The Oak Harbor furniture store run by Habitat for Humanity of Island County has moved a short distance to greatly expand its size, and shoppers interviewed during a recent visit approved of the change.
On Jan. 1, Island County Beach Watchers will part ways with long-time administrator Washington State University and become an independent, not-for-profit organization with a new name: Sound Water Stewards of Island County.
A state judicial body last week gave Island County until Nov. 10 to say how and when it will comply with a decision it issued this summer.
After five years of work, Island County has a new plan governing development and permitted activities along its 207 linear miles of seashore and lakefront.
Walking into Whidbey Island Taxidermy is like entering a natural history museum, but nothing is behind glass. A large variety of animals — ducks, owls, hawks, falcons, black-tailed deer and a fox — hang on the wall or stand posed on the floor. Some of the birds are mounted as though in flight, with their wings fully outstretched and their bodies banked as if in mid-turn.
Businesspeople from throughout Island County have volunteered to mentor high school students in the first “student entrepreneur challenge,” sponsored by the county’s Economic Development Foundation, said the challenge’s director, Sami Postma.
Island County must protect some ecologically sensitive areas and animals under the state’s Growth Management Act thanks to a decision by the county’s Superior Court.
The Island County Commissioners last week put to rest the last legal challenge to the 1998 debut of the Comprehensive Plan — and indicated the issue will resurface in the Comp Plan update currently under way.
The commissioners unanimously adopted a permanent ordinance on protecting county land zoned “rural” from agricultural encroachment. The new measure is identical in language to the one it replaced, except that it was a permanent ordinance. The one it replaced was temporary.
Noisy events held on rural land emerged last week as a major concern for about 30 residents attending one of three meetings island-wide on how best to use rural land.
Taekwondo, the Korean martial art that came to the United States in the 1960s, is a family affair at Woodward’s Taekwondo Academy in Oak Harbor. The school teaches both children and parents, and it’s run by a husband-and-wife team.
The public will get a chance next month to weigh in on Island County’s decision whether to spend as much as $818,000 this year conserving land and improving a natural area.
The county last week formally approved splitting the Planning Department’s leadership, granting new titles and higher salaries to the two employees assuming the responsibilities formerly held by Dave Wechner.
Sure it takes good recipes to get food products onto grocery store shelves, but it also takes perseverance and self-confidence — and a good story never hurts. Arnie Deckwa has all of those down, especially the story.
