Whidbey Daily

Whidbey Faces page 3 Vol. 1 Issue 11 | A partnership with the Whidbey Weekly | April 28, 2016

Social group sustains Dutch traditions

By KATHY REED Staff writer

While Oak Harbor’s annual Holland Happening celebrates Whidbey Island’s Dutch heritage the last weekend of April each year, the Holland-America Koffie Klets group celebrates that heritage all year round.

By CHRISTINE CRIBB Special from the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce

Founded in Sept., 2013 by longtime Holland Happening volunteer and Oak Harbor resident Jan Ellis, the group’s main focus is sharing good conversation, but around this time of year they put their Dutch heritage on display.

Holland Happening and all the family favorites are being planned, prepped, reserved and spiffed up. The theme of this 47th year is “Gemeenschap,” which means community. How fitting to celebrate this incredible community.

“We walk in the parade with our coffee cups and we have a booth at the street fair,” said Ellis. “We’ll also be selling Dutch licorice.”

Ellis, who is known for wearing traditional costumes from the province of Freesland, where her family is from, said she brought back 200 pounds of licorice on her last visit to her homeland, just for Holland Happening.

While that may be what the public will see this weekend, the group gets involved behind the scenes as well. Members are on the committee that helps the Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce with event planning. Several help with planning the community Dutch Dinner, which will be prepared by the Oak Harbor High School Culinary Arts team on Friday evening at the First Reformed Church. Koffie Klets members have provided recipes and guidance and will also help out the night of the event.

The rest of the year, however, members of the Koffie Klets group get together to swap stories, memories and good fun.

“We focus around Holland Happening time on the planning,” said Ellis. “Otherwise we

Holland Happens this weekend in Oak Harbor

Kathy Reed/Whidbey Daily News Members of the Holland-America Koffie Klets social group in Oak Harbor enjoy food and conversation at a recent meeting at San Remo's restaurant. Pictured from left to right are Jan Ellis, Marc and Dee DeLeeuwe and Jennifer Adema. Below Dwight Adema and Gary Nienhuis talk with Ellis and other group members.

get together and talk about news of what’s happening in Holland and we share stories.”

“It’s wonderful to hear the stories,” said Jennifer Adema, who belongs to the group with her husband, Dwight. “There are so many people on the island with a rich history.”

Along with family favorites like the Dutch Dinner Friday night, the carnival, the parade at 11 a.m. Saturday, the street fair and Klompen Canal Race, there are many new additions for the more than 8,000 people that will descend on historic downtown.

Sponsors make this event happen. Without the community support of monetary donations, the services that are inkinded and the volunteer time, this cherished event would not happen.

This year three trophies will be awarded for parade entries: Best in Theme, Best in Show and Best Kinderen’s (children’s) entry. All the entries for this year’s parade have been asked to display the Dutch theme with a minimum of twelve tulips. Our parade sponsor is Tradewinds Insurance and the parade Grand Marshall is newly retired US Navy Captain Nortier.

“For me, who grew up in a Dutch community, it brings all that culture back,” agreed Dwight.

Those story swaps have led to some interesting discoveries.

Koffie Klets members Marc DeLeeuwe and Gary Nienhuis both immigrated from Holland when they were young men.

As you stroll this year’s street fair your family will

KOFFIE Page 4

HOLLAND Page 4

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Photos by Kathy Reed/Whidbey Daily News A tight housing market in Oak Harbor has city leaders looking at options to accommodate upcoming growth at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Mayor Bob Severns hosted a community forum on the issue last week.

Oak Harbor leaders tackle housing shortage

By KATHY REED Staff writer A tight housing market in the Oak Harbor area is raising concerns regarding upcoming growth at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and the city’s capacity to handle the demand for housing.

Community and Navy leaders, real estate professionals and developers and community members gathered to discuss the issue last week at the Oak Harbor School District office.

Limited rentals, a limited number of homes for sale, limited space for development and rising rent prices are contributing to the tight market. But it shouldn’t be called a crisis, said Oak Harbor Mayor Bob Severns.

“I would never call it a crisis, I would call it an opportunity,” Severns told the crowd of just under 100.

According to Rick Chapman, owner of Coldwell Banker Tara Properties in Oak Harbor, there is about a one-month supply of homes for sale in the area from Libby Road to Deception Pass, based on his own unofficial analysis. Rentals are even tighter and the cost to rent is rising.

“Rents on North Whidbey have gone up in the last two years probably 30 to 40 percent in some cases, 25 percent average overall,” he said.

At the heart of the matter is the growth already beginning at NAS Whidbey. According to the base’s new commanding officer, Capt. Geoff Moore, the base will be getting three new maritime

patrol squadrons from Hawaii over the next 20 months.

Coupeville are the most popular places.”

NAS Whidbey Island commanding officer, Capt. Geoff Moore, share information at a community forum on housing Monday evening.

That represents uniformed personnel only, said Moore, and does not include more than 2,000 civilian government employees who work on base.

NAS Whidbey Island commanding officer, Capt. Geoff Moore, share information at a community forum on housing Monday evening.

Any growth associated with the Navy has a direct impact on the number of Navy-connected children who attend school in Oak Harbor. Superintendent Lance Gibbon said the growth within the district’s schools is welcome, but challenging. Already the district is seeing unexpected growth.

“Each one of those squadrons is approximately 300 people,” he said. “Based on the way the Navy moves people, we actually have some of those members already moving into the local area.”

Moore said the Navy defines a housing area by a one-hour drive from the installation. That means the housing area for NAS Whidbey includes Langley to the south, Anacortes to the north and the I-5 corridor to the east including Burlington, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Wooley.

“So when the Navy looks at the housing market, we do our analysis on these areas and do they have the capacity for our growth,” he said.

Moore said the last housing analysis done by NAS Whidbey completed last summer, there were about 18,000 rentals in that one-hour perimeter. That seems like plenty until one considers that most personnel prefer to stay closer to the base.

“What we found in our most recent housing analysis done by our director in the last couple of weeks is that about 70 percent of our current personnel live in the Oak Harbor district,” Moore said. “After that Anacortes and

“We actually received more students this fall than we would have predicted just based on the formulas,” he said.

Oak Harbor School Superintendent Lance Gibbon discusses plans the district has in place to meet projected student growth.

Oak Harbor School Superintendent Lance Gibbon discusses plans the district has in place to meet projected student growth.

Projections based on the standard district growth formulas show there could be a potential increase of more than 700 new students connected to Navy personnel.

“One of the challenges is where would 7- or 800 new students live in the Oak Harbor School District? There is not the housing available, we know that,” Gibbon said. “So we’ve actually already begun to adjust our figures with that in mind.

“We expect that there will be some initial influx, but once the housing maxes out, it’s going to level out over the next few years

even though the base personnel may increase,” he continued. “As the skipper mentioned, about 70 percent of personnel live in the Oak Harbor School District, but even more of those are families, and of about 90 percent of base personnel with children, their children are in the Oak Harbor schools.”

Gibbon said more than half of student in the district are Navy-connected. That doesn’t mean just active duty personnel, but also includes civilian base employees. Gibbon said the district had 188 new Navy-connected students this year and an additional 50 to 60 civilian students. They are expecting about 200 more students this fall. Most of that growth, said Gibbon, is in elementary enrollment.

The district is addressing the needed capacity in a few ways, said Gibbon. It has already added 20 portable classrooms, and will have 28 state-of-theart portables by this fall serving elementary schools. But that only gets the district through next year, so district officials will reconfigure existing schools.

“In the fall of 2017, we’re going to be creating a grade five-six intermediate school and

a grade seven-eight middle school,” he said. “The intermediate school will be located where Oak Harbor Middle School is now, and seven-eight will be at North Whidbey.

“So rather than add more portables to already crowded elementary campuses, we’re going to actually move the fifth-graders out and we’ll add them to these two campuses where we’ll have the facilities and space,” continued Gibbon.

“We might have to add a few portables here but not nearly as many, and that actually gives us capacity for growth at the elementary level.”

Gibbon said the district has already spent $2.5 million from its general fund on portable classrooms. Gibbon did not rule out the possibility of building an additional school, but said that would have to be determined by the numbers over the next few years.

Housing availability has been a current topic at the city for some time, according to Development Services Director Steve Powers, and the city is planning

HOUSING Page 4

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Whidbey Faces

Photos courtesy of AAUW Above, Whidbey's chapter of American Association of University Women honored this year's Academic Scholars Destiny Cleary, of Coupeville High School, Suzanne Kaltenbach of Oak Harbor High School and Amara Garibyan of South Whidbey High School. Below, winners of the Tech Trek camp scholarship are Brenna Richard of Oak Harbor Middle School, Ashleigh Merrill of Oak Harbor Middle School, Jillian Taylor of Coupeville Middle School, Kelly Murnane of Langley Middle School, Grace Nowicki of HomeConnection, Octavia Prosser of North Whidbey Middle School and Mikaela Labrador of Coupeville Middle School..

John Fisken/Whidbey Daily Newsl Oak Harbor senior Jared Gray runs the anchor leg of the 1stplace boys 4x100 meter relay at a track meet in Arlington April 21.

Gray also won the 110 meter hurdles, placed second in the 300 meter hurdles, and was a member of the 2nd place boys 4X400 meter relay team.

Janis Reid/Whidbey Daily News Mary Clarity and Kelsey Popp, both of Oak Harbor, practice their ukulele skills at an informal gathering Friday at the Terrace Wine Bar in Harborside Villiage on Pioneer Way. Courtesy of Selene Muldowny Contestants in the Presentation Level of the Whidbey Has Talent show line up on stage following Sunday's competition.This was the first year of the island-wide talent show.

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LOCALLY OWNED & OPERATED Kathy Reed/Whidbey Daily News Jan Ellis, left, is a longtime volunteer for Holland Happening and founder of the Holland-America Koffie Klets social group in Oak Harbor.

She is shown with Marc and Dee DeLeeuwe.

KOFFIE

said Ellis. “It’s fun to figure out those connections.”

Years later, as part of the HollandAmerica Koffie Klets, they began comparing stories. First, they discovered they had both come to the United States in 1951. Further conversation revealed they had not only come over the same year, they had both been on the same ship. Yet they had never met before winding up around the same table in Oak Harbor.

The social aspect is what’s most “The province of Freesland mainimportant to most group members. tained its own language and that’s what my parents spoke at home,” “They let me come,” joked she explained.

Bud Leurin, who gets a ride to the monthly gathering from other The Holland-America Koffie members.

Klets meets at 4 p.m. the fourth Thursday of the month at San Pride in their heritage also means Remo’s restaurant in Oak Harbor. members are quick to squash any There are about a dozen or so mem“rumors” that the Irish were actubers who attend meetings regularly ally the first to settle Oak Harbor. and there are another 30 people on the group’s mailing list. Anyone is “The Irish may have been the welcome to attend, especially those first settlers,” Gary Nienhuis said who want to share their Dutch with a wink and a smile, “but the heritage.

Dutch organized it.”

Continued from page 1

Stories like that are what makes the group special for members.

“When you meet someone with the same last name, for instance, you can figure out where they came from and that somewhere down the line they’re connected,”

HOLLAND

Continued from page 1

have one-of-a- kind opportunities to capture the energy of the festivities with handmade Dutch themed photo ops. Thank you to the talented Rob Brothers and donations by Sherwin Williams and Frontier Lumber.

The street fair venders have been selected by invitation only and the chamber believes we are creating a unique community market place that showcases our historic downtown, while keeping with a tradition of uniqueness and value.

The carnival is once again brought to us by Davis Amusement and sponsored by Ronnie Wright at Pacific Grace Accounting. Discounted all-day passes are on sale now at the Chamber. Bouquets of tulips

California, but didn’t speak a word of English until she started school.

“It’s about sharing culture and keeping our traditions alive,” said Ellis, who may have been born in

“We really just encourage other people to come,” said Dee DeLeeuwe.

are available for purchase two at a time - one for you and one to give away! The cost is only $5.00 and you can preorder at the Chamber. This year’s tulip Sponsor is Whidbey Tech Solutions.

Tavern's beer garden and entertainment.

The entertainment stage will be packed with local talents organized by the Whidbey Playhouse and sponsored by Jan Ellis and Windermere Property Management.

Join the Dutch Dinner from 5:30-7 p.m. Friday at First Reform Church for $15. The entire authentic meal is prepared

by Wildcat Catering from Oak Harbor High School.

Other Saturday events going on you won’t want to miss: Oak Harbor Christian School Eagle Run; Rotary’s Walk of Honor Car Show; Oak Harbor

LOCARNO

Thank you to all our sponsors for their support of this timeless tradition: Windermere Property Management, City of Oak Harbor, Tradewinds, Jan Ellis, Regency on Whidbey, The Greenhouse Florist and Nursery, Rob Brothers, Frontier Lumber, Sherwin Williams, Whidbey Tech Solutions, Whidbey Playhouse, Pacific Grace, Ronnie Wright, Island Life Photography, Whidbey Weekly and Whidbey Daily and countless volunteer committee members.

The Wow Wagon will provide information for locals and guests.

If you have a question let the Oak Harbor Chamber be your concierge. Look for anyone in a Dutch blue t-shirt, sponsored by Regency on Whidbey.

for a population increase of more than 3,700 over the next 20 years.

“That projected growth includes an increase that we believe is directly related to Navy growth that we’ve made an educated guess will reside in Oak Harbor,” said Powers. That figure does reflect the anticipated leveling off of growth at the base.

Construction underway at a housing unit along Fort Nugent Road in Oak Harbor is one example of housing growth in the city.

Construction underway at a housing unit along Fort Nugent Road in Oak Harbor is one example of housing growth in the city.

Powers said while it may be fair to say there isn’t as much land out there for development, the city has to look at more than just large, undeveloped pieces of property.

“A lot of times people stop me and say there just isn’t that much land out there,” he said. “That’s true if we’re thinking about big, green acre fields. But we’re not allowed to look only at those properties. We have to look at redevelopment potential of properties that already have a unit on them.”

Of those partially developed lots, the city has to determine just how much of the space is actually useable.

While a property may have enough space for five lots, for example, that may not be the case if the building is located right in the middle of it.

“If we look at Oak Harbor in general, our untapped potential at this point, if you want to call it that, is primarily in the southwest portion of the community,” Powers said. “There are smaller parcels scattered all throughout the fabric of Oak Harbor. They’re not the things that leap to your mind when you think about development potential, but it is part of what we have to count and take into consideration.”

There is about a one-month supply of homes for sale in the Oak Harbor area, according to Rick Chapman of Coldwell Banker Tara Properties.

In terms of meeting the upcoming demands for housing, Powers pointed to potential projects. Island Place was recently approved for 66 single family housing units and the Marin Woods proposal would add 43 single family homes. Pre-applications filed within the last six months included proposals for 59 single family homes, 30 townhouses and a total of 31 apartment units.

Overall, officials are confident the city will be able to meet the housing demand.

“It looks like we have enough capacity to handle our projected growth,” said Powers. “The real take away is we’re not going to be able to add large tracts of undeveloped property to our urban growth area with the sole purpose of developing subdivisions. We’re going to have to work inside our existing boundaries.”

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