Examiner The Whidbey
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Thursday, January 7, 2016
VOL. 21, NO. 22
Madrona Way project suspended until spring By Megan Hansen Co-editor
ing to LaConner. He’s been with the company for nearly 30 years and used to manage the Oak Harbor store. “I don’t think we would have taken this on if Chuck wouldn’t have been here,” Terry Johnson said. “He has great vision for the company.” Posey met with the Johnsons at the store site in October and was asked how long it might take before the new outlet could open. “I rather flippantly said 90 days,” Posey said with a smile Monday. “Yesterday was day No. 86.” To accomplish that goal, Posey rarely budged from the Prairie Center site as he and his team often worked from sunrise to sunset to get the store ready. He said he was grateful for the hospitality of the nearby Tyee Hotel and Restaurant, where he slept and dined since Oct. 11. “They are great people over there,” said
Officials with the Town of Coupeville announced late last month that the Madrona Way project will be suspended until spring. Madrona Way will remain closed to through traffic, only open to the residents, as it has been during the construction period. The issue, said former Mayor Nancy Conard before she left office, is that with so much rain in the last two months, crews have been unable to lay the asphalt. “It was a hard decision to make,” Conard said. “But we figured with the money we’re spending on this, we want to make sure we did it right.” As of Dec. 22, the town’s wastewater treatment plant had recorded 4.5 inches of rain in December. “It’s just too wet to lay asphalt,” Conard said. “At this time, our contractor and engineer are recommending that we stop work and apply the asphalt next year, as soon as we get a break in weather. This could occur between February and April, depending on temperatures and rainfall.” The first phase of the project, which included replacing water and sewer lines and installing a sewer lift station at the intersection of Madrona Way and Vine Street, was substantially completed Dec. 24. All water and sewer lines were replaced and reconnected to the existing homes earlier this fall. The lift station was expected to be fully operational by Christmas. Under Phase 2 of the project, stormwater collection lines, drains, ditches and swales have been constructed and are operational. The road base has been completely rebuilt. Compacted gravel walk-
See FRONTIER, page 8
See MADRONA, page 8
Ron Newberry photo
Rick Widdison, right, is the first customer to be rung up at the register during the first day of business at the new Frontier Building Supply store in Coupeville Monday. The store is different than other Frontier outlets with a bigger focus on plumbing, electrical and farming supplies.
Frontier opens its doors Company changes its business model to fill needs of community By Ron Newberry Staff reporter
Rick Widdison couldn’t wait until Frontier Building Supply opened its new Coupeville store Monday morning. Widdison, a longtime Coupeville resident and general contractor, stood in the dark near the entrance several minutes before the store’s scheduled 7:30 a.m. opening, eager to see what was inside. He was waved in early, mingled for a bit, then grabbed a blue tarp and a bottle of Xtreme Blue windshield washer, and eventually became the first customer to be rung up at the register. “When I heard they were coming here it was like ‘hallelujah,’” said Widdison, owner of Raw Enterprises. “I really want for them to be successful here.” The opening of a new lumber yard and supply store in Central Whidbey is a welcome development in a town where residents and home builders have had to travel to other communities to pick up essential items in recent years.
Recognizing the void in Central Whidbey after ProBuild closed its store in the same location four years ago, Frontier Building Supply signed a lease with building owner Ken Hofkamp to bring a lumber yard back to Coupeville. The new store, located at 102 S.W. Terry Road, is the company’s fifth outlet, joining its anchor store in Anacortes and other sites in Oak Harbor, Freeland and Sedro Woolley. However, Coupeville’s store is unique because it devotes more attention to farming, electrical and plumbing supplies than the other stores. “Our forte is the lumber business but we’ve always been retail-friendly and we’ve always been a little bit of hardware,” said Chuck Posey, the company’s general manager. “When we decide to do this project, we had so many people who wanted to know if we could be a farm supply store as well. We looked into it and made the decision to commit to that and we’re on a real steep learning curve to learn that business. But we’ve located some people who are really good and have been able to utilize their knowledge base.” Posey’s connections to Coupeville led to the decision to open the third store on Whidbey Island, according to Terry Johnson, who owns Frontier Building Supply along with his brother, Mike. Posey used to live on Whidbey Island near Penn Cove for a number of years before mov-