To the Residents of La Conner
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September 28, 2022
Two law firms looked at the situation on 306 Center and the 1986 Contract Rezone and came up with opposite conclusions. How do lay people like the rest of us decide who is right? They were both long opinions and cited case law. I believe that my guy was right but the town, which is vulnerable to a lawsuit from the developer, believes their firm to be correct.
The town holds the power card. It is called the Administrative Permit. It is used for certain planning situations (Variance and Conditional Use). It gives the planner kingly powers. And so, he used that power by writing an Administrative decision for 306 Center. We had hoped for this to be resolved differently with the planning commission and council involvement.
The Administrative Permit did not always exist in our code. Now that it does, the Planning Commission – a diligent and experienced group – has become powerless. But we citizens can and should change the code.
Two weeks ago, I wrote to suggest that our code be revised to eliminate administrative permits of any type and give the power back to the Planning Commission – e.g. to the residents of La Conner. This, and many other resident generated pieces of code will be considered later in the fall.
The PC meeting on October 4 will be a continuation of the Public Hearing of the code changes suggested by the planner. Mark your calendar, pack the room, and make your voices be heard again – just as we did in the last PC meeting.
Linda Talman
La Conner
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