Sequim Gazette, November 05, 2014

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Channeling ‘Charley’s Aunt’ SHS stages classic farce

Super holiday costumes

Honoring our veterans

See Sequim’s best in an online slideshow at www.sequimgazette.com

Services, events set in Sequim

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SEQUIM GAZETTE www

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2014

Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper

com

75 CENTS

Vol. 41, Number 45

The lavender impact Sequim’s coveted crop pushes July taxes past Christmas sales

Find Election Night results online Results are in for the 2014 General Election. See which candidates earned leads after the first ballot count at www.sequimgazette. com. (For statewide results, visit www.sos.wa.gov/elections.) The next general election count is 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 7. Nov. 3, the day before election day, brought in 3,558 ballots from the weekend, bringing the total ballots cast as of Monday to 18,242 (a return rate of 38.9 percent), according to county officials.

by MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette

Lavender’s roots run deep in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley. Purple benches and trashcans line city streets and the plant is seen throughout the area in roundabouts, at

Stormwater master plan is under way

multiple farms and in front yards. The shift to agritourism began with the first farms and Sequim Lavender Festival on Aug. 2, 1997. Then, the event was one day, but now spans three days side-by-side with a separate event — The Sequim Lavender Farm Tour & Fair. The two events combine to make Sequim Lavender Weekend and bring tens of thousands of people through the whole month of July and summer. Mike Reichner, owner of Purple Haze Lavender Farm and one of the festival founders, said he knew it could

Making

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be this big years ago. “I thought we were reinventing the wheel,” he said. “I had no game plan but I felt in my heart it was going to work.” How has it grown? “Exponentially,” says Reichner. Without looking at personal finances from each individual lavender farm and business, one way to see lavender’s financial impact is through city sales tax receipts. City sales tax revenues between July 1997-July 2014 have more than tripled, from $76,106 to $241,567.

See LAVENDER, A-2

Splash

City officials anticipate state and federal regulations by ALANA LINDEROTH Sequim Gazette

Peering into the future and beyond the engrained concept of “Sunny Sequim,” city officials are developing Sequim’s first stormwater master plan. Among the jurisdictions on both the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas, Sequim is alone in its lack of a plan, program and utility fee for stormwater management. When City Manager Steve Burkett first began his work in Sequim five years ago, he admits he was “pretty amazed and surprised” to learn Sequim didn’t have a stormwater water plan or utility.

The plan To begin to understand the necessary elements for a useful stormwater master plan, Sequim city councilors unanimously approved a grant agreement with the Department of Ecology

See STORMWATER, A-4

Sequim school tours start today District seeks input about next construction bond proposal Sequim Gazette staff

The Sequim School District hosts four public forums/walking tours asking for feedback regarding school construction bond projects. The forums start at Sequim High School science building B-3 and includes a tour of the school district’s base kitchen and Olympic Peninsula Academy classrooms. A district van is available for those who may need assistance getting from one tour site to another. • 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., today, Wednesday, Nov. 5 • 3 p.m., Monday, Nov. 10 • 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13

See SCHOOL, A-4

Contributor Rich Taylor captured this scene at Marlyn Nelson Park and Port Williams Beach last week.

Baja comes down Consignment Co. pushes on while Mexican restaurant’s future uncertain

Garlington tapped as interim director Sequim Gazette staff

by MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette

The damage is done and now demolished at 820 W. Crews with We Dig It begin taking down the burned out building Washington St. What formerly housed Se- on Oct. 30 at 820 W. Washington St. that formerly housed Baja quim Consignment Co. and Cantina and Sequim Consignment Co. Photo by Bob Lampert Baja Cantina Fresh Mexican Grill was taken down last week by We Dig It, the 7,200-square-foot building. Linda “Candy” Diesen, owner of the builda Sequim construction firm. ing for about 11 years, said she watched Demolition began on Oct. 30, more than See BAJA, A-8 five months after a May 19 attic fire destroyed

Sequim City Manager Steve Burkett has appointed City Engineer and Assistant Public Works Director David Garlington to serve as the interim Public Works director for the City effective Dec. 1. “David will be taking responsibility for GARLINGTON the overall leadership and management of the Public Works Department along with the

See INTERIM, A-9

Sports B-5 • Schools B-8 • Arts & Entertainment B-1 • Opinion A-10 • Obituaries A-9 • Classifieds C-1 • Crossword Section C

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