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Sorted by date Results 403 - 427 of 2077
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...
Since money doesn’t grow on trees, Town officials and the La Conner Chamber of Commerce hoped reversing the process might pay off in support of a civic beautification campaign. Alas, grants written to plant trees on Morris Street and remove trees and related cleanup work at Pioneer Park were not funded, so no money to repair the iconic salmon slide at Conner Waterfront Park, either. Chamber director Mark Hulst and Parks Commission Chair Ollie Iversen vowed last week to try again despite the competitive nature of applications. “We’ll conti...
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...
Staff at the La Conner Weekly News continue to be recognized for their excellent work. They received 29 WNPA best newspaper awards at the annual Better Newspaper Contest of Washington’s community newspapers in Kennewick Oct. 7. News editor Bill Reynolds led with 10, including first for his “Rehabbed bald eagle released near McGlinn Island” in the animal features story category. Reynolds added five seconds and four thirds across categories ranging from an arts feature story on Maggie Wilder leading the repainting of the mural under the Rainbow B...
Up. The Town of La Conner’s sales tax revenue is $63,276 for September, reported by the state Department of Revenue for July sales. It is the highest report for the month, the highest 2023 monthly total and the third highest monthly total ever, behind two 2022 summer months. It brings the year-to-date revenue to 76% of budget projections. This is the first 2023 month to top a 2022 same month total. As always, the special use fire tax tracks sales tax. The $6,284 matches in most ways: it is the highest 2023 monthly total, and a record for the c...
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,...
To the Editor, Your article this past week related to Habitat for Humanity’s purchase of property in La Conner (“Skagit Habitat for Humanity buys La Conner property,” Oct. 4) is factually incorrect. While representatives of Habitat for Humanity have met with town staff regarding their purchase of this property, the town has made no indication regarding the zoning of this property to enable the development described in your article. Moreover, no application has been made to the town requesting any such amendment to our Comprehensive Plan. As yo...
The La Conner Town Council almost doubled its hotel-motel allocation in the 2024 budget, voting to spend $342,111 at its Sept. 26 meeting. Almost 64%, $217,461 are internal expenditures, mostly for Maple Hall improvements, $132,866, up from $6,000 for security cameras for 2023. The Morris and First street restrooms and landscaping will get $63,995, a $10,139 increase. And the Town advertising budget jumped to $20,600 from $600. Grants to community organizations total $124,650. The La Conner...
Emergency management is more than a hot current topic. It will have great significance in the future as well. Which is why Skagit County Fire District 13 Capt. Ted Taylor is proposing that local schools consider teaching their students important community emergency response skills. Taylor floated the idea during the fire district’s 90-minute monthly meeting at the Snee-Oosh Road station Oct. 5. He reported on a well-received presentation he gave in September as the district’s emergency management coordinator on preparedness for natural dis...
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 traffic volume in town last weekend teased that it was the height of tourist season. That wasn't the case, of course.. But it was a peak weekend in terms of La Conner High School's fall sports schedule. The football and volleyball teams played simultaneously on campus Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the Braves' boys soccer team hosted league rival Mount Vernon Christian. Results were mixed. The La Conner grid program broke into the win column with a convincing 30-0 shutout win...
As a youth whose World War II veteran father was a booking agent in the entertainment industry, Ramon Hayes grew up familiar with the celebrities who gained fame amid the emerging new world of television. "I was invited to Liberace's birthday party," Hayes, 54, recently recalled with a chuckle. "I didn't attend." Hayes was perhaps reflecting on how later in life as a long-serving public official, he would be called upon to make decisions of far greater importance. "I like to think of myself as...
The Sept. 27 story “Skagit Habitat for Humanity buys La Conner lot” incorrectly stated “The Town of La Conner plans to change its comprehensive plan to allow multifamily housing … .” That is an aspiration of Skagit Habitat for Humanity. The sentence: “If all goes as planned, the city will change its comprehensive plan to allow multifamily housing” was edited and revised from the reporter’s submittal. The editor is responsible for accurate editing. The publisher regrets the poor editing....
The La Conner Arts Foundation donated 11 ukeleles to the La Conner School District, not the Town of La Conner’s art commission, as incorrectly reported in the Sept. 27 story “School board reviews service graduation requirement.” The Arts Foundation is a nonprofit doing “Good Deeds Through the Arts.” The editor regrets the error....
Skagit Habitat for Humanity recently purchased the property on the corner of Caledonia and Third streets in La Conner. The Town of La Conner plans to change its comprehensive plan to allow multifamily housing, and the nonprofit will help build six new townhomes three years from now. The project would help alleviate the housing crisis. Tina Tate, CEO of Skagit Habitat, said these homes are for people who fall on the lower end of the median income continuum. "These are hardworking families. They...
On Oct. 19 at 9 a.m. 800,000 or so folks in Washington will take part in the Great Shakeout drill to practice the steps necessary to effectively respond to a major earthquake. Unlike floods and maybe wild fires, there is no way science has discovered to prevent earthquakes. There are rumors that Italian scientists are experimenting with warning signs of oncoming earthquakes, but so far the warnings are limited to Italian earthquakes and they can’t warn more than a few minutes before the shaking starts. The only available option in W...
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...
Money talks. But last week it was Town officials who did the talking – about money, it turns out. Town Council members kicked off the 2024 budget season with a special 5 p.m. Sept. 26 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Public works director Brian Lease and Fire Chief/Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra presented their budgets. Council is addressing two rare anticipated line-item shortfalls: the streets and facilities funds. Delaying purchase of additional speed cushions like those in use on Talbott and Center streets could reduce the streets b...
Darrell McCormick died peacefully with his wife by his side on Sept. 20, 2023. Darrell was born and raised in La Conner. He spent much of his youth hunting with his dad, Bruce, and brothers Larry and Gail. Darrell loved working long hours on his grandparent's farm which instilled a, "Let's make hay while the sun is up!" attitude. In school, Darrell was a stand-out athlete who helped draw town locals out to cheer on the Braves. After graduating from La Conner High, he married his high school...
The La Conner School District and the La Conner Fire Department have each been awarded a grant from the Washington state Department of Commerce. These grants will fund work required for each to evaluate the feasibility of and complete a preliminary design for installation and use of combined solar generation and energy storage systems. Both grant applications were submitted to DOC with assistance from the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Cooperative. Co-op volunteers Mary Wohleb and Marylee...
Over 3,000 greater La Conner residents were without power for several hours Sept. 26 following a vehicle collision north of town. The areas affected by the outage was southern Fidalgo Island east across the La Conner Flats to Pleasant Ridge and the North Fork Skagit River bridge and along McLean Road to Best Road. According to the Safely HQ community health platform, electrical service was interrupted when a motor vehicle crash occurred near the intersection of McLean and La Conner-Whitney roads around 1:40 p.m. Outages were reported on Fir...
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...
Town of La Conner Town Council Agenda October 10, 2023, 6PM 104 Commercial Street Upper Maple Center And by Zoom Information is below and on the Town Website I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Public Comments (Limit: 3 minutes per person) IV. Presentations: V. CONSENT AGENDA A. Consent Agenda (Approved without objection 5/0) 1. Approval of the Minutes: September 26, 2023 2. Finance: Approval of Accounts Payable Approval Payroll B. Items Removed from the Consent Agenda VI. REPORTS 1. Chamber Report 2. Revenue /Expenditure Report 3....
The La Conner Town Council will hold a special meeting 5 p.m. Oct. 10 to hear 2024 budget presentations on the sewer/compost and general fund programs. Mayor Ramon Hayes called the meeting today, Friday, Oct. 7. The regular Oct. 10 council meeting follows at 6 p.m. Access the agendas on the Town of La Conner website through the calendar or at: https://www.townoflaconner.org/AgendaCenter/Town-Council-2/...
