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Last week’s paper closed the chapter and maybe the book on the Maple Avenue ballfield controversy. It is now in the past. Or is it? (“The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” William Faulkner.) The Town’s decision has permanent effects and it may leave the council and administration open to future dispositions of public property to the benefit of private interests and real estate brokers. In the purchase and disposition of Maple Field – and as was the case with the sale of the Kirsch property – the council, the mayor and his sta...
The La Conner Town Council approved an agreement with Landed Gentry for the partial extinguishment of the easement the developer owns across the town’s Maple Avenue park property at its in-person meeting July 27, attended by some 30 masked residents. Gentry, acting as Maple Field, LLC, extinguished only the ingress and egress provisions, its right to pave across the northeast corner of the new town park. The 5-0 vote was preceded by comments from Town Administrator Scott Thomas, who called it “more of a clean-up agreement.” Town Planner Micha...
Medical experts from the federal Centers for Disease Control are calling the surge of coronavirus cases across the United States “a pandemic of the unvaccinated.” Almost all new cases of COVID-19 are among people who have declined to get vaccinated. Most vaccinated people testing positive, the breakthrough cases, are asymptomatic or their illness is mild. Mask mandates are again in front of us. Public health officers of most Puget Sound countries, but not Skagit, are recommending everyone wear masks in indoor public settings – res...
At a special budget workshop Tuesday La Conner’s Town Council spent 30 minutes deliberating how to spend $264,911 in federal funds from the America Rescue Plan Act. Spending is prescribed by Congress, Administrator Scott Thomas informed council in a four-page memorandum July 21 sent with Mayor Ramon Hayes’ notice of the meeting. Summarizing “Options for Use of Fiscal Recovery Funds,” Thomas wrote, “the Town will have flexibility to decide how best to use the funding to meet specific community needs.” Thomas outlined “potential uses of these...
All of a sudden the windfall hits home. Last night the La Conner town council and staff started a discussion over spending almost $265,000, half of which has already been deposited into the 2021 general fund. What to do with the money? First, though, a recognition that a trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there has trickled down from the other Washington. Like every municipality in this state, and probably across the nation, La Conner is benefitting from decisions the Biden administration and congressional Democrats made early this...
Mayor Ramon Hayes issued an executive order Monday, July 26 that people attending “all special and regular La Conner Town Council meetings shall be required to wear a facemask, regardless of vaccination status.” Seven statements of fact are listed in support of the decision, starting with “COVID-19 case rates have increased in recent weeks, and there have been increased outbreaks and hospitalizations in the month of July.” The order notes sources of transmission, from churches and weddings to council meetings. It identifies tourists and “re...
On Wednesday, July 21, Mayor Ramon Hayes called for a special meeting of the La Conner Town Council for 5:30 p.m., July 27. The purpose is a council budget workshop (discussion). The meeting is in Maple Hall. Town Administrator Scott Thomas sent the council and mayor a four page memorandum summarizing “Options for Use of Fiscal Recovery Funds.” He wrote: “La Conner has been allocated $264,911 (distributed half in 2021 and the other half in 2022) of the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds authorized under the America Rescue Plan...
July’s first town council meeting on the 13th gave the 45 residents attending plenty to discuss. There were two public hearings and a discussion on policing and safety. The latter brought Skagit County Sheriff’s Office staff Undersheriff Chad Clark, Chief of Field Operations Chris Baldwin, and La Conner detachment Sgt. Jeff Willard into attendance. Administrator Scott Thomas framed the town’s need for law enforcement services as both a planning and budget issue. Councilmembers had a five page report outlining “Options for Public Safety Service...
To expand on the Maple Avenue property scorecard in last week’s Weekly News, for the record: 1. La Conner buys the Maple Avenue ballfield property from the Hedlin family. 2. La Conner creates a restrictive covenant protecting for the public “in perpetuity” 24,000 square feet. 3. La Conner creates three easements; one crosses the park parcel. 4. La Conner sells the remaining ballfield property, and the easements, to Landed Gentry. 5. As Maple Field, developer Landed Gentry presents an agreement for partial extinguishment of the park-crossing eas...
To be heard by our town administration, we were told by our town lawyer, Scott Thomas, to write to La Conner Weekly News. There seems to be a blocked pathway for citizens to reach our town administrators. Citizen letters of critical concerns go unanswered. So, if letters to the editor is the line of communication our town lawyer suggests, we should expect a reply to this letter via the same route. In the matter of exchanging clear information and concerns between our town administrators and their citizens, let the echo chamber of Maple Hall be...
The future use of the Maple Ball field and the statutory warranty deed, restrictive covenant and the 4,000 square feet missing from the park are really important community matters. But, back up a bit to decisions on use of this valuable publicly acquired property. If the ballfield had to go, I do not believe that market rate housing proposed by the developer and the Town result in a valued public purpose – which of course is the fundamental reason for Town action. And this failure in purpose applies not just to the Hedlin ballfield, but...
Dear Citizens, A contract was given to the council for discussion at the last minute last week so you are probably unaware of it. That is par for the town’s inability to provide transparency. Basically, the developer has proposed some outrageous language. The Easement Release Maple Ball Field agreement the town council received from Landed Gentry and discussed at their July 13 meeting gives no apparent advantage to the town. Encourage your favorite council member to vote against signing it. The deal is – Gentry would get what they said t...
Two Town panels have their work cut out for them as they address ways to enhance leisure time opportunities for La Conner area residents. Members of the planning and parks commissions on Tuesday jointly took initial steps toward updating the parks and recreation element of La Conner’s comprehensive plan, a process they hope to complete in draft form by September for Town Council and state review. “Every year,” Town Planner Michael Davolio said last week in a memo to members of the two commissions, “the Town undertakes the task of updating one o...
The Town of La Conner collected $55,900 in sales tax revenue in June, 10% and $5,000 above 2017’s $50,818, the previous highest June report. After six months, La Conner’s sales tax receipts are $283,565, 86% the amount budgeted for 2021, averaging $47,261 monthly. These are by far the highest monthly and year-to-date collections in the past five years. If the trend continues, the annual sales tax revenue will top $550,000. The 2021 town budget estimated $328,202 will be collected. That may be exceeded next month. April sales are made dur...
To the Editor, The average home in La Conner consumes 324 cubic feet of water each month, and pays a sewer bill of $53.41 per month. The average inflow and infiltration (ground water) is 37.76% at the sewer plant. If I&I could be reduced by 50%, the bill for sewer service could be reduced to $40.72. At 25% the bill would be $42.69, and at 10% it would be $43.68. There is a 97% correlation between rainfall and I&I. Maybe some of the homes have their roof drains connected to the sewer. That is a no-no. The Town Council allocated $50,000 in 2020,...
Last night’s La Conner town council meeting, the first in-person community discussion in 16 months, promised to be a crowded, long and loud affair as pushback by area residents again put before council demands that the Town follow the commitments it made for a 24,000 square feet park for public use and open space when it bought the Hedlin family’s Maple Avenue property in April. On the council agenda was “Release of Easement – Maple Ball Field.” Council approval will mean terminating the easement across a portion of this new park, p...
Is La Conner blessed to have a cadre of concerned citizens, an ever shifting but attentive segment of our population who insist on saying “wait,” “stop” and “no,” or even “no more?” In December 2017, a group of the board of directors of the Museum of Northwest Art resigned and were critically questioning the administrative and financial management of Director Christopher Shainin. A public meeting to discuss the museum’s future in February 2018 brought a critical crowd and a robust discussion of the museum’s problems. Shainin resigned th...
Based on the many comments by neighbors and friends, opposition to developing the Hedlin Play Field is abundantly clear. Additionally, comments at the June 22 town council meeting identified critical issues that are problematic and need to be addressed, including, but not limited to: • possible litigation costs relative to the original deed covenants • traffic and parking issues related to the proximity to Maple Avenue and Hedlin Farms “When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging” – Will Rogers A Path Forward: • Dev...
On June 22 the Town Council’s agenda for their meeting was to include a public safety discussion. It was tabled until there could be a representative from the Skagit County Sheriff’s office there. It is supposed to be part of the agenda for the next meeting, held on July 13th at 6 p.m. This will be the first in person meeting since the pandemic closed everything. I want to encourage everyone to attend to voice their concerns about the public safety issue in town. The current contract with the Skagit County Sheriff’s office is due to expir...
La Conner’s once again annual July 4th parade started up First Street shortly after noon – 12:20 p.m., actually – Sunday, greeted by spectator cheers and applause. On this picture perfect weather day – it was 70 degrees at noon and 76 degrees at 4 p.m. – everyone, paraders and attendees, was smiling, with many on both sides decked out in red, white and blue in all kinds of permutations, from head to toe. Locals arrived early with their chairs, staking out prime space a...
La Conner’s longtime field of dreams will soon become a field of memories, visible merely in the mind’s eye as the property becomes new housing and a yet to be defined public park covering a half-acre or so. Hedlin’s Ballfield, a youth sports hub here for decades, has heard its final cheers. But there is still more than a smattering of boos from those who lament loss of much of the revered rare green space along busy Maple Avenue. The Town purchased the property earlier this year and immediately...
La Conner residents shared with Town officials a broad range of traffic and public safety concerns last Tuesday night. At the Town Council’s June 22 Zoom meeting, speeding motorists and discarded drug syringes were discussed at length. There is a growing anxiety, as the Council session bore out, over apparent increases in minor infractions and more serious crimes coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s time to get more serious about law enforcement,” said Town Planning Commission member Rick Dole, who spoke in favor of budgeting for a c...
Parking has always been a thorny issue in La Conner, most notably on First Street parallel to the town’s popular historic waterfront. Now it figures in yet another flap, this time over joint use easements the Town signed with Landed Gentry the day the developer bought the Hedlin Farms Maple Avenue property, April 16. Town Councilmembers last week heard objections raised by residents that the easement at the rear of the property would cut into the 24,000 square feet set aside for the park. Seventy per cent of the former ballfield will be d...
La Conner is one step closer to having some of its historic buildings don a more modern look. The Town Planning Commission voiced support last week for placement of small reader bar codes that when accessed would provide anecdotal and historical information about those structures, with owner approval. Deemed historical commemorative plaques, the QR codes do not require the Town’s official blessing if they do not exceed three square feet in size, according to Town Planner Michael Davolio and Mayor Ramon Hayes. Even so, they wanted c...
The size and use of the new park after the purchase and sale of the Maple Avenue ballfield is on tonight’s town council agenda, June 22, as discussion under the mayor’s roundtable. A letter sent to Town Hall June 9 asked for a council work session “concerning the Restrictive Covenant and Joint Land Use Easement” in the purchase and sales agreement between the Hedlin family and the Town of La Conner, the Weekly News has learned. The property, owned by the Hedlin family for decades, was purchas...