Island County’s Planning and Community-Development Department will likely be split in two, with a separate leader for each half. That’s following the forced resignation Monday of department director Dave Wechner.
The perennial struggle between protecting wetlands and encouraging farming tilted at least temporarily toward wetlands Monday at a Planning Commission meeting. The nine-person group took one of the final steps toward protecting Island County land zoned “rural” under the county’s critical-areas ordinance. That law protects wetlands, fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, geologically hazardous areas and frequently flooded areas.
Island County agreed to pay $15,000 to The Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based advocacy group, after failing to act on a public-records request.
Forty Island County positions will get substantial salary boosts next year, with one increasing by 19 pay grades.
Island County has agreed to pay $15,000 to The Freedom Foundation, an Olympia-based advocacy group, after failing to act on a public-records request.
A federal fund that has invested nearly $1 million in Island County and $500 million in Washington state expired Wednesday night, and it’s unclear whether it will be resuscitated, a Washington advocacy group said.
A new county Shoreline Master Plan came one step closer to reality Monday when the county’s Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the Board of Commissioners accept a corrected version of the plan.
Artists have always had a hard time making it, and Eric Vargas, a long-time Oak Harbor resident, is no exception.
“I’m eking out an existence by doing art,” said Vargas, 28, during a recent visit at Oak Harbor’s Lotus Tea Bar & Studio, where he frequently works and his art is on display.
Troubled grocery chain Haggen will leave open its store in Oak Harbor, to judge by documents it filed Thursday in bankruptcy court.
The Bellingham-based firm, which filed for Chapter 11 protection earlier this month, submitted to the Delaware bankruptcy court a list of 100 stores it wants to close, including 14 in Washington but the vast majority in California. Others are in Arizona and Nevada.
A group of volunteer citizens Monday got started ranking five projects that seek money from Island County’s Conservation Futures Fund.
Becoming an online DJ is not a way to get wealthy, acknowledges Rich Vance, an Oak Harbor native who has produced “Briefcase Full of Rock” from his bedroom for nine years.
Island County’s Planning Commission last week recommended final approval of a set of countywide planning policies that will underlie the ongoing update of the county’s comprehensive plan.
Island County’s animal-control services as of Oct. 1 will be delivered by a county employee rather than an independent contractor, an arrangement finalized Tuesday by the Board of Island County Commissioners.
