Sedro-Woolley information (Concrete, Hamilton: relocation, real estate, travel)

[dentedvw]

My wife and I will be coming to Sedro-Woolley in two weeks to consider a job offer and relocation. We are really looking forward to checking out some house rentals, and so on. I wish I could say we were going to spend our time recreating, but there are too many important things to look into first.
We are looking for a place to move to mainly to be closer to our second love: recreating outdoors. We are avid kayakers, climbers, skiiers, and mountain bikers. I may be returning to school part time, so that could be a consideration, but family life comes first.
She is interviewing for a position in Sedro-Woolley, and it looks marvelous of course, but I would like to hear from residents about living conditions, crimes, issues of any sort? Are there water rights issues, or water quality issues? We live in Lansing, Michigan now, and while there is abundant water, it isn't always very clean. We are first and foremost an agricultural state, followed by industrial. Water can be very unclean in some areas. We already find ways to conserve water in our everyday routine, and electricity as well. I guess you could say we are conservationists.
We don't fit in very well here though, there aren't many people like us, and we have to travel very far sometimes in order to climb, bike, and kayak and ski. We are hoping to live closer to our favorite activities.
We have a young daughter who is just beginning to enjoy the same things as us as well.
Well, we welcome all advice.

[wythors]

Having lived in Skagit County though never in Woolley, I can offer you some insight.

The water quality in SC is great. In fact, one bottled water company actually sources it's water from a fire hydrant in Concrete. There is no shortage of water in the area in any way. In fact, SW is located on a flood plain and that should factor MAJORLY into where you choose to live. The Skagit River runs right through town and floods on a regular basis. The dikes and levees usually hold it back, but the city itself has flooded several times.

Woolley is very rural and the population tends to run towards the redneck end of the spectrum. It is a very socially conservative area and minorities, other than Latinos, are few and far between.

As far as recreational opportunities go, there will be no shortage of things for you to do. Hiking, climbing, skiing, kayaking, white water rafting are all available within 90 minutes drive of Woolley.

[dentedvw]

I guess now our only trouble is finding a home to rent/lease while we try to sell our home here in a very depressed real estate market.

[Jiff]

Originally Posted by wythors

. The Skagit River runs right through town and floods on a regular basis. The dikes and levees usually hold it back, but the city itself has flooded several times.
.

The Skagit does not run through Sedro Woolley and I have never heard of it flooding the town. You might be thinking of Mt Vernon, but dikes and sand bagging have kept its downtown dry. Hamilton, about 15 miles upriver from SW, regularly floods, but does not have dikes.

Sedro was originally built on the banks of the Skagit but flooded so much it was relocated a half mile to the north in the 1890's. Shortly thereafter it and Woolley grew together.

dentedvw - there are no water quality or quantity problems around SW.