Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon (D-Langley) sent the following newsletter on Fri., Jul. 15, 2022.
Can you believe we’re halfway through July already? Thank you for reading my newsletter for the 28th week of 2022.
- The big issue before the Board on Tuesday this week was the contract with Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) to provide matching funds for the purchase of the Harbor Inn in Freeland to be used as supportive and transitional housing. The motion to enter into this contract passed, two to one. I made the motion and voted in favor. We took two hours of public comment on this matter. You can view the comments and listen to Board deliberation beginning at mark 00:16:16 here. The agenda, which is also found on this same link, also provides separate video links for the discussion and action on the item.
- If you would like to see the appraisal and other documents obtained by LIHI as part of their due diligence, you should contact John Torrence of LIHI directly, at john.torrence@lihi.org.
- My colleagues and I are very grateful for all the emails, letters and comments we received on this issue, both in favor and in opposition. Hearing from both sides is important: the approved contract with LIHI was changed to reflect many of the concerns expressed by citizens about this project. Thank you all for letting us know how you feel.
- On Tuesday we also held two public hearings related to Ships Haven Drive in Freeland. The first, a petition to vacate a portion of the county road right-of-way, was denied. The second, a petition to open an unopened county road right-of-way, was approved. You can watch these two public hearings beginning at mark 03:26:43 here.
- Work Session. Agenda Audio
- The Port of South Whidbey gave a presentation to the Board on their Fairgrounds Housing and Concession Stands project. The Port intends to refurbish their concession stands and add affordable housing as a second story, which all three County Commissioners think is a great idea. The Port would like the Board to provide $135,000 for feasibility and preliminary engineering (the Port would match with $15,000, so $150,000 total would be spent on this initial phase of the project). However: the City of Langley would need to rezone the fairgrounds to include residential housing if this project were to advance. The Board of County Commissioners asked the Port of South Whidbey to get a document from the City of Langley indicating they plan to add such a code change to their work docket. You can see the presentation on the agenda linked above, beginning on page 24. The discussion can be heard beginning at mark 00:26:13 in the above audio link.
- I made an add-on to the agenda with Planning, to begin a conversation around providing some relief to our workforce and affordable housing issue by enacting a moratorium on the County’s restriction of RVs as living quarters. Expect to see a lot of discussion about this going forward, including many opportunities for citizen input. This conversation begins at mark 02:30:37 in the audio linked above.
- COVID. There is a significant public education effort, both at the national and state level, around how to safely gather with other people this summer. There is general understanding that after 2 years of the pandemic it is difficult to advise people to not attend family gatherings, weddings, etc. Yet, the most dominant COVID variant circulating right now is the Omicron subvariant BA.5, which is very transmissible and likely circulating through people who don’t even know they have it, driving up case rates in many communities. You can find quite a bit of information about how to respond to and protect yourself from the threat of the BA.5 variant in this week’s COVID report. You can obtain a rapid home test kit by calling the Island County COVID Response Call Center at 360-678-2301; or to have free test kits mailed to your home, go online to sayyestocovidhometest.org or covid.gov.
- Upcoming Public Hearings: On July 26, 2022 there will be a Public Hearing to update our fees and charges for public records to include fees to redact body worn camera video.
- Island County Emergency Management is providing two more Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic Courses. CERT Basic will teach you about disaster preparedness, light search and rescue, disaster medical, fire suppression, and more. These are valuable skills in an emergency situation both at home and at work. You don’t know when a disaster will strike or what will happen after. Preparing now will make you and your family more resilient. This course is FREE to all. You can find the flyer with more information at this link. We have two course dates and locations: South Whidbey August 5th-7thand Camano Island October 14th– 16th. To register for this class or to be placed on a list to be notified about future classes in other locations please email Kristina Kasper at: k.kasper@islandcountywa.gov.
- The Island County Marine Resources Committee and the NW Straits Foundation are hosting multiple stewardship events to continue the great work at the Cornet Bay Restoration site. At Cornet Bay, on the northern tip of Whidbey Island, they worked with several partners to restore almost 1,000 feet of altered shoreline to a more natural condition. Partners included the Northwest Straits Foundation, Washington State Parks, Island County, Sound Water Stewards, and Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group. This project has helped provide more natural habitats for our marine species that utilize this bay, including juvenile salmonids. They plan to weed and mulch an area with more established plants to help them survive the hot summer temps, and can use as many strong backs, shovels, and wheelbarrows as possible to get this work done. This will be hard but rewarding work. Aug 6th@ 10am-2pm, Aug 17th@ 10am-2pm, and Sept 2nd@ 10am-2pm. For more info, contact Kelly Zupich, k.zupich@islandcountywa.gov or 360-678-2349.
- You can find the agenda for next Tuesday’s regular Board of Island County Commissioners meeting,including how to attend virtually, here.
- You can find the agenda for next Tuesday’s Board of Health meeting, including how to attend virtually, here.
- You can find the agenda for next Wednesday’s Commissioners Work Session, including how to attend by phone, here.
- Today is Developmental Disability Professionals Day. These professionals assist people with developmental disabilities through facilitating the provision of residential services, creating employment opportunities, serving as behavior analysts, coordinating medical services, and more. Today I want to give a shout-out to Mike Etzell and Tiffany Wheeler-Thompson, who do such a wonderful job in this area for some of the most vulnerable residents of Island County.
- Monday Tea with Melanie at 3 pm at Crabby Coffee in Freeland in the WiFire Community Space, 1651 E Main St, Freeland. Tea is on me.
Thanks,
Melanie
“Just because a man lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.”
– Stevie Wonder
