Kira Erickson reports for the Whidbey News-Times from the Island County Commissioners board meeting of Tue., Aug. 8, 2023.
Thanks to an Island County program that preserves wetlands, two projects providing public access are on track to be protected from future development.
During a meeting last week, county commissioners approved Conservation Futures Program funds for the acquisition of Freund Marsh in Oak Harbor and a wetlands preserve in Freeland.
They Said It
Oak Harbor City Administrator Blaine Oborn explained that the city is willing to provide $25,000 in matching funds for the [Freund Marsh] acquisition. He said the beachfront parcel is significantly more expensive than the other two, at around $400,000.
Commissioner Jill Johnson asked for assurance that the two wetland parcels won’t be used for water retention related to development. Steve Schuller, Oak Harbor’s director of Public Works, said the two upland parcels don’t need to be part of any future retention plan.
Johnson said she thought public access to the shoreline would be worth the conservation investment.
“I have struggles, actually, with Washington state having private ownership of the tidelands,” she said.
While the county allows a portion of Conservation Futures dollars to be used for maintenance on properties, Johnson suggested that the city of Oak Harbor assume the responsibility of taking care of the asset.
Commissioner Janet St. Clair expressed concern about taking logical parcels for housing density out of the inventory, and asked if the wetland parcels fell under this category. The current zoning is listed as “open space” or “low density residential.” Oborn said not really, and that there are a lot of other areas in the city that are much more desirable for development.
St. Clair asked about the risk of waiting until the next year to acquire the land, and Oborn responded that the property owner could decide to develop it.
Johnson posed the same question to the Whidbey Watershed Stewards [(WWS), who currently maintain the Freeland wetlands preserve] as she did to the city of Oak Harbor about taking care of the property without the use of further Conservation Futures dollars. [WWS representative Candace] Jordan said the organization has been maintaining the property since 2014.
…[T]he commissioners ultimately decided to fund both projects, with the goal to secure the remaining funding for the more expensive application – Freund Marsh – in 2024. St. Clair expressed some hesitation about obligating funding into future years given an uncertain economic forecast, and initially said she would not vote for the funding option that Johnson and [Commissioner Melanie] Bacon supported. But after reflecting more on the situation, she changed her mind, and it was a unanimous vote.
