OAK HARBOR: City implements citizen-lead school safety code

Sam Fletcher reports from the Oak Harbor City Council meeting of Tue., Dec. 3, 2024 for the Whidbey News-Times.

Oak Harbor has tightened up its ordinances regarding school safety zones.

The change, which repeals two ordinances and provides a clear definition for one, came by request of a mother of five children in four schools and a member of the school board, Nicole Tesch.

At a city council meeting in September, Tesch offered a presentation of her proposal. The code amendment was written and fine-tuned, then adopted by the council this week.

They Said It

Tesch said the impetus for the proposal were derelict vehicles sitting outside North Whidbey Middle School, violating city code by obstructing the view.

“I almost hit a child in the crosswalk because I didn’t see them because of the RV parked in the way when I dropped off one of my kiddos,” she said.

The vehicle sat within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, 20 feet of a crosswalk, 30 feet of a school flashing signal and had not been moved in over six months. Both vehicles had expired tabs, she said.

“To help you guys out, because I used to do this as a job here, I actually rewrote the code, the entire parking code, with my tracked changes to assist in the process as well as pictures included that will make it a little bit handy,” she said.

“I wanted to first say thank you to the Oak Harbor Police Department and the Oak Harbor City Council for not only hearing the words that I said during public comment but for taking this code change to the next level,” Tesch said. “This really makes a huge difference amongst all of our schools.”

Councilmember Jim Woessner looked at the new code as a tool to be implemented upon need, not a sweeping change for everywhere.