the first month," said Hanneman, who took office Jan. 1, "that things would be kind of calm. Then February came." The 95-minute meeting began on a pair of somber notes. Resident Debbie Aldrich shared that...
While it’s been a hot topic in La Conner for decades, the last word on parking likely won’t be spoken here anytime soon. And the always lively local conversation continues 6 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Civic Garden Club on South Second Street. The second in a series of in-person “community mingles” will address all angles of downtown parking, from traffic safety and pedestrian access to signage and revenue opportunities. “We’re wanting to solicit input on what if any changes and improvements the public wants to see regarding parking,” Assistant Pla...
Greg Whiting has rarely – if ever – lacked for energy. Consider that in a robust and wide-ranging professional life Whiting has variously researched, analyzed, helped develop and written about energy systems designed to both improve quality of life and protect the environment. And now, with his partner Jenelle Whitton as co-proprietor of Raven's Cup Coffee and Art Gallery on First Street, he markets beverages that, while served in a laid-back Pacific Northwest setting, are the fuel that kee...
Hours before snow hit outside, the La Conner Planning Commissioners plowed through a busy agenda during their 80-minute Jan. 16 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. The pile of issues addressed were housing and parking issues, the status of the Talmon Project at 306 Center Street, population projections for the town and the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community’s plans to convert its Maple Avenue apartment complex to a staffed home recovery facility. The tribe has designed a program for persons and families who have completed treatment at the Didgwalic W...
ANACORTES — Skagit Bay Search and Rescue has been granted $25,000 by HF Sinclair to support the basing of a new marine emergency response boat in Anacortes. A ceremony with a representational presenting of the donation will be held at Seafarer’s Memorial Park Tuesday Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. by the Lady of the Sea Memorial, 601 Seafarer’s Way. The public is invited. City of Anacortes Mayor Matt Miller and Port of Skagit commissioners will attend. Skagit Bay Search and Rescue is a nonprofit, volunteer organization founded in 2002 and formed under...
New Town of La Conner Mayor Marna Hanneman chaired her first town council meeting yesterday, Jan. 9. The council packet she received the week before included a memo from Town Administrator Scott Thomas. Its first point summarized for council the town’s need to plan for 124 housing units by 2045, required by the state’s Growth Management Act. Thomas writes “Of these units, 92 are expected to be occupied by low to moderate income families.” Looking at the data, 82 units, 66%, are to be priced for people making less than 80% of the area median...
Well, once again we dodged a bullet, the atmospheric river hit mostly just south of us this time. Two years ago the atmospheric river hit the Skagit watershed pretty hard, but Whatcom County got hammered and towns along the Canadian border were devastated. This past week the Stillaguamish River at Arlington had the highest flows in history. Had either of these systems fully hit the Skagit watershed, it could have been a catastrophe for our vulnerable small town. No, this missing section of dike (ring, northeast of the schools – ed.) is an e...
In late autumn on the cusp of cool winter days, snow comes early to Washington when thousands of aloft avians, snow geese, land here in a flurry of white feathers. "We call it a snow storm, they just will move as one," said birder Julie Hagen. "It's just this chaotic whirlwind of birds, they move like a cloud and then they just lift up in the air." In late October, as the snow geese began landing in the Skagit Valley, Hagen went out to enjoy the sight that many Western Washington birders look fo...
La Conner's new flood barriers are staged and in place up and down the waterfront. But the work of the Town's six-member Emergency Management Commission has only just begun. The Nov. 11 power outage here that impacted residents, businesses and those attending the annual Art's Alive celebration underscored in real time that the mission of the local advisory board is to focus on all forms of emergencies. "The commission met an immediate need by addressing flood mitigation," said Rick Dole, town...
The Washington Arts Commission has announced a Certified Creative District in Anacortes. The Anacortes Creative District is located in the heart of Fidalgo Island and nestled between the San Juan Islands, Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. As a part of a Washington state designation program, Anacortes joins communities all over the state in celebrating creativity. The Creative District program provides a platform for communities to expand their arts and creative economies, attract entrepreneurs, educational and cultural opportunities and ongoing e...
The Town’s saltwater flood barriers are nearly all in place ahead of king tide season, but for La Conner’s six-member Emergency Management Commission the heavy lifting is just getting started. The panel has focused primarily on short-term flood mitigation this year. It shifted attention during the second half of its one-hour Oct. 24 hybrid session at Maple Hall to long-range preparedness strategies along the waterfront. The commission endorsed a potential cooperative venture between the Town, Port of Skagit and Swinomish Tribal Community to...
Town officials and La Conner residents have spent a long time discussing short-term rentals. Which has been part of the plan all along – and going forward. The needle inched further toward defining short-term rentals and reaching consensus on whether regulations governing them should be modified during an Oct. 17 forum at the Civic Garden Club attended by more than 30 people. "We were excited about the turnout," Assistant Planner Ajah Eills told the Weekly News afterward. "We hope that the m...
Voters living in the La Conner School District have one choice on their ballot in the school board race for the District 2 director. John Agen, elected to the District 1 position in 2019, has moved into the district. Janie Beasley, defeated in her 2019 reelection for that seat, is running again. No other local race is contested. Residents have to decide to vote their approval or not mark their ballots in these local elections: La Conner School District Alana Quintasket, District 1 Kim Pedroza, District 4 Town of La Conner Marna Hanneman, mayor...
Ballots will be arriving in the mail soon. We have very few choices in this year of municipal elections. There is only one contested seat: the La Conner school district Director 2 position. The rest of the positions in greater La Conner, for school director positions 1 and 4, Port of Skagit commissioner position 2 and Town of La Conner mayor and council positions 1 and 5 are all decided when the candidates cast their ballots. That is our bad, residents and constituents of those jurisdictions. It may be that school board member Kim Pedroza and...
The Oct. 10 La Conner Town Council meeting was full of comings and goings. Council will meet jointly with the planning commission Nov. 28 to hear a presentation from representatives specializing in paid parking systems. “This will give you information on what some of the options are,” Planning Director Michael Davolio told them Planning Commissioners John Leaver and Bruce Bradburn have spoken to two companies. They reported to the commission, noting Leavenworth and Bellingham have committed to paid parking. Town Emergency Management Com...
When Port of Skagit officials unveiled preliminary plans last year for long-range re-development at La Conner Marina, workforce housing was a key variable for future investment. Port leadership emphasized that its maritime tenants are engaged in growth industries and will better expand their labor forces to meet market demands when more local housing is available. Consider American Tugs, on Pearle Jensen Way, a boatbuilding firm whose top-of-the-line pleasure craft feature rugged hulls like...
Ted Taylor is fondly dubbed “Captain Catastrophe” because of his persistent calls for local emergency preparedness. But the Skagit County Fire District 13 captain and emergency management coordinator might more accurately be called a realist. That is especially true this week after the magnitude 4.3 earthquake centered south of Port Townsend that struck Sunday night and was felt in La Conner households and other locales throughout Western Washington. Numerous La Conner area residents reported that the quake rattled furniture, some likening it...
All of a sudden there are a slew of opportunities to be active civically – democratically – in the community. You do not have to live in La Conner to involve yourself. And the October activities end, appropriately, with our school children – indeed anyone with a costume, with or without a child – parading up First Street for the Halloween parade. Come on out for that, for sure. Activities extend into Nov. 7 election day. Because only one area resident chose to contest only one of the La Conner school board or Town of La Conner council seats,...
The status of short-term rentals in La Conner tops the agenda of a special 6 p.m. Oct. 17 public forum at the La Conner Civic Garden Club. “It will be a specific and targeted meeting,” Town Assistant Planner Ajah Eills said at the planning commission’s meeting Oct. 3 in Maple Hall. The meeting addressing short-term rentals will not be hybrid since there is no WiFi service at the Second Street building. “We think it will be more of a conversational setting,” Eills said. “We’re hoping for a more intimate conversation.” The question of whe...
The Port of Skagit hosted two massive events on the last weekend of September to benefit and promote the Genuine Skagit Valley program. The Tidewater Boil and Skagit Farm to Pint Fest were, as reported in this paper, both big successes. More than 150 people for dinner the first night and about 600 for the Farm to Pint Fest made for a busy and exciting weekend, especially for the La Conner Marina’s first time hosting. The Genuine Skagit Valley program does outstanding work showcasing local f...
Southern hospitality La Conner-style was on the menu at the La Conner Marina Friday night. A sold-out crowd enjoyed favorite dishes from farm and sea during the inaugural Skagit Tidewater Boil fundraiser for Genuine Skagit Valley, the organization established in 2013 to recognize the area's unique agricultural heritage. Literally taking a page from the Gulf Coast's famed southern crab boils, with prawns, spicy sausage, sweet corn, red potatoes and Dungeness crab dumped onto the two dozen tables...
Town Emergency Management Commission chair Bill Stokes spoke glowingly last week of how fast La Conner's public works department has acquired and made ready for use a variety of flood barriers ahead of peak king tide season. "Things are moving quickly, as quick as I've seen anything move around here," Stokes, a former town council member, told commission members during their Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Within days of receiving council approval, pre-filled sandbags and Ecology Blocks...
Notice is hereby given that the Town Council of the Town of La Conner, Washington, passed Ordinance No. 1230 at the September 26, 2023, Town Council meeting. A summary of Ordinance No. 1230 is as follows: An Ordinance adopting Chapter 11.70 of the La Conner Municipal Code for news box regulations. Complete copies of Ordinance No. 1230 are available at La Conner Town Hall, P.O. Box 400, La Conner, WA 98257 Dated this 27th Day of September, 2023 Maria DeGoede, Town Clerk Published in La Conner Weekly News Oct. 4, 2023. RCW 11.40.030 IN THE SUPERI...
RCW 11.40.030 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR SKAGIT COUNTY Estate of: MARIA PILAR CODINA aka PILAR CODINA, Deceased. (Date of death: January 6, 2022) No. 23-4-00413-29 The Estate Administrator named below has been appointed as Administrator of this Estate. Any person having a claim against the Decedent must, before the time the claim would be barred by any otherwise applicable statute of limitations, present the claim in the manner as provided in RCW 11.40.070 by serving on or mailing to the Estate Administrator or the Estate administr...
