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In Nov. 1982 Gerald Blades name is listed on the deed for parcel P74143, 306 Center Street, the 15,246 square feet, 0.35 acres on the north side of The Slider Café.. Blades sold it in 2003, with 313-315 Morris Street, parcel P74144, to Ntinos Trapalis for $600,000 Trapalis sold the two lots in 2005 to 313 Morris Street Ventures LLC for $593,802. Last August Brandon Atkinson, as KSA Investments LLC., bought the southern parcel, P74143, from that company for $570,000. Zoning history The July 9, 1985 La Conner Town Council meeting has this...
La Conner Town council members and meeting attendees felt the heat during the July 26 in-person session. This time, though, the heat was related more to weather than the various hot topics the council has dealt with this year. “Let’s get out of this heat,” Mary Wohleb implored immediately after Mayor Ramon Hayes gaveled adjournment. It was a unanimous sentiment. Before Hayes wielded his gavel, those in the audience chipped away at key issues that will not soon melt away. Gary Nelson, a local builder, lifelong La Conner resident and forme...
La Conner’s Town Council will have to decide the fate of the 306 Center Street condominium project by determining if a 1986 contract rezone agreement signed by town officials and then property owners Donna and Gerald Blades is valid and enforceable. Hearing examiner David Lowell issued his decision on the four May reconsideration requests challenging the 306 Center Street condominium project last Wednesday, July 20, but found he did not have the “additional information” in the materials of record to determine the site’s zoning requirements. He...
KRBD Public Radio Ketchikan could soon have a new city manager. Its City Council voted Saturday to start negotiations with Delilah Walsh of Las Cruces, New Mexico, ending a three-month search. Walsh is the utilities director for the city of Las Cruces. Mayor Dave Kiffer says that made her a good fit to manage both Ketchikan’s city government and the publicly-owned water, electric and telecom provider, Ketchikan Public Utilities. “First of all, she’s got experience in both utilities and in government. So that’s what we were looking for, and to b...
For nearly a decade Heather Carter was a regular presence at La Conner Town Council meetings, presenting a monthly Chamber of Commerce report. Carter has moved on to head CASA, the Camano Island animal shelter. In her place, longtime La Conner business owner Chris Jennings, the Chamber’s board chair, updated council members last week, during what is the business community’s busiest time of year. Jennings noted that while the economy here has bounced back nicely from the COVID-19 pandemic – 2021 was a banner year for sales tax revenue and...
It likely will take a larger scale operation to fix the popular fish slide at Conner Waterfront Park beneath the Rainbow Bridge. At the July 19 Town Council meeting, Mayor Ramon Hayes and council members endorsed having the 13-foot sculpted slide professionally assessed to determine if it can be saved. Weather blistering makes annual repair work necessary to its surface and interior by volunteers John Doyle and Ollie Iversen. Doyle, a retired Town administrator, and Iversen, a Town parks...
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...
The crowd lining First Street for La Conner’s Fourth of July parade on Monday either stood for the 30-minute event or were seated on benches, in camp chairs, and along curbs. But the best seats were reserved for Gable Wilkins and his gold medalist Special Olympics teammates. They rode on La Conner Hook & Ladder’s vintage ’41 Ford fire engine, leading the parade. Fire Chief and Code Enforcement Officer Aaron Reinstra coordinated what was truly a special appearance by the team members, one much...
Five years. Two-hundred-sixty issues. Today’s Weekly News is the 261st printed since I bought this newspaper in 2017. Thank you for reading your community newspaper. This issue starts my sixth year as publisher and editor. Still, as I have written before, I own it, but it is your newspaper. What have I learned, covering the community through good times and bad? I am biased as I view our most important institutions, binding greater La Conner together, as the La Conner School District, the Town of La Conner government, the La Conner Regional L...
There’s a strong current of support for the Town to order a new fireboat to better protect La Conner’s historic waterfront and local marinas. During the June 28 town council meeting, La Conner Hook & Ladder chief Aaron Reinstra and assistant chief Adam Avery addressed the fire department’s goal to replace its aging fireboat that has been out of service for more than a year. “Having a fireboat on the water,” stressed Avery, “would be a huge advantage for us. You need multiple points of contact.” Mayor Ramon Hayes and Town Administrator...
You can’t help but notice the striking mural of the La Conner waterfront that’s a permanent fixture at Maple Hall. Christi King, who until recently co-owned Tillinghast Postal & Business Center, and Town of La Conner officials agreed to work toward developing a plaque commemorating the mural and presenting it to painter Bob Patterson, who now resides in Snohomish County. King spoke at the June 28 town council meeting. She offered to cover its costs, but Mayor Ramon Hayes, a longtime admirer of Patterson’s work, insisted the Town do so. King...
Affordable housing has long been discussed in La Conner and while it has proved agonizingly elusive, officials have not given up on developing a framework that would allow those who work here to also live here. From embracing the concept of tiny homes to reducing minimum lot sizes to increasing opportunities for accessory dwelling units to allowing greater residential access in commercial buildings, officials have sought to solve the town’s housing crunch. Because of its desirability, La Conner is now unaffordable for many. Ironically, it w...
Housing topped the list for local growing pains needing creative ideas and solutions in La Conner at the June 30 public forum at the Town’s Civic Garden Club. Skagit County Community Action Executive Director Bill Henkel confirmed that demand for housing here far exceeds supply. He was one of the event’s three panelists, joining Town Administrator Scott Thomas and Director of Planning Michael Davolio. “There are lots of reasons,” Henkel told the 20-plus people in attendance. “First, this is an incredible place to live.” That demand, res...
Higher than ever. The Town of La Conner's May sales tax revenues were $69,866, setting oodles of records: the first May report over $60,000; the earliest month topping $60,000 and 20% above the 2021 record of $ 58,287, $11,579 more. Last year the first month sales tax revenues topped $60,000 was August, itself a record. The $255,121 in sales tax to date is almost 52% of the year’s projected budget, topping 50% in five months. Motel/hotel and firetruck sales tax revenues were also monthly records, with $12,633 and $6,985 collected, r...
The start of the June 21 La Conner Town Planning Commission meeting, with several residents hound-dogging the coming 306 Center Street condominium proposal conditional use permit decision, was more interesting than the bulk of the 90 minute hybrid session at Maple Hall. Residents Linda Talman, Dan O’Donnell and Jim Matthews and Center Street property owner Georgia Johnson were fervent in their opposition. O’Donnell asked that a 1986 contract rezone between the Town and then property owners Jerry and Donna Blades be formally recorded. Mat...
Friday Mayor Ramon Hayes called for special meeting of the La Conner Town Council on June 7 at 6 p.m. at Maple Hall and via Zoom. The agenda includes an executive session. The entire agenda was listed in the notice as: • Public Comment • Agreement with DEA for Engineering Services • Public Works - Birch Equip. Generator Quote • Intern Assignment • Resolution - Recognition of Juneteenth • Resolution- MOU -Teamsters • Revision of Personnel Policy No. 412 - Juneteenth • Letter from Student Citizen to Mayor...
Chris Omdal stepped into his new role as the La Conner Marina harbormaster last week after career stop where he has always enjoyed meeting folks from all walks of life. That will not change here. Omdal, an avid walker, has already developed an easy rapport with boaters moored at the marina’s floating docks along Swinomish Channel. At the start of the Memorial Day weekend Friday, he donned his safety vest and walked the marina’s guest float area to meet and greet members of the Edmonds Yacht Clu...
The Fourth of July is more than a month away but there were plenty of fireworks at the La Conner Town Council meeting last Tuesday. Fuses were already short when late in the 70-minute session residents opposed to a proposed three-story, 20-unit Center Street condominium building were finally able to address the issue – the public comment segment of the meeting having been delayed about a half-hour, much to the chagrin of those attending. When allowed to speak, several persons living near the project site voiced concerns with a process tha...
The Town of La Conner’s hearing examiner will have another look at a conditional use permit for Brandon and Kate Atkinson’s three story condominium building at 306 Center Street. The Town of La Conner, its fire department, resident Linda Talman and the Atkinsons filed requests for reconsideration of examiner David Lowell’s May 11 decision between May 12 and 18. The Town request asks first for a reconsideration of interpretations of the municipal code for corner lot setbacks, to eliminate the 25-foot rear yard setback for more flexibility in pro...
This is a once upon a time story set in our place, right here. There is not a palace but a property, and a historic La Conner couple, Donna and Gerald Blades, are at the heart of it. The Blades owned an Exxon gas station on Morris and Fourth streets, where the Slider Cafe is now, and the property behind it when those lots were zoned residential. In 1986 they must have worked arduously, lobbying the town council to rezone the three lots facing Center Street, then spelled Centre – a staff sign painting misspelling, I heard – for...
The introductory line to the Port’s Tuesday public session on the future of the La Conner Marina was “(we) have property ready for development.” Those words are frightening to many of us in La Conner who have experienced the Town’s eager approval of outsized, inappropriate, unimaginative and even destructive developments. We have enough trouble (and virtually, no success) keeping our own administration from facilitating oversized construction projects. And now here comes the Port – after months of study and conversations with their c...
How best to redevelop a 13-acre section of La Conner Marina was the issue Port of Skagit officials put before town leaders and residents at Maple Hall Tuesday evening, May 17. The one-hour joint Port-Town meeting, billed as a public visioning session, was an opportunity for the community to share their long view priorities for how the marina south basin area, built in 1970, might be reshaped in the coming decade to meet the challenges of a changing economy. The Port is considering a makeover...
Yes, the three story condominium building at 306 Center Street proposed by Brandon and Katie Atkinson can be built. Hearing examiner David Lowell approved their conditional use permit May 11. In a 20 page decision, Lowell found the couple, doing business as Atkinson Development / KSA, are permitted to construct “14 multi-family dwelling units on the 2nd and 3rd floors and six lodging (i.e. hotel) rooms on the first floor of a new structure” at the site, subject to 12 conditions, including total building square feet being under 30,600 squ...
After a half-century, the Port of Skagit’s La Conner Marina is eyeing not a facelift but a full body makeover. Port officials came to La Conner’s Maple Hall last night to pitch several potential futures, including a mixed used development, with a residential component, marine services and other commercial uses. The site is the 13 acres of marina property between Sullivan Slough and the north basin. Port staff encouraged the public to attend and provide feedback at the specially called combined town council and planning commission meeting. The...