Island County is purchasing a commercial building in downtown Oak Harbor to help ease crowding in departments.
It will the second building the county bought for staff in less than two years.
Last week, the county commissioners passed a motion to purchase the property at 785 Southeast Bayshore Drive for $800,000 plus closing costs, with a total not to exceed $825,000. The building, built in 1986, is located next to Flintstone Park and currently houses a physical therapy office.
Sixty percent of the cost will be funded through the county’s last remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The rest will come from current expenses, according to Commissioner Jill Johnson.
County Administrator Michael Jones explained at the meeting that the county will have to acquire a conditional use permit or a change of zoning from the city in order to use the property as a public facility.
The property was previously on the market for $899,000. The current owner purchased it in 2007 for $660,000 and the building is assessed at $738,000, according to the county Assessor’s Office. Real estate sites show that some of the offices inside the building have views of the water.
The current owner is N.U.B., LLC. Ron Wallin, a local contractor and elected hospital board commissioner, is listed as the agent for the limited liability corporation.
Jones said county officials don’t know yet exactly how the space will be used.
“There are a number of different departments or offices of the county that are space constrained and may be involved in a little bit of shuffling,” he said.
A potential use, he said, is to house some Human Service or Public Health services in order to free up space at the North Whidbey Family Resource Center. The building is across the street from the public transit center.
“It would make it very accessible to people who don’t have their own vehicles for transportation,” he said.
Jones said the original impetus for looking at the building was for Elections Office space. Because of new regulations, the current space on North Main Street in Coupeville is no longer adequate. But negotiations with the landlord have taken a positive turn and the current office may be able to expand after all, Jones said.
Commissioner Melanie Bacon agreed that more space is needed. She pointed out that the county staff grew from about 300 in 2010 to 500 people today.
“I have every confidence that every square foot will be used and used properly,” she said.
In 2022, the commissioners agreed to purchase a 57,000-square-foot building at 80 North Main Street in Coupeville for $900,000. It now houses Public Works employees.
The county had considered buying a former bank building on Pioneer Way in Oak Harbor for about $1 million, but the deal didn’t go through. One of the problems, Johnson said, is that it’s two stories and would require the county to build an elevator for access.
