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Five Shelter Bay Community board of directors will get their day in Skagit County Superior Court April 14, but until then are restrained from taking any action on the organization’s master lease with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community or destroying any financial records. In a hearing Friday, March 31, Judge Laura Riquelme found “good cause to grant some requests, essentially temporary restraints” against the board’s executive committee: Wendy Poulton, Elaine Dixon Monte Hicks, Joseph1 Hurley and Louise Kari. Leasehold resident Jan Henrie...
Shelter Bay residents face a weekend of board conflicts aired. Friday morning five Shelter Bay Community board of directors are in Skagit County Superior Court. Plaintiff’s Jan Henrie’s civil complaint accuses them of malfeasance and violating their statutory fiduciary duty. The lawsuit filed March 15, Jan Henrie vs. Wendy Poulton, Elaine Dixon Monte Hicks, Joseph1 Hurley and Louise Kari, has a March 31 hearing. Cases start at 9:30 a.m. The case number is 23-2-00221-29 The board filed a liability insurance claim and again has Seattle att...
One of the biggest expenses of new home construction in locations more than a few hundred yards away from existing energy infrastructure is the cost of connecting electricity and gas. Electric power distribution wires can cost up to a million dollars a mile for underground service and up to $100,000 a mile for above-ground. New gas lines use less expensive materials, but still require mobilization of construction equipment and installation labor. Upstream of the vicinity of the new building(s),...
History and mystery abound in equal measure at the Limedock Building on North First Street. The La Conner Planning Commission, upon recommendation of Town planner Michael Davolio, opted last Tuesday to take no immediate action on a proposed conversion of second floor office space into two new residential units at the aged – if not officially historic – waterfront structure. The plan includes external work: the addition of two gabled dormers on the roof and a ground level coffee shop as a gateway to the building’s commercial ventures. But quest...
The high tide of last week’s Town of La Conner Planning Commission meeting on future sea level rise came when Assistant Planner Ajah Eills calmed the waters– make that, concerns– raised by troubling data gleaned from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “By 2070, if we do nothing,” Eills initially cautioned while sharing statistics, “the town will be underwater.” She then offered solace. “These are kind of scary numbers to look at,” she said, “but that’s without mitigation, w...
The officers of the Shelter Bay Community board of directors are called back to Skagit County Superior Court March 31 on a civil complaint that accuses them of breach of fiduciary duty. It alleges malfeasance and failure in their actions and conduct as directors for passing the “invalid budget in violation of both the bylaws of SBC Inc. and the Revised Code of Washington” for 2023. It also alleges that the board "failed to mail the budget to its members as required," so it was never properly ratified and that the board’s following of this...
A rare positive impact of the severe saltwater flooding that swamped La Conner in December was the flood of well qualified applicants seeking appointment to the Town’s new emergency management commission. Mayor Ramon Hayes last week nominated five applicants. The Town Council confirmed them during the panel’s March 14 session. They bring extensive histories of public service, meteorology, climatology and engineering. “What a great lineup, this is exciting,” Councilmember Mary Wohleb said following a unanimous vote that empaneled Bill Stokes,...
SWINOMISH RESERVATION -The "active cleanup of the diesel spill caused by the early Thursday morning derailment of two BNSF locomotives" was ending early Saturday afternoon, Bill Dunbar, U.S. EPA public affairs staff reported. He gave estimates that approximately 2,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil and 4,300 gallons of groundwater were removed from the site, with fewer than 50 gallons of diesel fuel in the groundwater. No diesel reached the shoreline, and no impacts to fish or wildlife have...
Over half of the energy used in residential and commercial buildings goes to heating and cooling the air to keep occupants comfortable. Most of the time, cooling is achieved by using electricity to run a vapor-compression “air-source” heat pump that transfers heat into or from the outside air. Heating is achieved by running the heat pump in the opposite direction, or by using a resistance heater. Alternatively, burning fuel, whether in a fireplace, or via a propane or gas-fueled furnace, pro...
The poorly written page 1 headline last week needed to have read: "Record December Town sales tax revenues." The tax revenue summary town council receives inFebruary contains December’s data. Buy your in-person tickets only on Saturday for The Case of the Slain Slough Swindler at the La Conner Chamber of Commerce’s 210 Morris Street office. This important fact was left out of the March 15 story. The Limedock building is owned by Guoying Li and Hoa Hau, not Peter Anderson, as stated in the March 15 issue. The editor regrets these err...
There were two sure signs at last week's La Conner Town Council meeting that spring is in the offing. The first was the presentation by Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Executive Director Cindy Verge of the official poster, a depiction by artist Kerry Clavadetscher of a Savannah sparrow perched on a favorite tulip. The second was an announce-ment by Town Public Works Director Brian Lease that king tide winter flood protection sandbags will be picked up at the end of the month. The bags have been in...
In 2018, Bay View resident Roger Pederson was charged with one count of first-degree animal cruelty and one count of second-degree animal cruelty after more than 70 dead cattle were found on his property. On March 13 he entered an Alford plea to two charges of first-degree animal cruelty. His sentencing is scheduled for April 19. There will be a demonstration outside the Skagit County Superior Courthouse March 30, 4-6 p.m. T-shirts will be sold for $20 each. Email advocacy@skagithumane.org with questions. Source: Humane Society of Skagit...
WASHINGTON – Amtrak, in collaboration with ODOT, WSDOT and other agencies resumes Cascades service between Portland, Ore. and Vancouver, BC This is the first direct service between Portland and stations north of Seattle since 2020. Serving 12 stations along the I-5 corridor in western Washington, customers traveling north can depart Seattle at 7 p.m. for an 11 p.m. arrival in Vancouver, BC. The southbound train leaves Vancouver, BC at 6:35 a.m. for an 11 a.m. stop in Seattle and a 2:55 p.m. Portland arrival. Amtrak Cascades restarted daily s...
It's March 15, and nary a daffodil can be seen, but Brent Roozen isn't worried. Field picking ramped up last weekend, said the Washington Bulb Company CEO, and daffodils are shipping to customers at tulips.com as well as grocery stores across the country. "Yellow is right around the corner, and when daffodils bloom late, the color can come on really quickly." As for tulips, it is too early to tell. Late daffodils can mean no tulips until mid-April "but tulips can catch up quickly if they get a...
Between gift giving generosity and tourists wanting to get out of their hometowns, La Conner registers jingled merrily in December. Town of La Conner sales tax revenue reported in February was a record $63,103, $ 6,556 and 11.6% above 2022’s previous record. Not till May did a month’s sales tax revenues top $63,000 last year. The $106,494 two-month total is one-sixth of this year’s projected budget. Shoppers flocked to La Conner for holiday shopping; data are reported on a two month time lag. These are November and December's revenues. The $...
Maybe the 50 or so people attending the Climate Resilience conversation Sunday at the Anacortes Senior Center did not provide $7,500 worth of advice for changing the trajectory Skagit County residents – and everyone – are facing as the climate changes. But facilitator Dave Peterson made that unscientific estimate at the meeting’s end. The University of Washington forestry professor is with the Skagit Climate Science Consortium, scientists working with local people to assess, plan and adapt to climate related impacts. “Where do we go from here?...
Power outages are rare and usually short here, but grid-provided electricity isn’t completely consistent and reliable under all circumstances. Here’s a quick guide to the world of power quality problems and actions individuals and businesses can take to minimize negative effects. Transient power quality issues that don’t result in outages include voltage variations (sags, swells and spikes), poor current frequency and problems with power factor. (Power factor is technically complex and is usual...
Peter Anderson, owner of the Limedock building, 109 North First Street in La Conner, has filed a permit application with the town planning department to create two residential apartments by remodeling the second floor office space. Two gabled dormers will be added to the roof. The town planning commission will hold a hearing March 21, 6 p.m. in Maple Hall. Comments will be accepted at the public hearing. The meeting will be on Zoom, also. Those submitting comments automatically become a party of record and will be notified of decisions. The...
Anacortes sold home prices are the highest by far of Skagit County markets this year, at $832,000 for the median price for the 24 homes that closed in January and February. February’s Anacortes market was even hotter, with a median sold home price of $935,000, 12.4% higher for the17 homes, 10 more than sold in January. Anacortes prices raised Skagit County’s February median sold home price to $487,000. Mount Vernon was the only other market with prices above the median, at $503,000 for the 23 homes that closed. Burlington was close, at a $48...
1th District state Sen. Ron Muzzall and State Rep. Dave Paul are hosting town halls this weekend to provide updates on the legislative session. March 18, 11 a.m. they are at the Oak Harbor Library meeting room, 1000 SE Regatta Drive, Oak Harbor. March 19, 4 p.m. they are at the Arlington Boys & Girls 18513 59th Ave. NE....
Update, March 17 at bottom SWINOMISH RESERVATION — Early the morning of March 16, before 1 a.m., the two locomotives of a BNSF train heading east from an Anacortes oil refinery derailed along the Padilla Bay waterfront within site of the Swinomish Channel, behind the Swinomish Casino. One spilled its fuel to a berm on the land-side of the tracks, the unified command for the incident reported. This report is primarily from the news release from the unified command. Responders arrived on the s...
Peter Anderson, owner of the Limedock building, 109 North First Street in La Conner, has filed a permit application with the Town of La Conner planning department to create two residential apartments by remodeling the second floor office space. Two gabled dormers will be added to the roof. The town planning commission will hold a hearing March 21, 6 p.m. in Maple Hall. Comments will be accepted at the public hearing. The meeting will be on Zoom, also. Those submitting comments automatically...
During a week in late February which saw snow, wind and rain amid occasional sun breaks, Town officials and residents turned their attention to climate change. At the Town Council Feb. 28 meeting, members and Mayor Ramon Hayes lauded the community’s embrace of solar energy and progress made in establishing a Town Emergency Management Commission in response to recent saltwater flooding, a perfect storm weather. event A joint session with the planning commission was short, consisting almost entirely of planning staff outlining the two-year p...
OLYMPIA — The Washington state Department of Commerce released its final housing needs projections March 2. They show the state needs to add 1.1 million homes over the next 20 years, and more than half of them need to be affordable for residents at the lowest income levels. Based on census data and the Office of Financial Management’s population projections, these final housing projections illustrate that Washington needs more than 50,000 new units annually to keep pace with expected population growth. In 2021, the Growth Management Act fra...
Yes, February was cold, with nine nights of frost, four in a row Feb. 22-25, where the month’s low of 20.4 degrees Feb. 24 fell. That day the average temperature was 27.1 degree. February’s daily average temperature was 39.6 degrees, 1.6 degrees below average for the century. The average morning low of 33.8 degrees was 0.9 degree below the century average; the month’s average daily high of 45.5 degrees was two degrees below average this century. The high went above 50 degrees four times in the first 10 days, but not after that. Rainfall was a...