Tribal interpretive center a First Street possibility

The dilapidated property on First Street south of the La Conner Tavern that has been owned by the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community for generations and closed for decades may be in for a complete make over. Leon John, chair of the Swinomish Development Authority, said the Tribe is “going down the path of building an interpretive center,” an option discussed by his authority for many years. He calls the proposal a “small museum.”

John said, “We want to tell our story, give background on what the Swinomish tribe is, and maybe change some opinions.” He said a consulting company is assisting on a design.

John noted that the buildings had not been torn down, though they are an eyesore, because of concern of a “ticking clock” to build within a proscribed timeframe because of regulations to replace structures within a set period.

In an earlier interview, Allan Olson, the Tribe’s general manager, pointed out that commissioned studies concluded commercial enterprises were unlikely to be profitable on the small footprint. The Tribe has not knocked down the structure because it doesn’t want to lose “the grandfather clause that the building gives us,” Olson explained. He believes running a profitable business out of a newly constructed building is difficult to unlikely. Olson said a 2003 marketing analysis concluded that current market rental rates would not pay for debt service, the loan payments, on a new building.

A 2013 study determined almost twice the revenue needed to be generated from the 2003 estimate. Studies have considered restaurants, retail and a two-story building. “It’s a real challenging property for new construction,” Olson concluded.

Olson sketched a history of the property, which the Tribe purchased in 1941 and then built an oyster processing plant. Its uses since then have included the first tribal administrative offices, then a business incubator with two structures, four stalls each.

In the 1980s vendors sold espresso, flowers and food take out. For two years one structure was rented out to sell produce. Probably its most successful in carnation was Nancy Wilbur’s management of one structure to sell fry bread, clam chowder “and a bunch of other things,” Olson recounted. But over time she reduced her hours and by 2003 had stopped leasing it.

Olson noted that state shoreline property management rules and town zoning restrict options. He said the U.S. government owns a portion of the property in trust for the Tribe, which exempts them from those regulations, but that the Tribe would still make every effort to comply with state and local requirements. “We will do a building within codes,” he said. “We’re a good neighbor. We will bend over backwards” to comply,” he emphasized.

Last week Town Administrator Scott Thomas wrote Olson a letter stating Thomas “does not believe the Town’s Shoreline Master Program will preclude the Tribe from redeveloping the property with a similar structure.” The municipal code requirement for parking is “based upon the proposed use,” with a formula for parking spaces based on building size. Thomas noted “that the site is particularly small” and that “alternative means to satisfy parking requirements” exist, including funding “common parking” elsewhere. No commitment was made to guarantee a parking solution.

Thomas noted that the First Street historic district being on the National Register of Historic Places subjects it to federal standards and offered a meeting that includes the town’s planner, Marianne Manville-Ailes.

Before he read the letter, Olson said, “Conceivably if we get that letter and we’re all ok and we got the budget we might go ahead and demolish that aging facility.” He cautioned that it may be years between cosmetic repairs and a ground breaking, saying that the Tribal Senate has no plans in front of it, that it will be some time before decisions are made.

The property has been brought up at town council meetings several times since a woman slipped and broke a bone in February. Tribal staff have put up signs, caution tape and orange barrels in the walkway to deter people cutting through to the boardwalk. Olson said, “We’re also talking about putting up an attractive fence along the front of the property to screen off the facility and to close off the entry on the channel side to keep the public out.”

Council Member John Leaver has been the most vocal about its run-down look. At the May La Conner Chamber of Commerce board of directors meeting the property was brough up in passing.