Stronger economy is a goal

By DON CARTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Although Coupeville hasn't had a serious unemployment problem in recent years, Mayor Conard promotes economic development to lessen the town's dependence on seasonal tourism dollars. A stronger economy also would help the town afford more services, she said. "People aren't interested in more property taxes, but they want more services."

Because of the water supply, recruiting more industry is obviously out of the question.

The Coupeville Arts Center is the kind of business Conard said she'd like to see more of. The 10-year-old center offers classes and workshops on fiber, painting, photography and other arts, using nationally recognized teachers to draw students from around the country.

Each year, the Arts Center has about 1,300 students who help fill the town's restaurants and inns after the summer tourists are gone.

One of the town's vexing problems is a shortage of rental housing, according to the mayor. There are few apartments, so that newcomers such as young teachers often have trouble finding a place to stay, she said.

There is also a dearth of fast-food parlors, but Coupeville residents don't seem to mind.

Some will look you straight in the eye and tell you proudly that the town has a law forbidding McDonald's and other fast-food franchises from opening in Coupeville. But Conard said flatly that isn't true, that the town can't discriminate.

It's more likely that fast-food franchisees haven't found a market niche there, or that they've been discouraged by the limited vacant commercial sites, Conard said.

Coupeville's small commercial areas remain distinctly separated, the way they were carved up by the old sea captains and German farmers. The captains chose the waterfront, where they built the fancy Victorian homes that today are the center of the tourist area. The old turn-of-the-century downtown that remains architecturally true to its period, although most of the shops now are given over to art, crafts, upscale eats and kitcsh aimed at the tourist trade.

The farmers, who mostly built boxy, functional homes, settled where they found good dirt. Thus the functional Coupeville, where residents buy groceries, gasoline and lumber, attend school and rent videotapes is in the farming area just south of state Route 20. It's a fairly modern-looking area, architecturally far removed from the tourist center.

County government and the burgeoning health-care industry are between the tourist and commercial centers.

Continued:

• People and scenery lend charm to this historic town
• Stronger economy is a goal