INSIDE: JEFFERSON HEALTHCARE ANNUAL REPORT
September 23, 2015 Issue 38/Vol. 126
RED CARPET OUT FOR FILM FEST: A3
SERVING PORT TOWNSEND & JEFFERSON COUNTY SINCE 1889
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Riding Ludlow’s real estate wave There’s high-end new construction; sales are ‘brisk’ and ‘balanced’ By Allison Arthur of the Leader Karen Best was watching a client measure carpet and decide on updates to a home built in the 1990s, the decade when Best first began selling real estate in Port Ludlow. Her conversation with those new buyers last Friday made Best, now one of the top-selling and the longestserving agents in Jefferson County, reflect on the changes she’s seen in the community. “I came in when things were going down, and there wasn’t a lot of new construction,” Best said of when she began selling property in 1993. “People were talking about updating the houses of the 1970s the way they are talking now about updating houses from the 1990s.” “There hasn’t been new construction since mid-2008 to 2009. That was the last of the new construction,” said Best, who is associated with Coldwell Banker. Times change. Port Ludlow has grown. Many of the real estate agents she worked with are gone, victims of the last great recession. Today, the real estate market in Port Ludlow and Shine is “balanced,” she said. And there’s new construction. “We are not back to where we were prior to the recession, but we are seeing some appreciation. It’s a much better market. I think it will continue to be strong, because we are seeing a lot of baby boomers retire to our community,” said Best. “They are
Jeff Lindberg of Taylor Built Homes refers to a set of construction plans Saturday, Sept. 19, while beginning to build a house from the foundation in the Ludlow Cove Cottages development in Port Ludlow. Photo by Nicholas Johnson
coming from all over, primarily from California, but from the East, Texas and West Coast. Right now, I’m working with someone from Portland.” What’s changed for Best, in addition to the loss of agents, is the age of
the Internet. “People are coming based on what they see on the Internet: Zillow, Coldwell Banker, Trulia, Realtor.com. I bet I get a lead a day,” Best said of prospective buyers surfing the net
and discovering “sleepy,” underpriced Jefferson County. Actually, that’s not exactly how she sees it, though she knows that’s how some see it. “There is a perception of Port
Kindergarteners going to school all day PT, Chimacum districts hire more teachers, carve out space to keep class sizes down
Housing authority looks at Lincoln Building
By Nicholas Johnson of the Leader
Teacher Heather Sanders leads her class of kindergartners Sept. 22 morning at Grant Street Elementary School in Port Townsend. Sanders’ class is one of five now offered at the school, serving some 87 kindergarten students. Photo by Nicholas Johnson
making the student-teacher ratio nearly 19:1. Instead, some 87 students registered, prompting officials to carve out a fifth class, resulting in a ratio of about 17.5:1. In year’s past when full-day kindergarten required parents pay tuition at Grant Street, enrollment hovered in the low 70s. “We had much greater enrollment than we initially anticipated,” said Grant Street Principal Lisa Condran. To make room at Grant Street, the teachers lounge has been relocated to a room where some students once ate lunch, allowPORT TOWNSEND ing a student reading room to Port Townsend School Dis- shift into its former space and trict officials predicted 75 stu- creating classroom space for the dents split between four classes, extra kindergarten class. Now,
CHIMACUM Chimacum has also added an extra class after initially an“We have a bit of a ticipating 64 students split between three classes, making the bubble in preschool student-teacher ratio about 21:1. and kindergarten Chimacum is now hiring a fourth kindergarten teacher. students.” Art Clarke, Chimacum School District business manager, said Patricia Beathard the state pays for a full-time superintendent teacher so long as a class has beBrinnon School District tween 17 and 24 students, and every district wants smaller class sizes, he said. That’s why Chimacum added all students eat lunch in their another class. As the school year started, Chimacum had 73 kinclassrooms. “It’s been a logistical head- dergarteners registered, allowing ache,” Engle said of making room the district to add another class for the extra, unanticipated class, and achieve a ratio of about 18:1. See CLASS, Page 18▼ which had its first day Sept. 22.
inside this issue
B: ThisWEEK Arts & Entertainment......................... 1-3, 5-6 Community Calendar......................................3 Quilcene Fair.................................................. 8,9 Sports........................................................... 12,13
50 pages
See LUDLOW, Page 10▼
School district’s demolition permit application on hold
By Nicholas Johnson of the Leader Now offering full-day tuition-free kindergarten, Port Townsend’s Grant Street Elementary has added a fifth class this school year to handle greater-than-expected enrollment and keep student-teacher ratios down. “We’re finding we’re in this bind of having funding for fullday [kindergarten] but not having enough space for it,” Port Townsend Superintendent David Engle said. “We thought that wouldn’t happen to us but now we’re a living example of that issue.” As the state phases in funding for full-day kindergarten, school districts around the state are struggling to make room for new classes. This year, nearly 72 percent of kindergarten students statewide are fully funded. Next year, state school officials hope to see that rise to 100 percent. By the 201718 school year, all school districts are required to offer full-day kindergarten. In Jefferson County, Port Townsend and Quilcene school districts began receiving money this year, while Chimacum and Brinnon have been receiving state money for the past two years.
Ludlow that it’s a sleepy, old, retired community and that it’s not vibrant, and that’s not true. It’s very vibrant, and there’s lots of diversity. It’s convenient to shopping. We have a great
A: FRONT Law & Justice.................................................. 7,8 Public Meetings............................................. 12 Opinion Forum......................................... 14,15 Community Record................................ 16,17
C: MARKETPLACE Business........................................................1, 11 Health...................................................................4 Classifieds & Legal Notices..................... 6-11 INSERTS: InHealth Imaging, Sound Bank, Harbor Freight Tools, Jefferson Healthcare, Leader Subscriptions
The Peninsula Housing Authority (PHA) is eyeing the Lincoln School building on the Port Townsend High School campus for potential renovation as affordable housing. Annie O’Rourke, the PHA’s director of acquisition and development, said she is drafting a letter of interest to present to the Port Townsend School Board during its Sept. 28 meeting. The PHA is researching the feasibility of converting the 123-year-old, three-story, brick structure into affordable housing, said O’Rourke, who added that the letter would not include a specific project proposal, but would ask that the district hold off on plans to demolish the building. Any plan to take on new construction or a major remodel of any facility could take at least five years just to gather the necessary funds, O’Rourke noted. In May, the school district applied for a demolition permit from the City of Port Townsend, with Superintendent David Engle saying that the plan was to bring the building down over the summer. That did not happen, and now the permit application is See LINCOLN, Page 18▼