By LESLIE BROWNStaff Writer

The school district’s five board members are begin-ning to rally around a pro-posed $47.7 million bond measure that would pay for the construction of a new high school classroom building and the renovation of several existing structures on the sprawling campus.

But a wholesale rebuild of the high school’s aging gym would be deferred and would be financed by a sec-ond bond measure some-time in the future.

Board chair Bob Hen-nessey said he expects the two-pronged proposal to come before the board at its meeting Thursday night for a “first reading.” It’s expect-ed to go to the board for final approval at its Dec. 10 meeting, he said.

Both he and Super-intendent Michael Soltman said the emerging consen-sus represents a significant breakthrough for the board, which offered up a $75.5 million measure late last year that did not have the board’s full support. That measure, which requires a supermajority, failed, 51 to 49 percent, in March.

“The five of us are all there,” Hennessey said. “And we haven’t been there before. So I think that’s going to make a huge dif-ference in its salability to the community.”

Soltman agreed. “I think it’s wonderful that the board is reaching consensus on the subject,” he said.

Dan Chasan, one of two board members who didn’t support the $75.5 million measure, said he backs the latest proposal, which he labeled “reasonable.”

“It seems to tackle the big things that are obviously wrong. It does not go over-board in providing things that may be desirable but seem to rank lower on many people’s list of priorities,” he said.

Under this phased ap-proach, floated as an idea by outgoing board member John “Oz” Osborne at a board meeting last month, the district would build a new classroom building for $16 million and fully reno-vate Building A — the cur-rent main building at the high school — for $17 mil-lion. The bond would also provide $2.5 million for sev-eral upgrades to McMurray Middle School and Chau-tauqua Elementary School, including a remodel of

Chautauqua to accommo-date school district offices.

But deferring improve-ments to the high school’s 50-year-old gym carries some concerns because of its age and poor condition, Hennessey said, so the mea-sure includes $400,000 to provide what he called “a bare-bones” gym renovation project and $1.5 million in a contingency reserve “in case the HVAC system blows up.”

Soltman said he hoped that this approach, were it to garner voter approval, would lay the foundation for a second phase.

“We have to pick a por-tion of the project that is most essential, complete it well — on time and on bud-get — and then ask the vot-ers to come back and finish the remainder of the proj-ect,” he said.

Island activist Hilary Emmer, however, who was an outspoken critic of the $75.5 million measure, said she thinks the new proposal is still priced too high.

“You need to be reason-able. The economy is still very bad for many people,” she wrote in a letter to the board. “Voters need some-thing affordable.”

Board member Laura Wishik, in a response to Emmer, said board mem-bers realize many Islanders are still struggling and as a result may decide to defer the measure until next November rather than put it forward in February.

“I would not want the pub-lic or our supporters to feel disrespected by the board putting forth a bond when people are in real pain finan-cially,” she told Emmer.

Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s new ambulance has brighter lights, room for more patients and a stowage area for firefighters’ gear. It’s 15 years newer than the ambulance it replaces — a mechanical nightmare of a rig that once had to be jumped at a hospital.

The new ambulance arrived two weeks ago and has already been road-tested on several emergency calls, said George Brown, Vashon Island Fire & Rescue’s assis-tant chief for operations. It’s one of two ambulances housed in Fire Station 55 on Bank Road, and one of four Islandwide.

The ambulance, cus-tom-built with a standard Ford chassis and frame with a Braun Northwest-built transport box, cost $146,000, and King County Medic One paid for the pur-chase.

The new ambulance was

built by Braun Northwest, a company located just 70 miles from Vashon in Centralia. The local com-pany put in the low bid on the project and was award-ed the contract to build the ambulance in January.

“The crews are very happy,” Brown said. “It’s a sense of security for them, because it was always a question of what would happen next (with the 1994 ambulance). It sure kept the mechanics busy.”

The new ambulance, though only two inches lon-ger than Station 55’s other aid car, seems much roomier inside. It’s better configured inside than Vashon’s two 2002 ambulances, said fire department maintenance supervisor and mechanic Brett Kranjcevich.

It can fit three patients compared to the other ambulances’ two maxi-mum; there’s more storage

space inside, as well as an exterior compartment for firefighters’ gear.

“The layout of the interi-or makes it much friendlier to house and treat patients,” Kranjcevich said. “It has a different layout and a differ-ent feeling.”

Both the inside and out-side of the ambulance are equipped with LED lights, which are brighter and bet-ter than the halogen lights in the other ambulances, Kranjcevich said.

— Amelia Heagerty

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 • Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber WWW.VashoNBeachcoMBer.coM Page 3

Have Your HolidayParties with Us!Vashon Island Golf and Country Club invites your businesses, families and groups to make VIGCC the

place for your holiday parties, functions and meetings. Large or small, formal or casual, make your holidays a memorable one with our beautiful venue, great food

and spectacular service.

Competitive prices, call me today!

206.463.9410

and spectacular service.

Competitive prices, call me today!

206.463.9410

Have Your HolidayParties with Us!Vashon Island Golf and Country Club invites your businesses, families and groups to make VIGCC the

place for your holiday parties, functions and meetings. Large or small, formal or casual, make your holidays a memorable one with our beautiful venue, great food

and spectacular service.

Competitive prices, call me today!

206.463.9410

Eagle’s #3144Veteran’s DayDinner Event

TONIGHT! Wed., Nov. 11thSocial Hour: 5:00 pmDinner: 6:00 pmMusic: 7:00 p.m. by Portage Fill

Raf� e & Door PrizesTickets: $15 per person

Available at the Eagles November 1st–10thAll tickets, including complimentary Veteran’s tickets must

be acquired before the event.

Veteran’s Dinner MenuHerb Roasted Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Baby

Carrots, Rolls, Green Salad & Cheesecake

Wed., Nov. 11th

Raf� e & Door PrizesRaf� e & Door PrizesTickets: $15 per person

FREEfor IslandVeterans$5 for Spouse

or Widow

FRIDAY’S MENUPrime Rib $12.00Baked Salmon $12.00Flat Iron Steak $12.00

18134 Vashon Highway SW • 206.463.5477

FRIDAY’S MENU(Liquor service is not available to the public) WAC 314-52-115(1)

www.giraffevashon.com

Set your table with Giraffe.

Everyday cook and

table ware,linens, candles,

and more.

463-137211-6 Mon–Fri10-6 Saturday12-4 Sunday

School board to vet $47.7 million measure

Vashon’s new custom ambulance arrives

amelia heagerty/staff Photo

Assistant Chief George Brown and maintenance supervisor Brett Kranjcevich show off the new ambulance and its oxygen tank.

By LESLIE BROWNStaff Writer

The Vashon Chamber of Commerce plans to leave Courthouse Square and lease an office in town — a move, chamber officials say, that will enable it to bet-ter serve both visitors and chamber members.

At its board meeting on Wednesday, chamber offi-cials said the organization will lease the office former-ly occupied by The Brown Agency at Vashon Village, across the street from the Vashon Library. The Brown Agency is now located at the former site of Wendy’s Weather’d Wear in Vashon Village.

The organization expects to save some money with the move; the rent is a bit lower at the new site, said chamber president Linda Bianchi. But most impor-tant is that the new location puts the chamber in town, she said, where it can have a greater presence and pro-vide a drop-in center for visitors who have questions about the Island.

The chamber plans to have a sign near the curb at Vashon Village not-ing its location within the small office park, she said. Chamber officials hope to keep the office open Tuesday through Saturday, staffed in part by volunteers. It will move into the new location Feb. 1.

“The number-one goal is to get the chamber back up town, where we have more visibility,” she said in an interview. “We want a more visible location.”

The chamber used to be located in Vashon town — first in the brick storefront

that houses Winterbrook Realty and Vashon IT and later at Parker Plaza. It moved to Courthouse Square in 2004, when Tom Bangasser, who developed the site, was president of the chamber.

Courthouse Square is currently owned by CHS Vashon, Inc., a wholly owned affiliate of Vashon College, which Bangasser helped to found.

Bangasser, who attends chamber board meetings and often spars with the board, said the move doesn’t hurt Courthouse Square’s bottom line or particularly trouble him.

“I’ve managed commer-cial real estate for 40 years. And tenants come and go,” he said.

But he said he thinks the chamber is making a mistake by moving, since the current office includes many amenities, including free wireless, utilities and access to a large room for board and general mem-bership meetings. What’s more, he said, his research when he was president of the board showed that most visitors either call or e-mail

the chamber if they have questions.

“We determined that for that random stopping-by, a street presence is very expensive,” he said.

The chamber, he said, could easily develop some kiosks that provide infor-mation to visitors, some-thing the organization, he added, has been talking about for four years.

“If we can’t build a kiosk after four years, why are we spending all this money trying to promote tourism?” Bangasser asked.

The chamber recently hired Blonde Ambition, a local marketing firm, to develop a plan for attracting more tourists to Vashon; it has paid the firm $7,000 for its work thus far.

Bianchi, however, said the chamber’s move to Vashon Village will enable it to develop the gazebo at the entrance to the office park as a place to house visitor information. The gazebo will need to be remodeled so that it can be locked at night, she said.

The move, she added, will likely appeal to the busi-ness community as well as

visitors. “Businesses didn’t like us

located outside of the town core,” she said. “We’re hop-ing to gain some of those members back.”

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 • Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber WWW.VashonBeachcoMBer.coM Page 3

www.vashonbeachcomber.com

CONTENTSArts A14-15Calendar A10FYI A23Opinion A6-8Sports A18-19

We can custom frameObjects in Shadowboxes

Oil PaintingsPastels

WatercolorsPrints and Posters

Childrens Art

We also haveStretcher bars

MatsTabletop EaselsPhoto Albums

Readymade FramesPrecut Metal Frames

Holiday HoursTues–Thurs 10-7

Fri–Sat 10-5 • Sun 12–4

9926 SW Bank Rd.463-3933

Feel good about giving this holiday

SHOP HERON’S NEST

VashonAlliedArts.orgTUES–SAT 11–5SUNDAY 12–3

463-5252

VAA Members discount 15% December only

Mon-Fri 10-6 • Sat 9-5 • Sun 12-417321 Vashon Hwy SW

463-2200

QUALITY PET PRODUCTS

Come say hi to the head cheese.

It’s her birthday. She’s not saying which one.

www.giraffevashon.com

Special for holiday dinners.

This week only.

LaChamba bakeware on sale 15% off

463-137210-7 Mon–Fri10–6 Sat11-5 Sunday

Vashon VintagePre-Holiday Sale

20% offEverything!

Cabin Cottage GiftsAcross from Ober Park next to Windermere

VashonMini Storage

Inside Storage

Call 206-463-92538am – 8pm

Chamber of Commerce to move into townWishik chosen as school board chair

Laura Wishik was select-ed as chair of the Vashon Island school board at its Dec. 10 meeting; Dan Chasan was chosen to be vice chair.

“My priorities are to maintain financial viabil-ity of the district in light of what are going to be even worse budgetary issues than we’ve faced in the past, and keeping the momen-tum moving on curriculum alignment,” Wishik said.

She said she doesn’t anticipate any changes in the way meetings are run, and added that she’s look-ing forward to keeping the board’s business open to the community.

“My philosophy is to be as welcoming to the pub-lic as possible, at the same time getting the business done that we’d like to do,” Wishik said. “It’ll be fun.”

The school board’s next meeting is at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 14, at McMurray Middle School.

restaurant to donate to schools

The restaurant Spice Route will donate half of its proceeds on Tuesday, Dec. 22, to the Vashon Island School District and the other half to a fund set up to help relatives of the four slain Lakewood police offi-cers.

Preetam Singh, the res-taurant’s manager, said 100 percent of the sales from that day — not simply the eatery’s profits — will go toward the two causes.

“We want to become part of the community,” he said. “These are hard times right now for businesses, but we still want to do it.”

Spice Route, located at the intersection of Vashon Highway and Bank Road, will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Singh said sales could come in as low as $100 or, “if we’re crowded all day,” as much as $10,000.

IN BRIEFOrganization will leave Courthouse Square for central location.

By JANICE RANDALLFor The Beachcomber

Enter Kay White’s Maury Island garden through iron gates and follow the narrow drive lined with ginkgo trees, heather and a colorful mix of perennials and annuals into 10 acres of park-like beauty born from time and a love of plants and trees. Views of a distant Puget Sound and Mount Rainier provide the perfect backdrop to this estate garden.

Kay and her husband Bill purchased the origi-nal home on five acres as a summer place in 1977. They soon decided to become full-time Islanders, bought the adjacent five acres and built their dream house. Clearing the land of blackberries and alder brought attention to the Douglas firs and madronas. Golf enthusiasts both, the Whites created a mini-golf course surrounded by plantings, including many rhododendrons and fruit trees, and two greenhouses to accommodate early starts for fuchsias, veggies and other weather-sensitive plants.

Bill passed away in 1990, and by then Kay had joined the Vashon-Maury Island Garden Club, a group she still avidly supports. “That’s how my fuchsia frenzy got started,” she says.

A third greenhouse was added, complete with exotic

tropical plants, a koi fish pond and a thatched-roof sitting area — a year-round summer paradise she fondly refers to as Gilligan’s Island.

Then there’s Kay’s “woodland park,” which started small and has

steadily expanded over the years. “Just about everything you see is some-thing we planted,” Kay says. Among the mix are lovely maples — Norway, Japanese and bigleaf — a forest of stately poplars and the Lath House, an open-

sided structure shaded in summer by dozens of hang-ing fuchsia baskets. Even in the winter, the garden offers color — bountiful mounds of pink, white and purple heather against a dark green palate of mature holly trees and rhodo-dendrons. When summer arrives, the roses bloom, dozens of fragrant varieties in a myriad of colors.

“We’re gradually elimi-nating the lawn,” adds Steve Amsden, estate man-ager since 1984. “There was never a master plan. It’s been an evolutionary pro-cess; it’s constant change. We’ve all learned through our mistakes, like planting trees too close together and not allowing for the space they will ultimately need.”

Property assistants

Myrna Hollis and Suni Kim primarily work in the greenhouses and help with Kay’s pride and joy — her field of bearded iris.

Kay’s garden was on the Garden Tour five years ago, and Amsden points out several areas that have evolved since then, includ-ing more raised beds and barrels for all the organic veggies and berries, new walkways and a kiwi-covered arbor. Within the woodland park is a tucked-away formal Japanese gar-den surrounded by a dozen sentry-like contoured Chamaecyparis trees.

A Vashon treasure, this garden is one to savor, something Kay does almost daily. “I love to walk the garden. It’s like a winding labyrinth,” she says.

Wednesday, March 10 , 2010 • Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber WWW.VASHONBEACHCOMBER.COM Page 21

# collin@landscapecraftsmen.com

20th Annual Vashon Island

2010

Monotype, Summer Flight by Lisa Guy

Friday Pre-Tour EventsGarden Connoisseurs

Friday, June 25, 1 to 4 pm

Sunset Garden GalaFriday, June 25, 6 pm ‘til sunset

The TourSaturday & Sunday

June 26- 27, 10 am - 5 pmFor information and ticket reservations

call 206.463.5131 or visit VashonAlliedArts.org

or brownpapertickets.com

Generously sponsored by:

www.giraffevashon.com

463-137211-6 Mon–Fri

10-5 Sat / 12-4 Sun

A thing of beauty can also be very functional. See hand painted mixing

bowls and casseroles look good and do good.

Giraffe now brings things from over 200 artisan groups in 68 countries

Janice Randall Photos

Kay White finds her garden meditative. Right, a sitting area overlooks her pond with koi fish.

Kay White’s expansive landscape is one of the jewels of the Garden Tour.