Jessie Stensland reports from the Oak Harbor City Council meeting of Jun. 7, 2022.
Whidbey leaders are in the unusual position of opposing a nonprofit organization’s application for state funding.
The Whidbey Camano Land Trust is pursuing a state Farmland Preservation Grant to purchase a conservation easement on 130 acres of farmland south of Oak Harbor.
The problem, from the point of view of city and county leaders, is that 70 acres of the property is in the joint planning area, the area earmarked to become part of the urban growth area, or UGA, in the future. The UGA, in turn, is the area where the city boundaries could expand in the future to make room for growth; a conservation easement, however, would protect the property from development in perpetuity.
They Said It
“There is probably nothing out there that would be more catastrophic to Oak Harbor’s future,” Oak Harbor Councilmember Shane Hoffmire said during a council meeting last week.
Hoffmire emphasized that the city can really only expand to the south because of the presence of the Navy base and geographical restrictions, which means the farmland is vital for future growth. Councilmembers Dan Evans and Bryan Stucky said they agreed with him.
“It’s not about the mission, it’s about the location,” Councilmember Jim Woessner said, pointing out that the city is earmarked to take the bulk of the county’s growth in the future.
State Sen. Ron Muzzall supports the project, Elting said, because he’s in favor of preserving farmland and property rights.
Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson said she expressed her concerns about the project to the land trust a few weeks ago. Removing developable land from the joint planning area, she said, means that the city boundaries will have to expand that much farther in the future to accommodate growth. That’s urban sprawl, she said, the very thing the state Growth Management Act seeks to limit.
Johnson said she feels the group is putting activism ahead of pragmatism when it comes to its projects. She plans on sending a letter to the state opposing the grant.
