Meeting set on 80-acre annexation plan

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026

The city of Oak Harbor may grow by 80 acres in the near future in order to satisfy population growth projected as part of the periodic comprehensive plan update.

Members of the Oak Harbor council and Island County commissioners are holding a rare joint public hearing on a proposed interlocal agreement regarding the annexation of large swaths of land in the urban growth area, or UGA, on the south end of the city. The meeting is at 1 p.m., March 19 at the county commissioners’ hearing room in Coupeville.

Oak Harbor Principal Planner Cac Kamak gave a presentation about the annexation about the proposal during the council meeting this week. He explained that the annexation is necessary as part of the comprehensive plan update because the city has to show it can accommodate population growth over the 20-year horizon.

Kamak explained that fewer than the land, which is in three different sections, is owned by fewer than 20 different people or groups. He said the city sent letters to all all the property owners to notify them of the proposal. Under the plan, the land will be zoned R-2, which is “limited multi-family residential.” It allows single-family residential as well as duplexes and fourplexes.

That zoning could change, Kamak said, through several ways in the future, including the comprehensive update process and property owner requests.

In addition, a section of Swantown Road will be annexed into the city as part of the agreement.

Kamak and council members stressed that the annexation will not force the property owner to hook up their land to city utilities — such as water or sewer — immediately. Kamak said new development or major renovation that increases value by more than 50% would require such hook ups.

The annexed property, however, would fall under the city’s property tax structure.

Originally, the city’s housing allocation was 5,533 additional housing units, but that number is being reduced to 3,992. County officials agreed to reduce the county’s population projection after county and city officials reached an impasse over whether the city should create plans for expanding city infrastructure into UGAs in order serve low-income residents.

But even with the reduction and proposed up-zoning inside the city, there are still 1,797 units that are being allocated to the unincorporated UGA. When the county didn’t agree with the city’s proposal to expand the city’s UGA without an infrastructure plan, officials from both jurisdictions decided that the issue could be solved with an interlocal agreement to annex about about 80 acres into the city.

Kamak said the annexation would go into effect five days after the interlocal agreement is adopted.