New Year’s Greetings
CRUISE THE GALLERIES First Friday includes work by Northwest Coast artists Page 14
drawn by Island students See pages 12-13
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2013
Park district eyes user fees
Vol. 58, No. 01
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
A BIT OF SUNSHINE AS THE YEAR ENDS
Proposal before board could raise $45,000, helping to shore up agency’s budget
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
SEE USER FEES, 5
Solar project lags as organizers look to change state laws By LESLIE BROWN
By LESLIE BROWN
The Vashon Park District, looking to shore up its 2013 budget, is eying a proposal to reinstitute fees for sports and performance groups that use facilities it owns or manages, including fields, gyms and the high school theater. Should the proposal pass at the agency’s board meeting next Tuesday, those fees could bring in $45,000 this year, funds commissioners say the park district needs in the wake of declining property tax receipts, its main source of revenue. “The bottom line — what is motivating this — is that we need revenue to support operations,” David Hackett, a commissioner, told the other board members at a board meeting on Dec. 18. “The fee policy could raise, conservatively, $45,000.” The park district levied such fees years ago, a practice it shelved because of complaints about the inconsistent way those fees were applied. Last year, Hackett spearheaded an effort to create what he called a more equitable fee structure, with the caveat that those fees would go into earmarked accounts and would be used only to maintain or improve the fields, gyms or theater. The commissioners put the measure on hold last April after some youth sports groups said the fees could
75¢
Leslie Brown/Staff Photo
Mike Rozak pushes his daughter, Theadora, 3, on a swing at Ober Park on Thursday. He and his family were visiting Vashon, staying at a rental at Manzanita and waiting for a break in the weather so they could get outside, he said. Last week’s brief dry spell was a reprieve to rain-soaked islanders and visitors alike, the first dry days in three weeks. According to weather reports, December saw 6.79 inches of rain, nearly an inch and a half above normal.
The Backbone Campaign is putting its ambitious community solar project on hold after a two-year effort by organizers that has proven far more complex than they had envisioned and has yet to generate enough investors to pay for the $540,000 project. But Bill Moyer, Backbone Campaign’s executive director, said he’s not walking away from the concept of community solar. He said he’ll now turn his energy toward trying to fix a state law that he says is poorly written and has made the vision of investor-backed solar projects increasingly difficult to realize in communities across the state. “Rather than give up on community solar entirely, … I am changing strategy to address what I believe are the reasons our community solar project proved too difficult,” he said in a letter emailed to a number of community members. The problem, he said, is that the state-backed incentives for investors are slated to sunset in 2020, a “ticking clock” that makes the project a race against time and that jeopardizes projects that take longer to get off the ground or start later. What’s more, he said, it’s not clear what happens in 2020 when the incentives end but the array is still capable of generating power. Because of the complexities, he said in an interview Thursday, it was hard to explain the project to potential investors. “People’s eyes just started glazing over,” he said. “It’s too complicated.” As a result, he added, he wasn’t able to tee up enough interest in the project. He started working to secure investors — community members willing to invest $1,000 or more in the project — last August, after the state Department of Financial Institutions gave the SEE SOLAR, 13
Finding Faith | An occasional series
For Methodists, community service matters By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Drive by the Vashon United Methodist Church at the south edge of town, and black and white signs rise up to meet you. “We believe all persons are of sacred worth,” the first three read. The fourth adds, “Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” Parishioners recently selected those words — the motto of the United Methodist Church — to try to make clear to the public what the church stands for, according to the church’s pastor, Rev. Kathryn Morse. The words are the foundation of the church’s social principles, she noted, and while
the signs will change in the coming months, that message came first for a simple reason. “It expressed best what we are trying to say,” she said in a recent interview in the church’s quiet sanctuary, decked out for Christmas, with poinsettias in full bloom and a Christmas tree in a prominent front corner. Many Islanders may never have stepped inside the sanctuary for a Sunday service but might be familiar with the church anyway, as it is houses a variety of activities. Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
SEE METHODISTS, 19
Rev. Kathryn Morse said Vashon’s Methodist church is open to a range of beliefs.