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About that cute little 0.53-acre plot known as the “Jensen Parcel?” As a resident of Channel Cove for a couple of years, I spent a lot of time thinking about it, from my permaculturalist perspective. How many wants and wishes could be achieved if the parcel could be creatively developed.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, the Jensen family makes an enticing offering of the challenged property for the town. It’s not big enough for a ball field, it’s very low and wet, just ask Maggie, for she lives next to it and wrote last week of her thoughts on the property. I think she will like the design I have for it.

I have a pond, and a wading pool for cooling kids, and anyone else with hot heels. Some wheelchair-accessible raised bed gardens, wheelchair-accessible housing units, walking path through wildlife habitat, two greenhouses in a good-sized garden plot and an umbrellad picnic area, with parking for 10 vehicles.

In the digging of the pond, I create a gently undulating landscape with permeable pathways that allow easy access to the tiny-to-small home concept. Personally, I would like to have three units of about 250 square feet each, with two units about 500 square feet, with another similar unit for the manager of the property.

I’m hoping to have a model of it built by the April 25 meeting to discuss this property. My preference would be to house low-income folks in three units and three units to rent out by the night or week, to raise money for the town’s arts commission, and maintenance of landscaping, which would hopefully be done by the property manager. The pond would be for wildlife, and holding some flood water, should we see such a thing again.

Sincerely,

Glen S. Johnson

Skagit Valley