February 2016
IN THIS
ISSUE
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School district needs our help with M&O levy, page 6
There will be fishing on the dock this summer
Library still needs our help with new building, page 7
FREE
Tower group needs our help with legal bills, page 8
ECRWSS PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Permit No. 14 Point Roberts, WA 98281 Postal Patron Local
Burning down the house...
By Meg Olson
s Firefighters direct water onto a fully engulfed structure during a practice burn on January 3. Story and photos, page 8 and 9. Photo by Ed Park
County council expresses support for lighthouse By Meg Olson Whatcom County Council has unanimously approved a resolution offering county council support for plans to build a lighthouse at Lighthouse Marine Park, and establishing their “desire for this project to move forward.” Approved at the January 12 county council meeting, the resolution recognizes “that a lighthouse at Lighthouse Marine Park would have a positive economic impact on Point Roberts and the county as a
whole by serving as a community gathering place, a recreational focal point, and a tourist attraction.” It also recognizes a $500,000 pledge by Darrel and Dorothy Sutton for the construction of the lighthouse, and “encourages county staff to work with the Lighthouse Society to bring this proposal to fruition.” “We need to make it work,” councilmember Barbara Brenner said at the December 8 meeting, following a presentation to the public works committee by
Luringly, lower loonie looses local largesse By Meg Olson With the loonie dangling around seventy cents for months, local businesses are tweaking operations and coming up with strategies to draw their dollar-shy Canadian customers in. “Our volume is definitely down,” said Snider Vick at the Point Roberts Shell Center, estimating sales are down 25 to 30 percent overall from 2014, a figure that most other business owners echoed.
During January and February, the Shell Center is offering selected items and services for Canadian at par for cash sales to their Shell Fuel Rewards members including coffee roasting, parcel pickup, baking and homemade food. Anyone with an email address can sign up for the rewards program. They can earn cents off the gallon for Shell purchases and purchases from participating online stores and restaurants, which fund the program. “We’ve had people come in who had earned a dollar off,”
Vick said. Open to Canadians, the program gives them an added incentive to come to the Point. At Auntie Pam’s Country Store, Pamala Sheppard gives a break on the exchange rate to cash-paying customers. “If they’re getting 80 cents of the dollar they’re happy,” she said. She is also planning a Canadian At Party one day a month. “The greatest impact is fewer people (See Loonie, page 6)
members of the Point Roberts Lighthouse Society, which all councilmembers attended. “We had a wonderful discussion and a whole bunch of people from Point Roberts came down.” Lighthouse society treasurer Mark Robbins said they had been working with the county parks department since 2009 and that progress has been “admittedly slow.” He said the group developed (See Lighthouse, page 6)
Church . . . . . . . . 18 Classifieds . . . . . 17 Coming Up . . . . . 16 Crossings . . . . . . 13 Obituaries . . . . . 18 Opinion . . . . . . . . 4 Seniors, Library . 14 Sheriff’s, Tides . . 18
INSIDE
The dock at Lighthouse Marine Park is on track to be fixed and back in the water this year. “We’ve come up with a solution,” said Rod Lamb, Whatcom County Parks and Recreation design and development supervisor. “We hope to implement that before the boating season.” Lamb said the dock’s failure, only a month after it was installed following six years without a dock, was due to a design flaw. “What went wrong is the structures that contained the wave attenuation chambers were also the ‘feet,’ for the dock,” Lamb said. Due to environmental constraints, the shoreward 20 percent of the dock is the maximum that can hit the ground at low tide, so that 20 percent took the entire load of the dock, and the framing wasn’t strong enough. “As the dock structure grounded out, it hit on the square aluminum tubing and deformed it.” According to Lamb, the dock manufacturer is making replacement parts up to the task, which will be installed on site. “We’re going to fix it,” he said. He added they were also working on obtaining a permit from the state to allow for ongoing clearing of the boat ramp. The county has also begun work on the wooden boardwalk used for public events such as the arts and music festival. The failing section of boardwalk has been removed and Lamb said they were beginning a design and engineering process. “We’ll come up with an approach for that area to maintain its day use function. It will likely include a playground,” he said, and some changes to the Orca Center. The old boat playground will probably be removed. “I’m not sure when it will happen but it will likely be a fall project at the soonest,” Lamb said. However, the fate of the Cedar Point trail, closed following a slide is uncertain. “We need to evaluate it and see if we can relocate that access point,” Lamb said.
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