Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 51 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
INSIDE: Parks camps on target, Sports, A7
Langley City Council approves plan for sidewalk dining By JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter
A proposal that would allow restaurants and eateries to set up cafe-style seating on select Langley streets has gotten an eager nod of approval from the City Council. Waiving its policy to adopt
an ordinance only after a second reading, the council last week unanimously approved rules that will govern such arrangements after a first reading. “I think this is one of the best ideas to come down in a long time,” Councilman Hal
Seligson said. “This will really change the atmosphere of the town … I think it’s just sensational.” Dubbed the “Street Cafe” ordinance, the proposal is modeled after similar programs around the country but is largely the brainchild of
Jeff Arango, Langley’s director of Community Planning. The idea is simple: foster a pedestrian-friendly environment within the downtown area and bolster local commerce by providing new opportunities for applicable businesses.
“Ideally, we’d like to get to a point where we have streets or blocks of this with concentrations of restaurants,” Arango said. “Then you start to create a scene and an activity center and start to have economic benefits, not just for restaurants, but for retail
businesses.” Businesses that receive permits from the city could set up in two ways. They could make use of an existing sidewalk or convert parking See SIDEWALK, A6
Lighthouse project wraps for South Whidbey High School BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter
LANGLEY — The light at the end of the tunnel finally came for South Whidbey High School students. After months of grueling and sometimes tedious work, the school year ended and the Admiralty Head Lighthouse project came to a close. Students have been pouring hours into recreating the original Admiralty Head lantern house since 2010. The current lantern house at Admiralty Head Lighthouse is a thin, Plexiglas version put in place after the original lantern house was removed in the early 1900s. The poor ventilation causes it to heat up quickly, causing discomfort for summer tourists climbing the spiral stairs to see the light in the lantern house at the top. The tub, or bottom portion of the lantern house, that South Whidbey students in Chad Felgar’s shop and metals classes had fabricated was welded and bolted to the window frame. The upper parts supplied by Oak Harbor and Coupeville high schools. Like many large scale projects with different contractors, the lighthouse needs a little more work before it can be installed at Fort Casey. In total, 85 students worked on the project, including design, public relations, welding and grinding. With the school year finished, students spent the final two days in Felgar’s class cleaning the tools, floor and entire shop. Others, like sophomore Taylor Jensen, were still spinning and cutting the brass pins for the three hinges of the door to the lantern room.
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Taylor Jensen works on the hinge pins for the lantern room door of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. The sophomore at South Whidbey High School just finished her first semester in the metals class that worked on most of the brass pieces. “It’s hard work, but it’s fun,” she said, with protective goggles on and her cutting machine shaping the head of the pin. Taylor was a novice to the shop and metals world. She had taken a few engineering classes prior to Felgar’s shop course, which came in handy when she designed the pins and vent covers. More experienced welding students like Zack Caravan handled the integrity portions. He welded
the tub to the middle section, and the top. As a student in independent study with Felgar, Caravan’s job is to keep himself busy with welding projects, and the lighthouse required lots of welding. Pieces like the beauty bars across the top of the tub now look as if they were always curved, angled and prefabricated, but students like Caravan had to bend, cut and shape the metals to fit the original design plans of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse.
“We did a lot of touch ups and beauty work on this, as a class,” Caravan said. It is, after all, a designated landmark, and to keep that status it must be nearly identical to the original. Materials for the project were mostly donated, which along with the work supplied by students, was estimated to be worth $93,000, Felgar said. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland donated the metal, along with Seaport Steel in
Zack Caravan, a junior, checks the vent of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse. He worked on the lighthouse, which will be transported to Fort Casey, as part of his independent study in metal work at South Whidbey High School. Seattle, while Simmons Glass of Clinton will do the windows. That’s just as well. Felgar’s most experienced students were finished with the lighthouse long before it was done. Drilling through the metal could take hours for only a few holes, at the cost of several broken drill bits. “You’d be breaking bits and throwing things,” Caravan said. See Lighthouse, A6