Luisa Loi reports from Coupeville Town Council meeting of Tue., Apr. 9, 2024 for the Whidbey News-Times.
After some waiting, the walkway improvements on Front Street and Main Street in Coupeville will finally happen.
During a meeting with the town council on April 9, Mayor Molly Hughes said these projects are long overdue and have been in the town’s budget for three years but had to be set aside as there were other important projects that needed to be dealt with first.
The public is invited to a meeting that will be held at 6 p.m. on May 7 at the Coupeville Recreation Hall to learn more about the projects and provide input.
They Said It
According to the mayor, the Washington Transportation Improvement Board combined both projects together, providing the town with grant funds that would cover 37% of the cost for each project, with the rest being covered by the town.
To Hughes and [Public Works Director Joe] Grogan, this is unfortunate as, in other circumstances, the Main Street Sidewalk project alone could have received 95% of the funding in grants, they said at the meeting.
This union and the smaller-than-usual allocation for Main Street, Hughes said, were a result of the complexity of the Front Street boardwalk project, which is much more complex than the projects the Transportation Improvement Board is used to.
During the meeting, Councilmember Pat Powell and some members of the public expressed concern over the lack of prior communication with the community, to which Hughes said a community meeting was already part of the plan and that the design is still unfinished.
