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Bounce back. The $42,671 reported in sales tax revenue to the La Conner Town Council in April by the state’s Department of Revenue is the second highest ever for the month, behind 2022’s record $44,210. It topped March by $8,741. These are February sales: the state Department of Revenue reports on a two-month lag. Hotel/motel April tax collection was $10,165, 4% behind 2023’s record total but significantly higher, by 48%, than March’s report. Similarly, the $4,255 in special-use fire tax revenue was $141 below the record 2022 collect...
NOT TO BE MISSED Paths to Understanding presents The Let’s Go Together Partnership! 7 p.m. Thursday, May 16, Lincoln Theatre, Mount Vernon. Event is free. Walk-ins welcome. Join in the first public gathering for an evening of storytelling, music and conversation focused on strengthening our Skagit community. All, including community leaders, will speak about the importance of lifting up our common humanity. Come and join us to meet people from across the county and stand together to go into a brighter future. Let’s go together! More info: pa...
Last Saturday some 13 people – mostly La Conner residents, along with Channel Drive and Pull and Be Damned neighbors and the Home Trust of Skagit executive director – met Mayor Marna Hanneman at the La Conner Swinomish Library for her monthly community check-in. There were mostly familiar faces around the conference room table. These residents have attended Hanneman’s earlier library gatherings, as many of them joined in town-organized community mingles on short-term rentals, First Street parking and the town-acquired Jenson property. That... Full story
Turnout was low but engagement high at a one-hour community mingle April 25 addressing possible future uses of the Jenson property. About two dozen people gathered at the Civic Garden Club to suggest how the town could best use the half-acre field on La Conner's south end, acquired in 2022 for $60,000, about one-third its assessed value. Participants reviewed maps of the property, a fact sheet and an informational pamphlet provided by La Conner artist Maggie Wilder outlining features that would...
Town Administrator Scott Thomas is known for his occasional use of dry humor, but there wasn’t anything funny about his report to Town Council members last week regarding drought conditions this year. “We’re already in a state of drought,” Thomas told the council during its April 23 meeting at Maple Hall. “So, we may be looking at water restrictions down the road.” Thomas reported that Washington’s snowpack, based on state Department of Ecology statistics, stands at just 68% of its average levels. “With chances for significant additions to the...
SUPERIOR COURT OF WASHINGTON FOR SKAGIT COUNTY No. 24-4-00189-29 PROBATE NOTICE TO CREDITORS (RCW 11.40.030) In the Matter of the Estate of Lyle R. Wesen, Deceased The co-personal representatives named below have been appointed as co-personal representatives of this estate. Any person having claim against the decedent must, before the time the claim would be barred by any otherwise applicable statute of limitations, present the claim in the manner as provided in RCW 11.40.070 by serving on or mailing to the co-personal representatives or the...
Because of its desirability and geographic constraints limiting growth, La Conner has long dealt with a housing crunch, especially with affordable housing. Those conditions have now contributed to a pressing side effect: homelessness. In his written report delivered in advance of the April 23 Town Council meeting at Maple Hall, Town Administrator Scott Thomas noted that homeless people have begun camping overnight at Pioneer Park. “The town has experienced ongoing issues stemming from homeless individuals camping in the park, primarily r...
Town planning commissioners trod a familiar path at their April 16 public meeting. The five-member advisory panel, which is in the process of drafting updates to the transportation element of the La Conner Comprehensive Plan, revisited options for potential future traffic flow and parking on South First Street. Discussion didn’t end there. Commissioners will take up the topic one more time at their May 7 session, during which they could agree on recommendations to forward to the Town Council for consideration. Commissioners and residents h...
Make housing a Jensen priority The population of La Conner is aged and aging. In-migration or family formation by families of low and moderate incomes hasn’t been the case for a decade or more. There is little to no housing available for young families who would like to live here and send their children to La Conner schools. This has led to frequent calls for “affordable” housing. The prior mayor and town council had a promising opportunity to turn those calls into action when it purchased (and immediately sold) two-thirds of the Maple Avenue b...
La Conner Town Council members and residents attending the April 9 meeting heard the down news: March's sales tax revenues are 15% below 2023. Year to date, sales tax revenue is down 15%, $124,353, from $146,681. All tourist-driven tax revenues are lower and considerably below projections, as reported to the town council in March by the state's Department of Revenue. The $33,930 collected in sales tax was 15.6% below 2023. The $3,382 for the fire department tax was 13.8% below last year and the...
Town council members last week paved the way to pay for future work on La Conner’s streets, sidewalks and trails. The panel during its April 9 public meeting unanimously approved a 0.1% sales tax to fund the town’s new Transportation Benefit District. The council action is tentatively set to take effect July 1. Council members opted for the sales tax rather than an increase in local vehicle license fees to provide revenue for the TBD. Town Administrator Scott Thomas said the sales tax will be paid in part by those who drive to La Conner to sho...
TOWN OF LA CONNER NOTICE OF ORDINANCE Notice is hereby given that the Town Council of the Town of La Conner, Washington, passed Ordinance No. 1245 at the April 9, 2024 Town Council meeting. A summary of Ordinance No. 1245 is as follows: An Ordinance establishing the Transportation Benefit District funding. Complete copies of Ordinance No. 1245 are available at La Conner Town Hall, P.O. Box 400, La Conner, WA 98257 Dated this 10th Day of April, 2024 /s/________________ Maria DeGoede, Town Clerk Published in the La Conner Weekly News, April 17,...
A woman is elected the new mayor of a small town on the edge of the Pacific Ocean in November 2023. “I think Langley is a very sweet, quaint town. It is not homogenous. (That’s) my experience,” Mayor Kennedy Horstman told the Weekly News in a joint interview with Director of Community Planning Meredith Penny March 21. The city’s residents “are very different people passionate about a lot of things. They are not all in agreement. … We are all one community but there is a lot of diversity on views of the future,” Horstman believes. Langley, a ci...
There’s no dead end when it comes to debating the future of S. First Street. The oft-discussed topic was again the focal point among town residents and planning commissioners during a 90-minute public meeting April 2. The last word on the subject still appears a long way off. The panel and audience discussed one-way traffic, angled parking and retaining the status quo for the narrow street that accesses the historic waterfront and retail core. They agreed that more data is needed before forwarding recommendations to the town council. To that e...
Town of La Conner staff are planning a community mingle about the best use for the Jenson property. The date may be April 25 but no information has been posted on the town website as of April 8. “Town officials over the next few months will begin examining potential options for the Jenson property located south of Channel Cove near the Maple Avenue approach to Pioneer Park,” Planning Director Michael Davolio wrote to the town council in their April 9 packet in his March monthly planner’s report These forums have typically started at 6 p.m....
A complex building project requiring the necessary permits from two separate permitting entities, a geology study, weather and possible staffing shortages – to say nothing of carving out a rock wall – has contributed to the slow progress of the Snapdragon Flats project at Maple Avenue and Park Street in La Conner. This is not the development of La Conner Heights on High Street, rather it is the start of construction for two apartment triplexes at the base of the rock outcropping. On Feb. 1, 202...
Five years ago, 10th District State Rep. Dave Paul successfully lobbied his colleagues in Olympia to provide funding to build the La Conner Swinomish Library. Paul was at the library for a March 27 town hall that included several of La Conner's appointed and elected officials, including Mayor Marna Hanneman. Those attending the forum asked Paul questions related to education, housing and Washington State Ferries. Perhaps most important, they secured Paul's commitment to back La Conner's...
It was only fitting that town officials would meet at the La Conner Civic Garden Club building for a report on the 2024 Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The local floral extravaganza, which enjoys global popularity, was previewed by Nicole Roozen, the festival’s new executive director, as part of the town council’s March 26 public session. The council met at the historic garden club venue instead of its regular meeting site at Maple Hall because of updates to its heating and air conditioning system. Roozen, who bears an iconic name in the world of...
The La Conner Parks Commission wants to do more than plant seeds for La Conner’s future landscape. The five-member advisory board wants to plant trees, more than a dozen of them along Morris Street, at no cost to the town. Commission members Ollie Iversen, Martin Howard and Mike Bucy shared plans for the beautification project during the March 26 Town Council meeting at the Civic Garden Club. Bucy served as project spokesperson. The council endorsed the initiative. “Our proposal is to raise donations to plant trees on Morris Street with no cit...
Just beyond the deer fencing, lying between this old rotting house with fruit trees just as old, between these and a dense development, lies what used to be called a “vacant lot.” It might have been called a “swamp,” also, rather than a vestige of an estuary. It did take on some water in the 2022 flood. One engineer called it a “natural catch basin.” But all that belies an amazing feature: it’s ability to grow food. Eons of decomposing salmon bodies makes this soil, like much of the Skagit Valley where I live, among the top 1% of agricultural...
On Dec. 27, 2022, a predicted 11-foot tide in La Conner Channel was met with low atmospheric pressure, high river flow and a western wind. As a result the channel rose to over 14 feet and spilled over along lower places on the eastern bank, flooding parts of town and causing more than $1 million damage before receding. The mayor and town council created an Emergency Management Commission to deal with any future floods or other natural disasters. The sandbags that have recently been removed were placed by our incredible town public works...
TOWN OF LA CONNER NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the Town of La Conner will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday April 9, 2024, to establish the funding of The Transportation Benefit District. The Public Hearing will be held during the 6:00 PM regular town council meeting located at 622 S. Second Street (Garden Club). The Public Hearing shall be for the purpose of receiving public comments, written or oral. Written comments are to be submitted by email from April 3, 2024, to no later than 12:00 PM on April 9, 2024, to...
Swinomish Tribal Senate chair Steve Edwards, a La Conner High School graduate, enjoyed a warm homecoming when he met with school board members March 25. Edwards, known for his conciliatory leadership style, focused his remarks on building bridges between the La Conner School District and Swinomish. “It’s great that we can come to the table and have an open discussion,” said Edwards. “We all grew up together. We all know one another. We’re a community here.” Edwards was the second local elected leader to address the board in recent weeks, foll...
The Town of La Conner’s sales tax revenue was significantly down in December, to $47,549, the lowest since 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. The total, reported to the town council by the state Department of Revenue, is $15,554, 24.6% below 2023’s record December collection. The special-use fire tax revenues were similarly down, at $4,739, 24.5% below 2023. Tourists were spending less at restaurants and stores, but probably staying in town overnight more, or longer. The December hotel/motel tax collection was $13,915, alm...
The high tide of saltwater flood season has passed. Town Administrator Scott Thomas said the final king tide on Swinomish Channel until next fall will allow removal of flood barriers that have lined the La Conner waterfront for months. “If you want to go out and get a picture of those orange sandbags so that you can remember them you’d better get out there,” Thomas told town council at its March 12 meeting. “They’ll be going away in a couple weeks and won’t be back until October.” The Public Works Department will remove sandbags and ecology b...
