Around Town
Island Rec offers free soccer camps for kids page 13
Scene
Black & White in the deep blue sea: photo exhibit, and more page11
Editorial
After 25 years at the helm of Friday Harbor, King Fitch deserves a fond farewell page 7
Journal
The 75¢ Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Vol. 105 Issue 25
of the San Juan Islands
DOE: fix it or shut it down
www.sanjuanjournal.com
Real estate on the rebound? By Scott Rasmussen Journal Editor
County seeks delay on deadline for repair of Sutton Rd solid waste site By Steve Wehrly Journal Reporter
The Sutton Road transfer station faces closure if San Juan County doesn’t establish a functional storm water treatment system for the drop-box facility by Sept. 30, as required under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the state Department of Ecology. The original order to obtain the permit was issued in April, 2009. One extension, dated July 22, 2011, was granted e x t e n d i n g Frank Mulcahy the deadline to Sept. 30, 2012. The county’s Department of Public Works estimates the cost of compliance at roughly $250,000. Public Works has been working since last November to create and implement a new system for handling solid waste after voters rejected the County See PUBLIC WORKS, Page 3
Journal photo / Scott Rasmussen
Seattle’s Carter and Sarah Green survey real estate listing on Coldwell Banker building while on a visit to Friday Harbor, Saturday.
Mr. Mojo’s return to the wild
See saleS, Page 4 Nicknamed Mojo, an abandoned Stellar sea lion pup returned to the wild in late May after it was nursed back to health at Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation over nearly four months.
By Scott Rasmussen Journal Editor
With a clean bill of health and 230 more pounds on its chassis, Wolf Hollow’s most voracious guest checked out and hit the beach at the end of May. Nicknamed Mojo, the young Stellar sea lion that spent nearly four months being nursed back to health at the San Juan Island-based wildlife rehabilitation center was escorted back to Washington’s outer coast
More interest. More volume. More offers, and more sales. The pulse of San Juan County’s real estate market began to quicken in the past two months. And while the median price of a home sale remains below the same mark of a year ago, $579,000 compared to $597,000 in 2011, an increase in property sales and transactions has San Juan County Land Bank officials breathing just a bit easier, for the moment. “The first three months of the year were miserable,” Land Bank Director Lincoln Bormann said. “Things started picking up in April and May was pretty good. So far, June has been significantly better.” In May, the Land Bank saw one of its biggest one-month gains from its principle funding source, a 1-percent excise tax on nearly all local real estate sales. That tax delivered $136,627 in revenue to the publicly owned land conservation agency’s bottom line in the month of May. The mark exceeds all the previous monthly marks dating back to December 2011. Bormann is keeping his fingers crossed that the momentum of May is no fluke.
Photos / Courtesy of Wolf Hollow
May 29 and released back into the wild, south of the Olympic Peninsula, in an area where many of its kind are known to congregate. “He hung around for a couple
of days and then headed directly north,” said Shona Aiken, Wolf Hollow education coordinator. Mojo had been outfitted with a satellite transmitter, attached to See Mojo, Page 4
2011 Special Award; Second Place: General Excellence from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Donate for fabulous 4th of July fireworks show
San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce seeks donation to ensure the rockets red glare. Pg. 16.