OAK HARBOR: City Council asks questions, moves forward with parks, recreational facilities, and green spaces planning
Marina Blatt reports from the Oak Harbor City Council workshop meeting of Tue., Oct. 21, 2025 for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.
Summary by Perplexity.ai
The Oak Harbor City Council reviewed a new Parks, Recreation, and Open Space master plan for 2032, receiving both praise and skepticism. The plan covers development regulations, recreation amenities, conservation, and funding strategies. Finance Director David Goldman said it’s a modified plan based on older policies, with consultant costs between $100,000 and $165,000. The plan will aid grant applications and may be combined with a recreation center study.
They Said It
Mayor Pro Tempore Tara Hizon was in support of posting a “request for proposal” and evaluating the plan from there.
“It may end up being something we need to tweak or combine,” she said. “I don’t think it hurts to do that. “
Though not opposed to putting out an RFP, Councilmember Bryan Stucky wasn’t as keen on the master plan idea. After doing some research into the prior plan that ran from 2019 through 2024, he noted that the population hasn’t changed substantially since then and, outside of Freedom Park, the city hasn’t added more parks.
“Looking at it, it almost feels like as if you took that same plan and presented it today, what, six years later. I don’t see a whole lot of difference,” Stucky said.
Though Stucky noted he understood the purpose of the plan for the grant opportunity, he wondered whether they should be spending the money on a new plan that is mostly the same despite “little differences.”
“Had there not been a grant piece, this would be a pretty tough one for me to swallow,” Stucky said.
Councilmember Eric Marshall stated he wasn’t keen on merging it with the feasibility study for the recreation center. With so many plans, he is hesitant to have them all coincide.
Still, Marshall noted his support for the new plan as it would analyze the programs the city has already implemented and address future needs. He claimed a 2026 fall time frame for implementation would be ideal, as it would be around when other studies are completed.
