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Sorted by date Results 135 - 159 of 2077
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...
TOWN OF LA CONNER NOTICE OF ORDINANCE APPROVAL Notice is hereby given that the Town Council of the Town of La Conner, Washington, passed Ordinance No. 1248 at the July 23, 2024, Town Council meeting. A summary of Ordinance No. 1248 is as follows: An Ordinance revising Section 3.60.100 of the La Conner Municipal Code (Facility Rental Fees). Complete copies of Ordinance No. 1248 are available at La Conner Town Hall, P.O. Box 400, La Conner, WA 98257 Dated this 24th Day of July, 2024. /s/___________ Maria DeGoede, Town Clerk Published in the La...
Few have taken a longer road to historic La Conner United Methodist Church than its new pastor. The Rev. Dr. Jacob Kanake, who assumed pastoral duties here this month, hails from the Kenya Methodist Church, where he served before moving with his family to the United States. The Methodist Church was planted in Kenya, an East African nation and former British colony, in the early 1860s. The Kanakes feel quite at home in Washington, where he has pastored at Colfax and St. John east of the...
In the 23 years I have lived in Shelter Bay there have been many notable improvements in La Conner, such as the roundabout, the fire station, the La Conner Swinomish Library, Channel Cove, Gilkey Square, the boardwalk and Conner Waterfront Park. However, I have noticed that many projects seem to reach a certain stage and then just stop. Whether this is because of money, permits or lack of will, us common folk don’t know the reason. Maybe others could help me understand why so many projects stall. Here are a few examples of what I am talking a...
Photosynthetic power, that that falls freely from the sun, is captured by the oceans, trees, rocks, leaves, cities, sidewalks and streets. Yeah, the last three are as unnatural as covering perfectly good farmland with solar panels. Solar panels are more appropriate on slopes, like roofs and open rocky south-facing places. Of course, there are farmland ditches that could be creatively covered with them and as you might have guessed, I’ve designed a few different concepts about how to get it done. Our south-sloping dike between La Conner and Plea...
A new entrée is part of the menu planned for the former COA restaurant building at Maple and Washington avenues. The site has been home to various eateries over the past half-century, all of them operating as a non-conforming residential use. That could change. The planning commission learned at its July 16 meeting that the new owners of what old-timers call “the old Joe’s Drive-In” want a private fitness club and martial arts studio there. Getting those plans approved could test the applicants’ strength and stamina. Assistant Planner Ajah Eil...
NOT TO BE MISSED Humanities Washington Speakers Bureau at Museum of Northwest Art: We All Transition with Mac Scotty McGregor. 1-2:30 p.m. Saturday, July 27. What is it like to see and walk in the world from both the male and female perspectives? Mac will share his gender journey and what it taught him about life, our culture and how it affects our interactions with others. Free. RSVP to monamuseum.org/events/wealltransition. Anacortes Arts Festival, Aug. 2-4. More than 220 artisans will have booths filling Commercial Avenue in downtown...
Tuesday, July 16 9:03 a.m.: Hit and run – Caller said her car was hit while parked on S. First Street. There was a dent and white paint transfer but there were no witnesses or suspect vehicles. S. First Street, La Conner 4:32 p.m.: Hit and run again – Employee reported someone hit the rear of his car. There was a broken taillight and some paint transfer to the rear panel. A deputy checked around town but did not find a vehicle with similar damage or cameras that faced the area. Morris Street, La Conner 10:43 p.m.: Hit and float – A sailb...
LA CONNER SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 311 NOTICE OF BUDGET COMPLETION AND HEARING La Conner School District No. 311 NOTICE OF MEETING TO ADOPT 2024-25 BUDGET AND CONDUCT PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE is hereby given, pursuant to RCW 28A.505.050 and RCW 28A.505.060, that the Board of Directors of La Conner School District No. 311, Skagit County, Washington will hold a regular meeting on July 29th, 2024 commencing at 7:15pm in the District Office Board Room, located at 305 North Sixth St, La Conner, Washington or via remote tele- and video-conference. The...
La Conner fire chief Aaron Reinstra and a Sedro-Woolley builder have presented Town officials with a new option for purchase of a fire boat to safeguard the historic La Conner waterfront. “This is food for thought, another option for the fire boat,” Reinstra said as he provided copies of a proposal from TJ Lowry of Full-Time Custom Fabrication & Machine Shop to Town Council members during their 70-minute July 10 meeting at Maple Hall. Lowry is proposing to build a hull, house, and trailer for $150,000, about one-fourth the cost of a com...
Town leaders have their eyes on the future. This after having given La Conner's current five-year strategic plan a second look during the town's annual summer retreat at the Waterfront Café last month. Mayor Marna Hanneman, Town Council members, and the town's staff and department heads huddled June 24 to address current issues and long-range planning. The strategic plan, crafted in 2023 and comprised of five focal points, was the centerpiece of the retreat's afternoon session. Each of the...
The late Clem Thein set the ceiling high when it came to extending goodwill and sharing camaraderie among his many friends here. He did the same when it came to masterful handiwork, a trait handed down to his son, Steve, and still much in evidence more than 15 years after Clem Thein's passing. For confirmation, look at the roofs of historic Magnus Anderson Cabin and the covered Native American canoe shelter below Town Hall. Clem Thein hand-split the cedar shakes protecting both structures using...
NOT TO BE MISSED The 20th annual NW Art Beat Studio Tour sees 22 artists showing their works in 16 studios in a free, self-guided Skagit Valley art studio tour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 20 and 21. NW Art Beat is presented by Skagit Artists. Learn more at NWArtBeat.com. 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 for Children. 11 a.m. Fridays. Tech Help. 3-5 p.m. Mondays. Dungeons & Dragons Club. 3-5 p.m. Tuesdays....
TOWN OF LA CONNER NOTICE OF APPLICATION/NOTICE OF HEARING The Town of La Conner is processing a permit application that may be of public interest Date: July 15, 2024 Application File #: LU24-32HDR Applicant: April and Nicholas Seegert Town Contact Person: Michael Davolio AICP, Planning Director; P.O. Box 400, La Conner, WA 98257; 360-466-3125 Project Location: 505 S. 1st Street, La Conner WA, P74077 Project Description: Replacement and change of paint color to Branchport Brown and Grant Beige. Public Hearing: Planning Commission...
This year's July 4 celebration in La Conner was a double feature times two. Several entries in the town's Independence Day parade looped downtown a second time. That evening, tribal vendors led by Rodney John filled the sky with fireworks for hours following the official pyrotechnics show over Swinomish Channel. Both the parade and fireworks received positive reviews as did the two-band holiday evening concert at the Port of Skagit's La Conner Marina. Social media was filled Thursday night and...
Amy Green has for the past decade been the very uncommon thread binding together diverse exhibits and educational programs at the Pacific Northwest Quilt and Fiber Arts Museum at historic Gaches Mansion. Her focus has been uncommon in that Green brought with her to La Conner in 2013 an extensive background in a wide range of artistic impression and managerial experience, including six years as director of operations at the famed Georgia O'Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, N.M. Now Green is returning to...
