Sam Fletcher reports from the Oak Harbor City Council’s workshop of Wed., Aug. 28, 2024 for the Whidbey News-Times.
A Langley-based environmental group recently filed a lawsuit against the city of Oak Harbor, claiming that a new ordinance which loosens the city’s restrictions on trading parkland violates the state’s code of ethics for municipal officers and the State Environmental Policy Act.
Bainbridge Island attorney Bryan Telegin, who represents Whidbey Environmental Action Network, known as WEAN, filed the complaint for declaratory judgment and constitutional writ of certiorari in Island County Superior Court Aug. 30
The complaint asks the court to vacate and reverse Ordinance 1999.
They Said It
“The process by which this ordinance was adopted shows a disregard for state law and for the voice of the people of Oak Harbor whom the council has sworn to serve,” Marnie Jackson, WEAN’s executive director, said in the release. “City leadership was quite transparent about its reasons for adopting Ordinance 1999 — to advance one developer’s project adjacent to and overrunning Hal Ramaley Memorial Park, against public objection.”
[Ed. Note: Ms. Jackson is also a school director in the South Whidbey School District.]
