Rachel Rosen reports from the Oak Harbor City Council’s workshop of Aug. 24, 2022.
Oak Harbor city staff is considering raising system development charges as well as lowering utility rates by 3%.
During Wednesday’s city council workshop, Public Works Director Steve Schuller said that the calculations that determine what fees developers in Oak Harbor pay haven’t been updated since 1996.
They Said It
Councilmember Shane Hoffmire said that while he agreed the calculations needed to be updated, he was only comfortable with matching Oak Harbor’s system development charges with what Marysville currently has and phasing them in over 24 to 36 months.
“We’ve been struggling the past number of years with our new home construction,” said Councilmember Dan Evans. “We were averaging somewhere around 200 homes a year for a good period of time. It dropped down to seven at one point and we’re just starting to come back up.”
His concern was that a new change in fees would cause new home construction to drop again.
“I want to be sure we’re not kicking the can down the road,” Councilmember Beth Munns said. “I know we still have miles of water pipe or storm water that need to be repaired.”
