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Better weather in May is probably why tourists again made La Conner their destination. The $55,179 collected in sales tax revenue is the first record high collection for its month in 2023, topping July 2022 by 2.3%. The state’s Department of Resources reports on a two month lag. The special use fire tax barely reached its record, $29 over the July 2022 report, at $5,393, tracking sales taxes, as it does. Most healthy, as it has been all year, was the hotel motel tax revenue, at $16,442, another record, 9% above July 2022. The $9,874 in REET (...
More than 500 people crowded Mount Vernon's Riverwalk Plaza last Wednesday, Aug. 9 in response to the Skagit Valley Food Co-op invitation to its 13,000 members and the general public to celebrate its 50th anniversary. There was food, of course, as staff served up bounty from their kitchen and deli, ending with cake and ice cream. The line to their food booth stretched out 30-people long for three hours, until by 7 p.m. the last of cantaloupe and watermelon was lonely in their trays....
Town officials remain focused on mitigation of flood conditions ahead of king tide season in the fall. La Conner Town Council members last week endorsed recommendations proposed by Public Works Director Brian Lease for immediate short-term saltwater flood protection remedies along the town’s waterfront. Lease had earlier shared with the emergency management commission a priority purchase list for materials and equipment – ecology blocks, sandbags, a sandbagging machine and forklift. “I’d like to have sandbags filled and on pallets by Oct. 1,...
Gary Ladd was bare headed on Thursday, though figuratively he was wearing two hats that morning. A Skagit County Fire District 13 officer, he also serves as an officer of Skagit Bay Search & Rescue – and he spoke for the latter during the fire district’s monthly commissioners meeting at the Snee Oosh Road station. The SBSR leadership proposed to Commissioners Bruce Shellhamer, John Doyle and J.J. Wilbur that the fire district partner with the search and rescue group on emergency calls. SBSR is currently aligned with the Skagit County She...
Five households in Channel Cove lost water overnight when a valve failed after routine maintenance by La Conner Public Works staff on Aug. 8. Supervisor Todd Park said his crew had been “exercising a valve” when it apparently failed and started to leak after they finished their work. Jodi Dean, executive director of Home Trust of Skagit, the landlord, said she got tenant reports of standing water in the grass. “I called (Director of Public Works) Brian (Lease) and said, ‘Hey, listen, I’ve got some water standing out there,’ so we had his cre...
A former marathoner, La Conner Schools Superintendent Dr. Will Nelson knows the value of committing to a plan for the long run. He Is also familiar with having to negotiate different routes leading from Point A to Point B. But more than that, Nelson has learned to cover ground separately and simultaneously along equally challenging paths. During his first two years as administrator he has overseen implementation of several innovative academic programs, overseen the launch of a five-year...
The day dawned cloudy and there was an up-valley smokey haze. It would be less hot than it has been. I was destined for the Cascadian Farm Home Farm, a famous place, a fertile bench of farmland near Rockport across Highway 20 from the emerald green waters of the mighty Skagit River. The farm was the brainchild of one Gene Kahn who, in 1972, as a recent college graduate and student of history, spied the uniquely beautiful property and put his plan into motion. Old friends followed him from the east coast and new friends joined his budding...
The wildfires in Hawaii make it clear few locales are immune from the devastating effects caused by wildfire. Despite Western Washington’s wet reputation, we also are not immune to wildfires, especially during drier years. Here in Skagit County, we also are facing severe drought. A recent climate impact study developed by the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group reported that the temperature in Washington has increased 1.5 degrees F in the last 20 years. Firewise landscaping is an array of practices promoted by the National Fir...
There is truly no gig greater for a college student than housesitting. Instead of spending my July in a tiny I-5-adjacent apartment where, if I open my windows I'm greeted by the cacophony of cars streaming past, I resided in lovely La Conner where, outside my windows, I could hear waves on the bay and view bald eagles and the occasional cat fight. Let's back up a little bit though, so I'm not just a name at the top of an article. My name is Chloe Peterson, I'm a junior at the University of Wash...
Members of the Puyallup Tribe described it as an historic day, when a newly-painted seaplane from Kenmore Air touched down on Commencement Bay, with a distinctive red, black and white livery featuring tribal art depicting a salmon on the aircraft's tail. The new seaplane flights started taking off Aug. 10 from the new Puyallup Tribal Air Terminal on Ruston Way in Tacoma, Washington. It's a partnership with Kenmore Air, a regional airline based north of Seattle that specializes in scenic and...
A district court judge in Montana handed down a landmark decision Monday, ruling that the state violated its own constitution by failing to consider fossil fuels' contribution to climate change. Sixteen young people sued the state over its promotion of fossil fuel-based energy, saying it violates their right to a clean and healthful environment under the Montana Constitution. Their case was the first of several youth-led lawsuits against states for failing to address climate change to go to...
We almost always assume everything will be the same. That is not true for humans or birds. Climate change in California is affecting birds more so than people. Thirty percent of California forests have burned in the last decade. This does not include the loss of plants due to erosion, which provided food and shelter. During migration, most birds live off the land. They consume fruit and water. Plants lost to fire may take years to repopulate and provide this food. This year there seems to be a reduction in swallows numbers. Part of this may be...
The weather has been fabulous for boating this summer and our guest docks continue to be full. Many of our guests are stopping in La Conner on their way to or from Seattle. They come in around lunch time, relax for a day in town, then head out early to get into the traffic lines at the locks. We had a boat come through this week that was over 100 feet long. This is pretty large for our guest docks and the channel. Our guest docks are 500 feet long, so over 20% was covered by just this one vessel...
Emergency Management Commission, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, Council Room, 104 Commercial St. AGENDA Minutes Public Comment (items not on the agenda) OLD BUSINESS Upper Skagit Tribe communications Temporary flood measures: Update Conditions to implement temporary flood protections measures What level of flood protection? What is reasonable risk? (Regardless of where the risk comes from) 100-year flood event (1%), 500-year flood event (0.2%), 1,000-year flood event? Flood height for Skagit River design. Trigger(s) for a Skagit River Flood watch...
Due to the continuing elevated fire risk conditions and low fuel moisture levels within Skagit County, the Skagit County Fire Marshal’s Office joins the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in banning outdoor burns, including campfires. Effective now, Aug. 17, 2023, and until further notice, outdoor burning is banned in unincorporated Skagit County except for permitted agricultural burning. Enclosed barbeque and propane fire pits are allowed in improved areas, such as residential backyards, and on non-combustible surfaces which a...
La Conner's Pioneer Park basked in sun, salmon and song last Thursday, a perfect combination for the 119th annual Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic and Business Meeting here. Ideal conditions drew more than 300 people on a sun-splashed day that honored championship La Conner High School volleyball coach Suzanne Marble and members of the Benson/Berentson family, who association president Peggy Stowe said "have been connected to every vocation imaginable" since emigrating from Norway to Ska...
There was much to cheer about at the Pioneer Picnic in La Conner last Thursday. But the loudest and most heartfelt ovation of the afternoon was given to beloved local centenarian Joyce Johnson, who at 105-years-young was recognized as the oldest person in attendance. Skagit County Pioneer Association President Peggy Stowe saluted Johnson as a 70-year member of the La Conner Civic Garden Club, which serves the picnic’s trademark salmon luncheon. Her Garden Club friends and admirers join others elsewhere in marveling at how Johnson has lived not...
When she first ran for U.S. Senate in 1992, Patty Murray described herself as a mom in tennis shoes." Her newest pair of New Balance footwear came in handy when the six-term senator, who serves as Senate president pro tempore, hiked revered Lone Tree Point and the beach area below the Thousand Trails La Conner RV Resort on Monday. Sen. Murray spent an hour touring and receiving updates on collaborative marine environmental protection projects undertaken locally by the Swinomish Indian Tribal...
August started with 100% of Skagit County in drought, the federal government reported. Severe drought hangs over the bulk of the county, 86%, while the borders – a slice of southern Fidalgo Island and southwestern Skagit Bay and the Cascade Mountains on the eastern side – 14%, is in moderate drought. Rainfall measured at Washington State University’s Memorial Highway Mount Vernon station is 9.9 inches for the year, 7.2 inches or 42% below the January-July century average of 17.1 inches. Monthly precipitation has been from 16% to 70% below...
A trained classical pianist, La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes has great appreciation for a variety of musical genres. He naturally keeps tabs on those playing keyboards. And one of his favorites is La Conner's own Terry Nelson. "Terry is the epitome, the soul, of La Conner," Hayes told the Weekly News recently. "He's so forward thinking." A longtime proponent of green energy, having for more than four decades advocated solar heating options, Nelson is also one of a handful of home-grown La Conner...
The status of short-term rentals will get a long look as the La Conner Town Planning Commission seek public input while updating what has become a hot button topic in La Conner. During their discussion of the issue last week, commissioners endorsed holding a community roundtable in September and collecting comments on the Town’s website. Assistant Planner Ajah Eills suggested the public dialogue after short-term rentals were addressed at the Aug. 1 hybrid meeting at Maple Hall. Short-term rentals are permitted in La Conner’s commercial zon...
At first glance, comparing La Conner and Kirkland is akin to apples and oranges. But when it comes to affordable housing incentives, it is a comparison that might bear fruit. Planning department staff shared with the La Conner Planning Commission during their July meeting at Maple Hall research into how Kirkland, a Seattle suburb of nearly 100,000 people, has sought to increase its stock of affordable housing. Assistant Planner Ajah Eills provided a seven-page report on how La Conner might implement some of the measures adopted in Kirkland....
Key steps were taken last week – both literally and figuratively – to mitigate saltwater flooding on La Conner’s north end. Public Works Director Brian Lease led members of La Conner’s emergency management commission on a one-hour July 25 walking tour of low-lying spots along the north waterfront from the Washington Street-end past Channel Lodge on North First Street. The six-member advisory panel. chaired by Bill Stokes and established in response to severe saltwater flooding here last December, will soon be making a recommendation to the tow...
Less is more yet again. In this case, addition by subtraction involves the long-awaited removal of a 65-foot abandoned and partially submerged sailboat from nearby Similk Bay on Swinomish Reservation. The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Northwest Straits Commission partnered July 20 to remove the Windjammer and another smaller derelict vessel from within tribal boundaries. The Windjammer was pulled from intertidal waters north of Kukutali...