INSIDE: Hometown Hero Nancy Waddell ... Island Life, A12
Record South Whidbey
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 | Vol. 88, No. 75 | www.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.com | 75¢
Residents fire back over nightlife rules BY JUSTIN BURNETT Staff reporter Langley City Hall was overflowing Monday with people upset about a set of recently adopted emergency rules that place temporary restrictions on a favorite Second Street hangout. The crowd, estimated at more than 80 strong, were there to contest the new rules and their impacts on Mo’s Pub & Eatery. The tiny council chamber was quickly filled to capacity and people sat on floors, crammed into doorways and peered through windows to hear what was going on inside. Attendees included local residents and patrons, business owners, a PTA president and a mailman; even visitors from out of town showed up to complain about the new rules and their effect. “I’ll start a picket line next week ‘cause we only have two weeks left,” said Fred Dente, a former Langley resident visiting from Hawaii. Sitting in the front row of chairs before the council were tavern owners Maureen Cooke and Bob Trenchard. Holding a petition that Cooke claimed had more than 860 signatures in support of her business, she said the establishment will be severely impacted if the temporary rules become permanent. Not only will they make it nearly impossible to make any changes to the building, she said, but it will also hamper her ability to borrow money or sell the business in the future because it would be classified as a prohibitive use. “This really hurts me,” Cooke said. “I’ve put my life savings in this.”
Emergency rules In August, the council adopted a set of emergency interim regulations that address incompatible commercial uses in residential areas — namely taverns, liquor bars and lounges.
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Flowers, a candle and a hand-written card mark the makeshift memorial for Daniel Torget on Fish Road.
Justin Burnett / The Record
Mo’s Pub & Eatery owners Maureen Cooke and Bob Trenchard, front row second and third from left, listen as their attorney addresses the Langley City Council during a public hearing Monday. The hearing concerned recently adopted emergency rules that affect taverns and bars in residential areas. They were adopted by the council in an attempt to mitigate a wave of problems affecting neighbors. Cooke and Trenchard have been considering plans to expand and the interim rules are a means through which the city can temporarily halt those plans. Basically a moratorium, the rules are one of the few tools city’s can use to stop pending development before a building application is submitted. The idea is to allow time for thoughtful planning to address unforeseen situations, city officials say. Although cities can adopt the rules suddenly and without adhering to normal noticing requirements, a public hearing must be held within 60 days. Also, permanent regulations need to be adopted within six months or a year. Monday’s meeting was the public hearing and the large crowd took advantage of the time to make their feelings on the issue known. Many worried the rules would force Mo’s to close, thereby putting more than
20 people out of work. Kathy Ireland, a bartender and a PTA vice president of South Whidbey Elementary School, argued passionately that pub employees spend their paychecks in town. She also noted, as did several others, that the pub is one of the few places in town where people can go after hours to have fun. “It makes no sense to close down this establishment,” Ireland said. The rules don’t require the pub to close but it’s now classified as non-conforming and cannot expand. Jeff Arango, the city’s planning chief, explained that rules restricting the placement of bars in residential areas have been on the books for years. But, they are unclear and the city’s approval of Mo’s a little over a year ago was largely the result of a former city planner interpreting them differently than they had in the past, Arango said. The Langley Planning Advisory Board is in the process of creating new and permanent regulations.
The adoption of the emergency rules, along with other mitigating actions taken by the city council to curb noise and parking problems stemming from the bar, led many to accuse the council of targeting the pub. “It just seems unfair to me,” said Richard Bennett, a Clinton resident. “It’s not becoming of this community.” Another man said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to live in a town that operated that way. Whidbey Island Soap Company owner Kimberly Tiller followed by saying she also doesn’t like what’s happening. “As a business owner in this community, I fear to speak my mind often because I fear retaliation and that’s what I’m seeing happen with Mo’s,” Tiller said. “That concerns me greatly.”
The other side Not everyone was dead set against the emergency rules, however. Victoria See Nightlife A8
Freeland man, 21, dies after car crashes into pole BY BEN WATANABE Staff reporter FREELAND — Daniel L. Torget died in the early hours Sunday morning after his car collided with a power pole on Fish Road. He was 21 years old. Torget was a half-mile from his mother’s house near the intersection of Fish Road and Garden Lane. His 2007 Mazda 6, a black four-door sedan, went off the road at about 2 a.m. and slammed into a power pole, with impact on the front passenger side of the car. The cause of the crash was unknown, and Island County Coroner Robert Bishop said the blood toxicology report will take between three and four weeks. “There’s so many things from fatigue to messing with the radio,” Bishop said. “Who knows?” Bishop added: “He didn’t drive straight into it. He lost control of the car.” According to the Washington State Patrol incident report, Torget was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. Torget was driving west on Fish Road away from Highway 525 when the crash occurred. Washington
Daniel Torget State Patrol is investigating the cause of the crash and will determine the speed of impact. Bishop said the car’s airbags deployed, but were not enough to prevent blunt force trauma to Torget’s abdomen. “There was significant intrusion on the passenger’s side,” said South Whidbey Fire/EMS Deputy Chief Jon Beck. “At least 18 inches.” On Monday morning, a roadside memorial was set up around the power pole Torget crashed into. Gouges in the wooden pole with splinters still poking See Crash, A8