City provides additional details to address public questions and comments about the upcoming public hearing relating to Ordinance No. 1999.
The City is very excited to see the community engaged in conversations about City projects. Over the weekend, there was an increase in public discussions online relating to the upcoming Public Hearing for Ordinance No. 1999 to update the Oak Harbor Municipal Code (OHMC) 1.30.010 requirements for sale or other disposition of city real property.
However, sometimes community discussions can lead to misunderstandings of the facts.
OHMC 1.30.010(1) provides:
“No real property of the city shall be sold, released, leased, demised, traded, exchanged, or otherwise disposed of unless the same is authorized by the city council after public hearing. Notice of such public hearing shall be given by publication of the notice in the city’s official newspaper at least 10 days prior to the hearing.”
The City is considering removing the last sentence, “Developed city park property shall not be disposed of in any manner without citizen approval in an election, except as provided in subsection (2) of this section.” The City is considering this modification because the two sentences before this already provide for a process which provides for public participation in the form of a public hearing.
The last sentence also requires an election to transact a property sale, which would slow or impede the process to accomplish necessary public purpose improvements for items like water, sewer, or roadway improvements. It is not about economic development impediment, but service improvements.
Additionally, there is incorrect information about how this item was brought before Council. The City Attorney’s office was conducting a review of the City’s code and identified this section of the code as one that is unusual and not commonly utilized by other municipalities. For this reason, staff presented it at the April 24, 2024 City Council Workshop to discuss the option of updating the code. This is the reason it is being presented for action at the May 21, 2024 Regular City Council Meeting. The City’s public meetings are open to the public and available to watch online during or after the meetings. The segment of this meeting and presentation by Senior Planner Ray Lindenburg can be seen here (presentation starts at 1:28 after the break). The City pulled the segment to make it easier for the community to view.
Another misconception is the suggestion that Council is seeking to avoid public process.
The City’s constituents elect the City Council to represent them to make decisions including the transfer of real estate and management of park properties. Any other sale or other disposition of property would require only action by Council through a public meeting. A public meeting would require 10 days notification to the public. Staff believes a discussion about moving this from a ballot option to a Council vote would greatly streamline the process while still allowing for ample community participation.
Staff has considered what other municipalities were doing and the cost of bringing these types of items to the community through a public voting process. Adding the Fire Levy to the ballot cost the City approximately $36,000. This is money that might be better used to support programs, services, and staffing.
The code change does not remove the public process as the online comments are indicating. A public process through the City Council and potentially the Planning Commission and Hearing Examiner will continue to exist. All these processes include options for public comment.
An example of this is the number of times this item has been presented publicly. It was presented at the City Council Workshop in April and the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board in May before being presented for action at the City Council Meeting tomorrow, May 21, 2024. The action at the meeting is a public hearing which required ten days of notice to the public.
We look forward to hearing the community’s thoughts on this matter and hope that they will take the time to review the presentations that Senior Planner Ray Lindenburg gave on this topic to better understand code change. The City Council packet is available on the City website at https://oakharbor.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05212024-327. See page 137 for more details.
Public Comment options are available online at www.oakharbor.gov/publiccomment.