ISLAND COUNTY: Sound Off: New growth planning will shape the future (JILL JOHNSON/WNT)

Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson (R-Oak Harbor) wrote a Sound Off column for the Whidbey News-Times discussing the county’s 2024-25 Comprehensive Plan Update. Johnson’s column appeared in the paper’s Nov. 25, 2023 edition.

They Said It

For the last few months Island County has been gearing up to do the 2024/25 Comprehensive Plan update. It is a policy document… that forces us to plan for growth. It does not let us stay just as we are, and it can’t protect us from longing for the “good old days.” The document stages important conversations about how the reality and pressures of growth interplays with our quality of life.

This update asks us to plan for roughly 15,000 new Island County residents in the next 20 years. It requires us to “assign” that population to different jurisdictions, and for the first time ever, it mandates that the housing needed to support that growth must serve all income levels.

It shifts more than 60% of that new growth to the City of Oak Harbor, City of Langley and Town of Coupeville, including the requirement to zone for housing, services, jobs, and provide parks, open space, roads, water and sewer….

How are we going to move all these people up and down the islands? What is the capacity load of our bridges? How long are we willing to wait for a ferry? Do we have services to support this larger population? Will we have the workforce to provide those services and housing the workforce can afford?