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Sorted by date Results 112 - 136 of 2069
A Woodinville contractor made fast work mid-month of demolishing a La Conner home gutted in a June fire. Greater Seattle Construction needed just two days, Aug.14-15, to knock down a North Fifth Street house destroyed in a June 19 blaze that sent plumes of black smoke wafting over town and produced noxious fumes that lingered in the neighborhood for weeks. Nearby residents, some of whom said their houses sustained smoke damage and others impacted by the foul-smelling air, lobbied town officials...
12 issues printed since July 5, 2017. 17 weeks to paper’s final issue Yesterday afternoon, at a hearing before the Town of La Conner ‘s hearing examiner, the case of granting a conditional use permit for a health club to open at the former COA restaurant on Maple Avenue was heard. The land is zoned residential. The restaurant operated with a conditional permit. Once the building was vacant for six months the zoning reverted to residential. Several residents oppose the permit application, saying workforce housing is needed in La Conner and an...
Music to one's ears can be mere noise to another's. To find harmony between the two, the La Conner Town Council discussed potential noise control at its Aug. 13 Maple Hall meeting, especially those related to the La Conner Live Sunday concerts amplified music in Gilkey Square. Administrator Scott Thomas raised the topic in his written report in the council packet. "As has been the case for several years, Gilkey Square has been frequently used for musical performances," Thomas began. "I am aware...
TOWN OF LA CONNER PUBLIC NOTICE FOR LODGING TAX FUNDING The Town of La Conner is accepting requests for Hotel/Motel tax distributions for budget year 2025. The 2025 Lodging Tax Fund Request for Proposal may be found on the Town website under the Finance Department at www.townoflaconner.org. All requests must be received (no postmarks) at La Conner Town Hall, 204 Douglas, PO Box 400, La Conner, WA 98257 by 3:30 p.m. on September 9, 2024. Please address any questions to Maria DeGoede, Finance Director, at [email protected]...
NOT TO BE MISSED Annual Summer Concert. Hear the Skagit Community Band at 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24, for its annual summer concert at Gilkey Square in La Conner. As always, the concert is free. Bring lawn chairs and sun screen. Animal, landscape and rural travel photography by travel photographer Terry Divyak is on display at Caravan Gallery, 619 S. First Street, La Conner. Open daily. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.lclib.lib.wa.us. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday....
An off-the-charts record: The $73,968 Town of La Conner sales tax revenue is the highest single month collection ever, for any month of any year. It is $18,789, 34.1%, higher than the July 2023 collection, which set a record last year. Records were similarly set for the special use fire tax, at $7,302. It is also its highest ever monthly total and $1,908, 35.4%, more than July 2023. The $24,180 hotel-motel tax collection is 47.1% above last year and sets a July record. These are May collections. The state’s Department of Resources reports on a...
The Town of La Conner Public Works Department is continuing their annual fire hydrant flushing and valve checking in August, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. If your water is discolored, run cold-water until it clears. If the water does not clear, call Chris Smith at 360-929-1004 or Chip Sherman at 360-840-3684 for assistance....
Skagit Valley arts and cultural nonprofit organizations can request funding from the Town of La Conner Hotel/Motel tax fund for 2025. In 2023 5The La Conner Town Council granted $34,650 to nine community organizations and another $90,000 to the La Conner Chamber of Commerce. Over $217,450 was allocated for internal, Town projects, primarily Maple Hall improvements, the Morris and First street restrooms and landscaping. Last year hotel/motel tax revenues were $195,784. The 2024 budget projects $1...
The first memory from the La Conner United Methodist Church memorial garden project isn’t what anyone had in mind. Town of La Conner staff last week requested that work by volunteers in the garden cease while an arborist reviews potential damage by a backhoe to the root system of a large Norwegian spruce tree. Neighbors voiced their fears that the tree’s health was compromised and now poses a threat to nearby properties and the historic church building at Second and Benton during the public comment segment of the Aug. 6 planning commission mee...
New hire, familiar face. John Tanaka, who was its assistant chief a decade ago, is returning to Skagit County Fire District 13 near La Conner as a paid consultant to help develop long-range plans for expanded services. Tanaka's resume is filled with fire service experience. Along with his stint with District 13, Tanaka has been a fire captain in Everett, a fire response lecturer and instructor, a consultant to several other departments and consulted on a project to rebuild statewide...
NOT TO BE MISSED Annual Summer Concert Hear the Skagit Community Band Saturday Aug. 24 at 2 p.m. for its annual Summer Concert at Gilkey Square in La Conner. As always, the concert is free. Bring lawn chairs and sun screen. Animal, landscape and rural travel photography by travel photographer Terry Divyak on display at Caravan Gallery, 619 1st Street, La Conner. Open daily. LIBRARIES La Conner Swinomish Library. 520 Morris St., La Conner. 360-466-3352. www.lclib.lib.wa.us. Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Storytime...
Not all roads lead to La Conner, but enough do to support the full fleet of vintage cars, trucks and trailered boats that rolled into town last Saturday. There were over 125 entries in the 24th annual La Conner Classic Boat and Car Show in the La Conner Marina's south basin parking lot, drawing throngs of admirers on a picture postcard bright sunny summer day. Conditions were ideal for folks to merge onto Memory Lane and listen to golden oldies over the event's outdoor sound system while time...
My name is April Emanuelson-Barnett. I am working on my doctorate in natural medicine and work at Thrive Direct Health Care as a certified functional nutrition coach. I plan to continue to offer my expertise there, in the clinical setting and offer the fitness and fresh food side of health at La Conner Wellness and MMA. My husband, Tracy Barnett, is a retired paramedic. He did rescue work for over 24 years and has taught martial arts and self-defense for 23 years. Our SBA (Small Business Administration) lenders love our idea of turning the old...
Local permits and Washington’s Growth Management Act Last week I wrote a citizen’s view column about the proposal for 214 Maple Avenue (the old COA) and promised that I would write more this week about the condition that is hardest to understand: (e) The proposal, through findings, satisfies the goals and policies of La Conner’s comprehensive plan and floodplain ordinance and the state Shoreline Management Act. I will address the Comp Plan only here. Long ago the Washington State Legislature passed the Growth Management Act The GMA estab...
The new director of Pacific Northwest Quilt Museum and Fiber Arts Museum has an academic and professional history rooted in the southeast but is fast becoming a key part of the fabric of La Conner. It helps that she has a familiar sounding name. Carla Funk, for nearly a decade the director of university museums at Florida Institute of Technology and then a curator in North Carolina, is succeeding Amy Green, who retired in July. Funk is not knowingly related to Skagit County's pioneer Funk...
Town officials didn't have to look far to find a consultant to develop a revitalization plan for La Conner's once-bustling south-end industrial area. The Beckwith Consulting Group, based in La Conner, has been offered a contract to craft a plan for the 3-acre site of the former San Juan Islands Pea Cannery and Moore-Clark fish feed plant. Town Administrator Scott Thomas and Assistant Planner Ajah Eills told the Weekly News that they expected to receive a signed contract from the consultant this...
A revered La Conner summer tradition continues tomorrow with the 120th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and General Meeting. The Aug. 1 event, which supports the Skagit County Historical Museum in La Conner, is set for 11 a.m. at Pioneer Park. The public is cordially invited. A barbecue salmon luncheon prepared by the "Good Girls" and served by members of the La Conner Civic Garden Club will be available. The $20 meal includes a commemorative ribbon and free admission to the...
Heroes, by definition, are those admired for outstanding achievements and noble qualities. Seven Upper Skagit Valley community leaders, termed "Concrete Heroes" by the Skagit County Pioneer Association, will be honored in La Conner Aug. 1 during the 120th Pioneer Picnic. They are recipients of the Pioneer Spirit Award, recognized for putting life in Concrete on a solid foundation. The awardees are: Jason Miller, publisher and editor of the monthly Concrete Herald, is a Tacoma native with an...
La Conner’s town government – elected officials and staff – created a long task list for the second year of implementing the five-year strategic plan they adopted last September. Credit them for being ambitious: 31 tasks came out of their June retreat, with over half of them placed on Mayor Marna Hanneman and Administrator Scott Thomas’ shoulders. The fire department, with five tasks, has made progress, getting a $150,000 commitment from the town council to buy a fire boat. Public works and finance staff are assigned these tasks: improving inte...
7 Maple Street is the site of what many call the old COA restaurant. This letter is an attempt to make La Conner’s conditional use procedure process clearer. The property’s current zoning is residential. This means that residences can be located on the property. The residences can be single family or multifamily. Residences are not a conditional use. No conditional use permit would be needed to locate new residences there. Most of Maple Street is residential. Is there anything else that can go on 214 Maple Street? Yes, The code specifies a nu...
Before electric lights were available, we created artificial light with fires, and beeswax or tallow candles, and oil lamps and gas streetlamps. In the 1860s, kerosene largely replaced whale oil for lighting. Then, starting in the 1880s, incandescent electric lights were introduced on a large scale. Electric lights were more convenient, easier to maintain, and less of a fire hazard than gas or kerosene lamps. That seems like an uncontroversial statement. In 1880, it wasn’t. Electric lights were...
La Conner Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra has for years sounded the alarm about his department’s inability to fight downtown blazes from Swinomish Channel or make timely water rescues. The simple answer, he and Assistant Fire Chief Adam Avery have said, is to purchase a fire boat. What has not been so simple is finding a way to pay for it, even though the original estimated price of $600,000 has fallen to about $425,000. With necessity being the mother of invention, La Conner Hook and Ladder and town officials agreed in principle last week on a p...
Due to seasonal low water flow conditions in the Skagit River, the City of Anacortes and Skagit Public Utility District water customers are asked to voluntarily reduce their water use by 10%. That includes water users in La Conner, since the town gets its water from the City of Anacortes. The Washington State Department of Ecology has established minimum instream flows designed to protect fish habitat of 6.54 billion gallons per day for the Skagit River. In August, when the river’s flow levels fall below that number, Anacortes and the PUD a...
The Town of La Conner Public Works Department will perform their annual fire hydrant flushing and valve exercising during the month of August 2024 from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you notice any discolored water, run your cold-water supply until it clears up. If it doesn’t, call Chris Smith at 360-929-1004 or Chip Sherman at 360-840-3684 for assistance....
NOT TO BE MISSED Anacortes Arts Festival, Aug. 2-4. More than 220 artisans will have booths filling Commercial Avenue in downtown Anacortes. It’s one of the largest arts festivals in the Northwest. Music on the Jazz Stage all three days. Free admission. Join Firefighter/EMT Natalie Baker for coffee at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 10 in the La Conner Swinomish Library conference room. She’ll discuss fire safety topics and will have some firefighting equipment for the community to try out. This event will end with a Q&A. Bring your coffee mug and que...
