A MARKET FACELIFT Big changes considered for farmers market. Page 4
NEWS | Fire station streamlines burn permit process. [3] COMMENTARY | Consider what racism caused on Vashon. [6] SPORTS | Boys’ basketball team [14] inches closer to State.
11 SINGERS, ONE GUITAR Concert will showcase original songs by locals. Page 10
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 7
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
The end of a colorful era
Quilt shop to move off-island as building sells By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Island Quilter hummed with activity last Friday morning as a group of women bent over sewing tables in the front of the store, caught up in a class, while a steady stream of customers came to shop. Store owner Anja Moritz’s news — that she expects to move the store off the island at the end of April — circulated among those gathered, and many expressed shock and sadness. Sandy Crossland, a longtime customer from Tacoma, was silent when she learned. “Well,” she said, finally, “we need to find someplace else for y’all.” Sandy and her husband have been shopping at Island Quilter since Moritz first opened a much smaller shop in her house in 2007. Since then, they have come faithfully to her stores in the heart of town, first to her shop across the street, and, for the past three years, to her current location, which includes a gallery, classroom and sewing space, and room enough left over for thousands of bolts of colorful fabric. SEE QUILT SHOP, 13
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo
Paul Robinson and Anja Moritz help a customer purchasing fabric last Friday at Island Quilter. The customer, new to the store and from the East Side, came with a friend. “We’re going to follow her wherever she goes,” she said.
County pushes for septic fixes, hoping to open harbor to shellfishing Health department narrows focus to 18 waterfront homes By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
After working for years to get waterfront homeowners to update their failing septic systems, King County says it nearly has something to show for its effort. If 18 more homes along a stretch of Quartermaster Harbor can prove their septic systems are up to code and not polluting the water, that shoreline could be opened for shellfishing — something officials say would indicate a healthier harbor and open the way for millions in revenue from tribal and commercial geoduck harvesting. “Everyone sees this as such a large body of water that is so badly polluted,” said Darrell Rodgers, manager of community environmental health in King County’s
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Beachfront neighborhoods such as this one on outer Quartermaster Harbor have some homes with septic systems that are not up to code. The county hopes addressing the failing systems will ultimately allow for shellfishing along a 5-mile stretch of harbor. health department. “If we can get this going, it would be ... a win-win for everybody, including the Vashon residents.” The health department is now targeting those 18 properties, owned by 16 home-
owners that Rodgers called “the true holdouts,” hoping to allow shellfishing in the harbor by the end of 2015. While a few of the 18 homeowners need only to prove they’ve had an annual inspec-
tion, others have failed for years to repair or replace septic systems that are polluting the water, Rodgers said, and some have been ignoring the country entirely. Those who simply haven’t responded to county notices are now accruing fines and have liens against their homes. “There has been a tremendous amount of hand holding going on for many years, a decade,” Rodgers said. “The lien is the last thing we want to do. … That means we’ve bent over backwards and they’re like, ‘I don’t care. I’m not contacting you.’” Should the county be successful in getting all the identified properties up to code, a 5-mile stretch of Vashon Island shoreline from the Burton Peninsula to the southern end of Vashon Island could be formally opened for commercial and recreational shellfish harvesting for the first time ever. “That’s currently the area we’re all working on to try to find and fix the problems and get it up upgraded to approved,” said SEE SEPTIC, 19