Rachel Rosen reports from the Oak Harbor City Council:
The city of Oak Harbor is raising the fees for new developers for the first time in over 25 years…. Chris Gonzalez of the Financial Consulting Solutions Group recommended the city raise system development charges — fees on new developments to recover an equitable share of costs.
They Said It
Councilmember Dan Evans was concerned about the increase affecting existing projects and said he thought the charges should exclusively go to repairing leaking sewer lines.
Councilmember Bryan Stucky said that even with the update, he thought the charges were still too low.
“Why do we have the newest (sewage) treatment plant but still, by a long shot, the lowest system development charges?” he asked.
Evans said cities with higher charges, such as Anacortes, Mount Vernon and Bonney Lake were very different from Oak Harbor.
“All these places have easy access, they’re right off the highway,” he said. “We do need people to build houses here.”
Councilmembers Jim Woessner, Shane Hoffmire, Eric Marshall and Tara Hizon voted to approve the motion to increase charges. Evans and Stucky opposed it.
