OAK HARBOR: County, city spar over growth planning at rare meeting

Jessie Stensland reports from Island County for the Whidbey News-Times. Read the whole story.

A showdown between leaders from Island County and the city of Oak Harbor over growth planning Tuesday had moments of drama but resulted in a general agreement.

The county commissioners invited the Oak Harbor City Council to a rare meeting between the two bodies because the county and city planning staffs were at a loggerhead over population allocations in the comprehensive plan update. State lawmakers amended the Growth Management Act to require local governments to plan and accommodate housing affordable at all income levels. In addition, new rules push more population growth into urban areas.

The main point of disagreement at the meeting was whether an analysis of land capacity should consider current conditions, as the city contends, or if land should be rezoned to accommodate higher density growth, as the commissioners argued.

County officials are specifically concerned that Oak Harbor’s proposal places the majority of lower-income housing growth in the Urban Growth Area, or UGA, which is an area outside of city limits that’s earmarked for annexation. They said workforce housing should be closer to urban services in the city core, as the state directs.

In the end, Oak Harbor leaders said they will comply with the county’s interpretation of the state’s new Growth Management Act rules and make way for more lower-income people within the city by rezoning more areas for apartments and other multi-family developments.

They Said It

“I think we are in agreement, all of us are, the council too, that we can rezone all we want but it’s not going to come to fruition,” Mayor Ronnie Wright said at the end of the meeting.

Marnie Jackson, executive director of [Whidbey Environmental Action Network], said that smart planning for growth within city limits benefits the environment, but also residents and economy. “We can see a path for infill to be vital, beneficial and part of a very promising future,” she said.

A memo from County Planning Director Jonathan Lange states that housing for people in the 0-50% Area Median Income should be located in “areas with vital transportation and social services that our most vulnerable populations depend on.”

“It is not an equitable or legally defensible solution to place such a significant amount of the 0-50% AMI housing on the outskirts of the city,” he wrote.

Wright said the city already proposed a plan with the maximum amount of population growth within the city. City Principal Planner Cac Kamak said the city’s plan is defensible and considers current regulations. He said changing the regulations is a process that can take years; the comp plan update is due at the end of the year.

Yet Commissioner Jill Johnson argued the city can do more and can change zoning through the comp plan update process now.

“We understand that all things being the same today, there is not enough capacity in the city,” she said. “That’s your existing buildable lands analysis. What we are asking for is your plan for the future, how you are going to accommodate growth, what zoning changes you are proposing, where can you put more density, what will it look like 20 years from now.”

Kamak resisted the idea of simply rezoning without considering things like lot size and market factors that would determine if redevelopment will actually take place.

“Everything you do on paper doesn’t mean it will pan out, ” he said.

Likewise, Mayor Pro Tem Tara Hizon said the city needs to present a plan that is realistic and is something that the community can live with.

“We understand we will have to accommodate a little more density that people who grew up there would like,” she said, “but that’s reality. … The disconnect is in the theoretical versus the reality.”

Commissioner Melanie Bacon countered that nobody can control what a developer may do in the future but that the most the county and city can do is create a foundation so that such development is possible.

Johnson said she understands the city’s reluctance to increase housing density and possibly change the character of the city. In a Whidbey News-Times opinion piece last year, she predicted that cities would have a problem with population allocations. She said she questions GMA’s one-size-fits-all approach to planning across the state, but it’s the framework local government must work within.

The commissioners said they agree the city will need to expand its UGA, but only after the city adequately plans for infill development. Commissioner Melanie Bacon suggested, as one example, that the city could proactively redevelop the triangle area of Highway 20, Pioneer Way and Midway Boulevard for higher densities.

“We are asking you to direct your staff to work with our staff to evaluate a variety of options for future growth,” Bacon said to the council. “And in that discussion, instead of placing all or most of future dense housing in the UGA, we would like to hear from you that the city council is willing to consider an infill strategy to accommodate more of the 0-50 income level within your city limits.”

The commissioners said that the comp plan updates are supposed to a collaborative process between the county and municipalities but that the county is the ultimate authority; it must defend the plans before the Growth Management Hearings Board or in court. Johnson said the city’s analysis simply isn’t legally defensible.

Near the end of the meeting, Councilmember Bryan Stucky cut through the stalemate by asking why the city just doesn’t do what the county is asking, saying that he understands the city needs to do “a little more rezoning” whether or not the action has real or hypothetical consequences.

Stucky emphasized that council members are the policy makers. Commissioner Janet St. Clair agreed, saying that the commissioners also had a conversation to reiterate that neither staff nor consultants set policy.

Moreover, Johnson said the city really doesn’t have a choice anyway, but that the commissioners called the meeting in an effort to work collaboratively and come up with joint solutions.

Ed. Note: Marnie Jackson, in addition to being the executive director of WEAN, is a school director in the South Whidbey School District.