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As his job title suggests, Michael Davolio is a man with a plan. And in this case, it’s one not likely to stir debate or controversy. The La Conner Town planner has drafted a proposed impact fee ordinance that the Town Council began studying last week to bolster stressed department budgets. The plan is to add revenue to support the fire department and parks. After a lengthy discussion at its Sept. 27 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall, the council asked Davolio for further research so an impact fee schedule can be adopted on a yet wider scale. The k...
La Conner Maritime Service is a second generation La Conner family owned and operated business providing marine services since 1992. We employ about 30 individuals in living wage jobs. Several of those individuals, including myself, call La Conner home. I consider it a great privilege to work and live in such a beautiful area. Over the years our business has grown and attracted new clientele to the area, many with larger boats. With this growth we’ve realized a need for indoor space to accommodate larger boats and maintain year-round work f...
Stephen William Barden Stephen William (Steve) Barden, age 72, of Camano Island passed away unexpectedly Sunday Sept. 4, 2022, in Rhemes-Notre-Dame, Italy. Steve grew up in Seattle and later resided many years in La Conner and Camano Island. He received a Nursing degree from BTC and enjoyed working for Warm Beach Senior Community as a nurse before retiring. Steve would always do anything for his friends, family, or community and loved spending time with them. He lived life to the fullest and...
It is mid-September. The decision train – trains, actually – are boarding. It is time to get on if you do not want to be left behind as Town of La Conner governmental entities prepare trips into 2023 – and beyond. First on the schedule is a Sept. 19 town conversation for residents to come together and talk. It is organized by La Conner Town Council’s communication committee. They want to hear from citizens and listen for celebrations, concerns, trends, hopes and ideas. It starts at 6:30 p.m. in Maple Hall. Come early the next night for the pub...
Fire District 13 and the Anacortes Fire Department enjoy a strong working relationship. But theirs is, in the truest sense, a limited partnership. On Thursday, Sept. 8, commissioners opted not to join Anacortes in a comprehensive operations and services study, which was designed to address the feasibility of the two departments jointly developing a fire station in the March Point area. The commission had entertained for the past month a proposal that FD 13 participate financially in the study, a plan Anacortes Fire Chief Bill Harris and former...
La Conner was again the second highest priced Skagit County market for homes sold in August. The median price of $633,750 for the 10 La Conner area homes that closed was above the $627,500 July median selling price, the Northwest Multiple Listing Services reported. Countywide, 180 homes and condominiums sold and closed, down from 190 last month. The median price was $515,000, 7.4% below July’s median price. The Anacortes market’s median price of $711,500 for the 34 homes closed was down 11% from July’s $800,000 median price. The count...
The Port of Skagit’s plans for redeveloping its La Conner Marina will be discussed at the Town of La Conner Planning Commission public hearing Sept. 20. A new zoning district, Port Industrial, will be unveiled as part of 27 pages of “suggested 2022 code changes” planner Michael Davolio and town staff have been developing based on proposals from Port staff. If the planning commission agrees and the town council adopts the recommendation, a new chapter will be added to Title 15 of the town’s uniform development code: Chapter 15.42, Port Industr...
An open letter to the town planner: Dear Planner: No more administrative permits. No more administrative conditional uses and no more administrative variances. These give too much power to the planner and too little oversight from the community. The code should be: 15.10.043 Conditional use Conditional use” means a use addressing a limited or specific need but, due to a potential adverse effect upon permitted uses or public services and facilities, is only allowed subject to the review AND APPROVAL OF the planning COMMISSION AND the criteria i...
By Greg Whiting Do you want more control over your electric, heat and fuel bills? More stable energy bills? A more reliable and resilient power grid? Less dependence on foreign oil? Less acid rain? Reduced emissions of particulates and carbon soot (which cause lung issues)? Reduced carbon dioxide (which is a factor in climate and ocean acidification issues)? Such outcomes are nOt science fiction or an environmentalist's fantasy. They are attainable now, using existing, proven, cost-effective...
Customers of Astound Broadband will see price increases of up to $22.44 starting Sept. 28, the company notified the Town of La Conner by email Aug. 25. Fees for services will increase by at least $17.50, with an additional $1 monthly for telephone service. Expanded content customers will also be charged $1.92 monthly to offset the cost of programming content. The letter states the company must adjust pricing “as the amounts programming networks charge us continue to rise, along with overall cost increases.” The fee increases are: $2 for loc...
The La Conner Library will close Sept. 1in order to transition to the new La Conner Swinomish Library building at 520 Morris Street. The Library will reopen in October. We are very excited to be moving to the new location and look forward to welcoming everyone to the new La Conner Swinomish Library! What to expect until we reopen: The book drop will remain open throughout the move. Please keep your items as long as you like. We do not charge late fines, but if you wish to return your items before we reopen in October, the book return at the...
We are all better off when everyone who lives and works in Skagit County has a safe, affordable place to call home. Healthy neighborhoods need healthy schools. Healthy schools need kids and families. Kids and families need housing they can afford. Seniors should be able to downsize in the same community where they owned a home and still afford to buy medicine and groceries. Employers and communities thrive when workers on our waterfronts, art galleries and restaurants can afford to live near where they are employed. From first responders, to...
Skagit County Fire District 13 Commissioners have expanded their summer reading list. The three-member panel will focus in the weeks ahead on details of a proposed cooperative services study with the Anacortes Fire Department regarding future station construction and development in the March Point area. Anacortes Fire Chief Bill Harris and retired chief Richard Curtis asked commissioners at their hybrid meeting Aug. 11 to jointly develop a study addressing the feasibility of the two departments staffing a shared facility at March Point near the...
Homeowners selling, and their realtors, had a great July in the La Conner housing market: the $627,5000 median price for the 12 closed sales was almost $200,000 above June’s median sales price, as larger homes sold, according to Northwest Multiple Listing Services data. The 21 new homes listed in the La Conner area in July is the highest one month total in 2022. Realtors estimate a two month inventory. The $800,000 median sold home price for the 23 Anacortes homes sold in July is just below last month’s median price, when 36 homes sold. Anacort...
If it takes one step at a time to end the misery of drug and alcohol addiction, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is clearly on the right path in gaining support for that mission. The tribe's annual March Against Addiction on Aug. 10 drew participants from other reservations who donned green Didgwalic Wellness Center t-shirts as they strode shoulder-to-shoulder with local residents across Swinomish streets and through its neighborhoods calling for a stop to drug and alcohol abuse. The...
She’s a free bird again. And healthy, too. A five-year-old female bald eagle held in captivity for six weeks while being successfully treated for lead toxicity was released back into the wild near McGlinn Island south of La Conner July 28. The staff at PAWS (Progressive Animal Welfare Society) in Snohomish County got the lead out of the eagle – it was weakened to the point of having difficulty standing and not being able to fly – with a medical regimen specifically designed to a...
Some 50 mostly masked and generally partisan western Skagit valley residents came to the La Conner Civic Garden Club last Thursday to hear State Rep. Debra Lekanoff (D-Bow) extol her colleague, State Rep. Dave Paul (D-Oak Harbor) and praise the qualities of candidate Clyde Shavers. The two candidates for Legislative District Positions 2 and 1 might have gained a few votes but they definitely increased their campaign fundraising totals as State Rep. Alex Ramel (D-Bellingham), speaking last,...
May was, and each year is, Mental Health Awareness month. It’s likely that you weren’t aware of that. I wasn’t. But now I am, because of two events. First, was the PBS release of a documentary, “Hiding in Plain Sight.” The second was the rollout of 988, a national mental health hotline. “Hiding” is a moving look into the lives of 20 young people who have experienced – are experiencing – mental illness. Their stories are powerful. These young people, whom you will come to know and likely come to care for, have a truly amazing abili...
Town Administrator Scott Thomas is one of five finalists for the top managerial post in Ketchikan, Alaska, the Weekly News learned on Monday. Thomas, an attorney who for more than two decades has served as city attorney for four cities in Washington state, succeeded John Doyle as La Conner’s chief administrator in January 2018. He is interviewing for the dual jobs of city administrator and general manager of the southeast Alaska community’s publicly owned utility, according to Ketchikan radio station KRBD. It posted the city’s news relea...
Another election season – year – is underway. Ballots are in the mail for the Aug. 2 primary. Your best ballot casting options are the county drop boxes at the La Conner Regional Library on Morris Street and on the Swinomish Reservation at their social services building. Please vote. You are what democracy looks like. For that reason the Weekly News is once again endorsing you, citizens of greater La Conner, this election. Your most crucial votes are the statewide offices of secretary of state, U.S Senator and the 2nd Congressional...
In the ongoing discussion around whether and how to permit agritourism activities, Skagit County residents believe preserving the county’s rural character should be a top priority. In a spring 2022 public survey on options for agritourism, 80% of respondents called this policy goal “very important” or “important.” Other goals identified as important: that agritourism relate to onsite agriculture; that agritourism uses have adequate water, septic and parking infrastructure; and that traffic and p...
Make way for the new sheriff in town. Sgt. Beau Montgomery has succeeded Sgt. Jenny Sheahan-Lee, who retired in May. His position as sergeant at the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office La Conner began June 1. Even though his roots are in eastern Washington, working in Skagit County for the last five years has given Montgomery the opportunity to spend time in La Conner both professionally, as a patrol duty, and in his off-duty time visiting. “La Conner is a great community,” Montgomery said, “I lo...
RALEIGH — Oh, boy, did I screw up my first attempt at covering a town council meeting. It was 1986 and I was spending the summer interning at a weekly newspaper in Nash County called the Spring Hope Enterprise. I had taken newswriting and reporting classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s journalism school and served as managing editor of my high-school newspaper. But real-world experience was what I needed. The editor of the Enterprise, Ken Ripley, immediately assigned me to cover a town council meeting. I came, I s...
Hello, La Conner Community! We are excited to welcome Christina and Robyn Burdick-Good-Rubenstein as the new owners of Tillinghast Postal & Business Center. These lovely ladies are La Conner locals and will bring greatness to Tillinghast while maintaining all of its established products and services. Sadly, we are also saying goodbye to our beloved Renée in July, as she begins to take the next steps in her career. She will be missed but will be sure to stop by and visit! Thank you, Christi and Chris King...
Clyde Shavers, candidate for Washington’s 10th Legislative District, grew up in a household that was strong on public service. The duty to work for your community was clearly instilled in him by his father’s service, both in the military and the police force. Clyde has served in the U.S. Navy. Like many of our veterans, his service does not end there. He has been working in environmental law, helping protect precious resources like clean water, while serving on the boards of several non-profits that address homelessness. I ran into Clyde at...
