County denies request tied to historic Whidbey subdivision
Published 1:30 am Friday, July 24, 2026
A county zoning decision has dealt a setback to a proposal that could have paved the way for higher-density housing on North Whidbey property owned by a real estate agent.
Charlie Moore sought a certificate of zoning compliance to confirm the legality of more than 40 lots created by a historic subdivision on about 20 acres near Arnold Road and Highway 20. The county denied the application.
The county concluded Moore failed to demonstrate the lots were legal under current land-use regulations. It also found the proposed density would substantially exceed what zoning allows.
Austin Hoofnagle, the senior planner who issued the decision, confirmed an appeal request was filed after the county’s decision and later withdrawn.
Moore’s application drew criticism from the Whidbey Environmental Action Network, or WEAN, and the Ebey’s Reserve Trust Board earlier this year. A March public comment period generated 95 comments raising concerns about housing density, environmental impacts and effects on neighboring properties.
Moore could not be reached for comment.
Although the Plat of San De Fuca, a subdivision established in the late 1800s, divides the land into more than 40 lots, it is zoned as rural by the county. That means only one dwelling can be built on every five acres, meaning the property is limited to one dwelling per five acres despite the historic plat.
Further, some of the land falls within Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, for which there are design guidelines meant to preserve the land’s rural character.
The decision states the historic lot layout does not meet current requirements for zoning, density, access, infrastructure, septic systems or setbacks.
According to the decision, Moore presented a conceptual development plan during a May 2025 pre-application conference that addressed access, septic systems and other infrastructure. He previously told the News-Times he intended only to prepare the land for future development, not build it himself.
Marnie Jackson, executive director of WEAN, expressed support of the decision and pointed out that Moore’s land is part of just “one of many speculative plats from a century ago.”
“We hope the county will undertake a proactive inventory of these paper subdivisions and develop a consistent policy for clearing them from the record,” she said in a statement. “That would spare the public and county staff the trouble of responding to untenable applications like this, one proposal at a time.”
