The town of Coupeville is considering a proposal that would lessen the cost a Coupeville builder is paying to move a historic barn.
The town may waive the park impact fee for Dan Miranda, who is paying to move the Holbrook barn from a lot on NE Eighth Street to the community lot behind the Coupeville Public Library, which is about a block away.
Whidbey Islanders are starting to get a charge out of an emerging technology.
A couple of businesses across the island are busy installing the initial charging stations and town leaders are designing regulations to accommodate electric cars.
The potential sale of Big Rock doesn’t raise any concerns among Coupeville’s leadership.
Even though the South Main Street land the famous hunk of granite, described by geologists as a glacial erratic, sits on is currently for sale, town leaders don’t think the landmark is worthy of being put into public ownership.
Solar energy is becoming a larger part of Whidbey Island’s publicly owned farm.
Workers from Whidbey Sun and Wind have been busy this month installing two more solar arrays at the Greenbank Farm. The new panels will double the energy the solar panel project produces. Two solar panels currently produce 25 kilowatts of power, which will go up to 50 kilowatts when the new panels get connected to the grid this week.
Newly elected Coupeville Town Councilwoman Jackie Henderson, along with council incumbents Molly Hughes and Bob Clay, joined by Mayor Nancy Conard, were sworn in for their new terms during this month’s council meeting.
Conard, who is starting her fifth four-year term, and the three council members ran uncontested for their seats during November’s election.
Schools are closed for the third consecutive day Thursday as islanders awakened to roads that resembled sheets of ice in Oak Harbor.
Getting out of driveways and neighborhoods was the biggest problem, as drivers lucky enough to reach Highways 20 and 525 found conditions manageable if they drove at 35 mph or less as Washington State Department of Transportation snow plows had done their job.
The Tuesday morning snow storm blowing through Whidbey Island prompted Island Transit officials to cancel all bus routes until further notice.
Several inches of snow fell Tuesday morning on Whidbey Island and between five and 10 inches of snow is forecast to fall tomorrow. If the conditions continue to worsen, it’s likely buses won’t be traveling on Wednesday.
Whidbey public schools closed Tuesday and the Puget Sound region is bracing for more snow that is expected to fall this week.
Parts of Whidbey were snowed under this week, including Oak Harbor and Clinton, though most areas in between were clear. But it started coming down hard Monday morning, school superintendents announced closures Tuesday, and several inches or more of the white stuff covered the island. It wasn’t unusual to see cars stuck in ditches or unable to make it up hills.
For the Czarnicks of Coupeville, getting around town will soon be cheaper at the pump. They have a street-legal golf cart ready to zip along the roads of the historic town.
Tuesday night, the Coupeville Town Council approved an ordinance allowing the electric vehicles to travel alongside larger vehicles on the roads through the town’s one-square-mile of territory.
For the first time in recent memory, the head of Coupeville’s police force will be living off Whidbey Island.
Mayor Nancy Conard swore in Lance Davenport during Tuesday’s Town Council meeting.
Davenport, who has nearly 20 years in law enforcement, lives in Duvall and was previously working for the Mill Creek Police Department. He takes over for David Penrod, who retired at the end of 2011. Both Penrod and his predecessor, Lenny Marlborough, lived on Central Whidbey.
Whidbey Island’s three state legislators are gearing up for a new session starting this week that likely includes more program cuts.
Volunteers were busy disposing Christmas trees while helping a popular charity at the same time.
Pioneer Tree and Landscaping set up next to the greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce building Friday to throw people’s Christmas trees through the chipper while collecting donations for Habitat for Humanity of Island County.
Several Coupeville property owners received an unexpected gift courtesy of the town.
Coupeville is refunding $13,000 in total park impact fees to 14 property owners.
The refund stems from a situation concerning a quarter-block-long stretch of sidewalk on Coveland Street that was installed in 2008. After consulting with the Washington State Auditor’s Office, town officials decided to use park impact fee proceeds to pay for the new sidewalk, said Mayor Nancy Conard.
