1-Attachment A-Final Vision to Action Plan - Oak Harbor Waterfront District - Exhibit to Council Resolution 25-23 - Sept 2025.pdf

September 14th, 2025

In Collaboration with City of Oak Harbor Washington Department of Ecology The US Environmental Protection Agency

Vision To Action Plan

Provided by The Center for Creative Land Recycling

OAK HARBOR WATERFRONT

VISION TO ACTION PLAN

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This project is funded by the Washington State Department of Ecology Integrated Planning Grant and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities Program.

STAKEHOLDERS

This project is led by the City of Oak Harbor in partnership of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology).

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (TR- 84066401) to The Center for Creative Land Recycling. The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Environmental Protection Agency, nor does the EPA endorse trade names or recommend the use of commercial products mentioned in this document.

Integrated Planning Grant 2024 / 2025

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04The Best Waterfront in the Puget Sound

Introduction

12An evolution towards urbanism

The Current Vision

15Five critical issues

The Current Obstacles

21The strengths and unique qualities

Community Profile

25Visualizations of vertical mixed-use

Conceptual Designs

29Community needs and preferences

Workshop #1

38The vision in three dimensions

Conceptual Modeling

46Community review and response

Workshop #2

52Strategies amid market constraints

Workshop #3

59Sustainable, resilient, and urbane

The Vision Refined

62The critical path to implementation

Actions Ahead

18Desired outcomes and approach

Project Goals and Objectives

T h e W at er fr o n t

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CONTENTS

The Best Waterfront In The Puget Sound As an island community, the City of Oak Harbor enjoys many miles of shoreline along the beautiful Puget Sound. Located in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, the area receives about half the annual rainfall of Seattle. Traveling to Oak Harbor from the north, vehicles journey through Deception Pass Station Park known for its rugged cliffs, old-growth forests, abundant wildlife, as well as the iconic Deception Pass Bridge. Arriving from the south, one travels through Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve a stunning landscape described as “almost a paradise of nature.”

The partnership between Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, located to the north, and the City of Oak Harbor is a vibrant, deeply rooted collaboration that benefits both the military community and the broader public in meaningful and measurable ways. The Seattle metropolitan area, located 1.5 hours to the south, has emerged as one of the most dynamic and economically resilient regions in the United States, underpinned by its thriving tech sector, which is dominated by global giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and a burgeoning startup ecosystem. Beyond technology, the region benefits from a diversified economy that includes aerospace (Boeing), healthcare (with institutions like the University of Washington Medical Center), and international trade, thanks to its strategic position along the Pacific Rim. This economic diversification, coupled with a strong talent pipeline and a culture of innovation, has not only fueled job creation and housing demand throughout the broader region, but also positioned the greater Seattle area as a leading hub for economic growth, sustainability, and global investment.

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Introduction

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Study Area The community must attract hundreds of millions of dollars to replace decades of existing aging infrastructure or continue to experience further costly decay of our older city center, thus impacting the whole city.

The City has spent decades developing the vision of how it will transform into its next phase of growth. From its initial visioning in the 1990 Harbor Watch plan, the growth expected for this area has long been planned to occur along the shoreline—specifically, in the area between the intersection of Highway 20 and Pioneer to the west (i.e., Waterfront West) and the intersection of Bayshore Drive and Pioneer Way (i.e., Waterfront East). Between these two endpoints is the area that this document will refer to as The Waterfront.

Oak Harbor’s downtown is the heart of our city — but like any heart, it needs care, investment, and vision to keep beating strong. Over the decades, we’ve seen shifts in how people live, work, and interact with their surroundings, and our downtown no longer reflects the energy, opportunity, and durable infrastructure that our community deserves. Redevelopment is not about erasing the past — it’s about honoring it while building a vibrant, accessible, and economically resilient future that attracts residents, supports businesses, and becomes a destination for all.

And like most communities in the region, Island County, where Oak Harbor is located, is facing significant growth pressures at a time when the city’s charming small town character is poised for greater urbanism. Oak Harbor’s downtown and surrounding areas are the oldest sections in the city and facing continued structural deterioration.

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The study area contains approximately 121 acres of land, a mile of shoreline, and hundreds of businesses and homes.

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The Catalyst Sites But catalysts are needed. There has not been much new development in the Waterfront area over the past ten years. Several important properties have proposals that fit the City’s vision for greater urbanism but are not constructed as of yet. Thankfully, the Waterfront has several City-owned properties and two of them are a particular focus for this plan.

1081 and 1091 Pioneer Drive, at the corner of Pioneer at Bayshore, marks the easternmost edge of the Waterfront District. These properties are prominent, vacant lots that sit adjacent to the shoreline and provide stellar views of the surrounding areas. These properties also form the eastern gateway to the downtown district. When combined, the properties are 1.38 acres in total area, providing the City with the critical mass it needs to recruit a development partner to build the first cornerstone of the Waterfront’s vision for the future.

This project focuses on a subset of the greater Waterfront District. The focus area is approximately 80 acres and contains the City’s richest urbanism with the downtown core and major regional park. Major thoroughfares serve the area and include Main Street, Bayshore Drive, and Highway 20. This infrastructure supports the City’s highest concentration of existing businesses that range from professional services to retail and dining. The area has a rich mix of additional land uses that include institutional, recreational, and residential developments. Residential uses are exclusively attached, higher-density developments that include condominium and apartment buildings. The area also has the City’s most robust street network with a fine grain of street grids, city blocks, and sidewalks. These features give the Waterfront the “bones” that are needed to support the new growth projected over the next twenty years.

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When combined, the Waterfront District and the Catalytic Site serve as a multi-tiered study area that needs a refined vision and strategy coupled with a site-specific anchor development solution. Each aspect must work in concert. The anchor development must be fashioned in a manner that reflects the District’s future form. The District, meanwhile, must change its form to accommodate a significant increase in capacity for commercial and residential development. This greater intensity will need an improved public realm that is more livable, resilient, and attractive. Attractiveness, in this case, refers to both the social and physical character of the area (which attracts visitors and residents) as well as the economic profile (which attracts private investment).

This multi-pronged approach makes the Waterfront a keystone of the broader evolution that the City will undergo in the next two decades.

It is important to note that the original buildings on these sites are consistent with the area’s original vernacular. The first building, at 1081, was built in 1945 and operated as a gas and service station for over 40 years. The second building, at 1091, was built later and has operated as a barber shop, commercial office space and most recently, a tattoo parlor, which closed in 2020. Both structures are small, single-story, flat-roofed, and were originally developed in a non-descriptive, utilitarian fashion. In later years, public artwork and placemaking brought greater value and character to the buildings (along with many other buildings in the downtown core) but the capacity for more unique architecture, flexible usage, and greater urbanism is inherently limited. Likewise, the low density of the development left a significant amount of land underutilized. As a reflection of its time, the development is an excellent example of the City’s form and function dating back to the 1970s. However, to meet the needs of 2025 and onward, the site—like the Waterfront itself— must evolve.

The Catalyst Sites

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1091 Pioneer Drive is a commercial space that has served as an office, barber shop, and tattoo parlor. It has been vacant since 2020.

The gas station building at 1081 Pioneer Drive was built in 1945 forty years and has been vacant since the 1990s. It’s most notable feature is the mural on the western facade.

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Like most communities in the greater Puget Sound region, Oak Harbor is facing major growth pressures and seeks to meet the demand through several strategies, one of which is to promote focused “infill” development within the existing built environment. “Infill” means the construction of new buildings on empty or underused land within the already built-up area of the City. Such development leverages the existing infrastructure and transforms current properties with 1- and 2-story buildings into more intense, urbane versions that accommodate 3- to 5-story structures. This is a standard best practice in city planning but it is especially prudent for Oak Harbor. As an island community with aging infrastructure at the urban core, limited space for outward expansion, and sensitive natural areas throughout its municipal service area, the City must foster development within the existing footprint. Doing so not only protects the sensitive natural areas, but it also sparks reinvestment in the existing infrastructure for a more cost-efficient means of utility expansion. Likewise, with more residents and businesses served within the existing footprint, City services can be inherently more efficient since critical travel routes and demand areas remain largely intact.

The Current Vision

These drawings originate from the 1990 Harbor Watch plan that recommended significant infill development and urbanization.

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This has been the long-held strategy for the Waterfront Area. Its amenities and position within the built environment make it a prime candidate for infill development. To make such development as livable as possible, the current vision showcases several key features across its many planning documents dating back to 1990. These documents include the 1990 Harbor Watch plan to the 2000 Harbor Pride plan to the 2005 Waterfront Redevelopment and Branding plan. The images below showcase much of the ambition for greater urbanism and revitalization.

Their common themes include the following:

Live-Play-Work Activity Areas Current plans illustrate several iconic buildings, such as a conference center and a plaza with a clock tower, which serve as the hub of an activity area. These activity areas operate like clustered Main Streets in miniature with commercial activity surrounding the hub (i.e. clock tower and conference center) and providing opportunities for all aspects of urban living.

5-story Buildings with Mixed Uses Current plans show a new skyline that includes buildings that are over 50 feet in height. This is a significant increase from the existing form. Current buildings along Main Street range from 25 to 35 feet in total height and have 2-3 stories. The vision anticipates that the tallest buildings would coalesce along the Waterfront itself, providing excellent views of the Harbor.

Walkable Streets All vision documents contemplate expanded sidewalks, crosswalks, and greater street-level activity to show vibrant urbanism and a dynamic commercial sector. In several instances, this involves not only the widening of existing sidewalks (to accommodate outdoor dining and greater two-way pedestrian traffic) but also the installation of new sidewalks and crosswalks to make the network more dense.

Rich Urban Canopy With Lots of Street Trees Along with greater walkability, all vision documents promote a richer urban canopy of street trees. Symbolic of the City’s name, Oak Harbor, these trees would provide crucial shade for pedestrians and beautification to the area. As an added bonus, the trees would also

Page 14Waterfront Vision to Action have a calming effect for traffic as the area becomes more conducive to local trips and faster “through-traffic” is naturally diminished.

Vibrant public plazas To further enliven the street and promote more public activity, the vision proposes several new public plazas.

Many of these plazas are placed along the Waterfront with views of the Harbor. Several plazas are sized to accommodate gatherings and special events, too.

Special district signage and branding To attract such events, and the broader interest of the prospective tourist, special attention was given to branding and signage. One particular vision document highlighted the opportunity for a coordinated placemaking strategy that could include seasonal banners, gateway treatments, and promotional materials that help the district create a more distinct identity.

Public art and unique civic features Finally, all the vision documents champion the cause for more public art and civic features. The Waterfront already boasts many unique and attractive civic features, from murals to sculptures, and the vision documents seek more opportunities to add these and other civic features.

Many of these features would be placed along plazas and walkable streets. Some may also serve as part of the broader branding strategy.

These illustrations highlight the manner in which all key themes can be incorporated into a cohesive vision for urban development.

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Altogether, these key themes are an excellent foundation for the Waterfront’s vision of the future. Many of these ideas could be realized today, to varying degrees of consistency, without any action from the City. Yet, several obstacles stand in the way of the Waterfront reaching its fullest potential and thus a more focused plan is needed.

Obstacle 1 – lack of clarity in the current vision For the Waterfront, there is a lack of cohesion and clarity in the current plans. The area has been planned and visualized several times over the past thirty-five years.

The plans are largely consistent with one another, but the reference documents are limited and the illustrations are dated. There is enough material in the current documents to show the general direction for the area, but it needs new details in order to have a plan that is informative and actionable.

Obstacle 2 – lack of analysis for the current vision Additionally, new details on the vision will give way to new analysis. The vision should be analyzed for its total development potential to see what kind of impacts can be expected. As this plan will show in later sections, the Waterfront’s clarified vision assumes many major changes to the built environment. This generates large increases in the demand, usage, and availability of infrastructure.

These effects should be understood as much as possible in order for the City to anticipate the need for additional study, capital investments, and policy changes.

Obstacle 3 – lack of community-driven refinements for the current vision When the current vision is given more clarity, detail and analysis, it must also receive more review and feedback.

The current vision has not been formally discussed among the public in many years. Thus, while overcoming Obstacle 1 is crucial, it raises the challenge of Obstacle

2. By creating a more knowable vision, the Waterfront’s

Current Obstacles future will need to be discussed by the community to ensure that people are aware and at least somewhat supportive of the direction. Concerns emerge in such discussions and refinements should be made wherever possible to address those concerns. Otherwise, this will be a significant obstacle to progress.

Obstacle 4 – contamination at the catalyst site At 1081 and 1091 Pioneer Drive, Phase I and II environmental assessments have shown that there is groundwater contamination from diesel, gas, vinyl chloride, trichloroethane, volatile organic compounds and other substances. The soil is relatively uncontaminated but the site constitutes a brownfield and thus it warrants proper assessment and cleanup before any redevelopment can occur.

Obstacle 5 – lack of alignment between vision and action Without a clearer vision, detailed analysis, and community review and refinement, the City will not have the information it needs to take action. This plan is written to compile all the information necessary to overcome this final, and most formidable obstacle. The pages ahead are the result of a deliberate process to overcome Obstacles 1 – 4 so that clear actions can be identified, prescribed, and ready-made for implementation. Future studies, partnerships, policies, and capital improvements will be needed. To align these things in the right way requires a strong plan that gives the City confidence in the steps ahead.

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The City’s Response To address these obstacles, the City sought resources and partnerships at the State and Federal level. Given the fact that the catalyst site was a brownfield, the City was eligible for support from the State of Washington’s Department of Ecology as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Technical Assistance to Brownfield service.

Washington Department of Ecology Integrated Planning Grant In 2023, the Washington Department of Ecology awarded the City of Oak Harbor with a $200,000 Integrated Planning Grant (IPG) to fund the assessment, investigation, planning, and feasibility analysis necessary to redevelop the catalyst properties.

The overall goal of this approved grant-funded effort was to clean up a contaminated brownfield site and begin to revitalize the historic downtown area so that residents and tourists fully utilize and enjoy the area. This project will create a vision and action plan by gathering community data and feedback, assessing redevelopment options, planning cleanup stages, and completing environmental due diligence. What will result is a broader plan for the Downtown Waterfront Revitalization Project to stimulate a vibrant waterfront economy. Funding for the project was provided in order to advance and expedite the cleanup and redevelopment through the approved approach of hiring an environmental consulting firm for assessment and remediation, an architectural design firm for conceptual design of the reuse, and a planning firm for the visioning, community engagement, economic analysis, and general planning.

CCLR role and TAB Program The Center of Creative Land Recycling (CCLR) was the City’s choice for the planning function. As the region’s provider for technical assistance to brownfields (TAB), CCLR had the capacity to provide the planning services through the TAB program. TAB is a program funded by the United Stated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Using federal funds, the program provides Technical Guidance to help communities like Oak Harbor to help them understand and navigate the environmental laws, regulations, assessment, and cleanup methods pertaining to brownfields. The service also provides support to facilitate public engagement and stakeholder participation, develop cleanup and financing strategies, and aid in the reuse planning effort.

When CCLR provides this expertise within a single, integrated project, it is referred to as a Vision to Action service (V2A). Within the EPA’s Region 10, which comprises the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska, CCLR provides 2-3 Vision to Action projects each year. Oak Harbor was selected for one of the two V2As to be delivered in R10 in 2025. As a result, Oak Harbor was able to save approximately 90% of the cost of planning services and thus leverage the savings into the procurement of environmental and architectural consulting, staff support costs, and more.

The environmental consulting firm hired for this project was Farallon Consulting. The architectural consulting firm was the Dahlin Group.

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General description of the V2A process The Vision to Action service is composed of four major steps shown below. All four steps are engaged at all levels of focus, from the City-wide scale to the Waterfront area and then to the specific catalyst sites (1081 and 1091 Pioneer Drive). Thus, in Step 1, the City, its Waterfront, and the Catalyst Site are analyzed to develop a deeper sense of their strengths, needs, and opportunities relative to similar areas at a similar scale. The Oak Harbor Waterfront area is analyzed and compared to other waterfront areas in the greater region (e.g., Anacortes, Mukilteo, and Port Townsend).

The Catalyst Site is similarly compared but only to other sites of similar size within the region’s real estate market. All conditions were categorized, from infrastructure to development potential, and summarized into a general sense of feasibility for future reuse. Analysis also included the review and synthesis of all existing planning documents to get an accurate summary of the current vision and policies for the area.

With analysis complete, the process moves on to the next step – Visualize. At this point, CCLR develops and hosts two workshops to share its analysis from Step 1, the subject property, and the potential for reuse. From there, the community is given the opportunity to share their concerns, needs, and preferences for reuse. Options are developed, a few are selected, and conceptual designs are created. These conceptual designs “visualize” the reuse according to the community’s guidance. Those concepts are reviewed, preferred features are identified, and a final vision for the area is created based on the multiple rounds of feedback over the course of the two workshops. The events are highly interactive and utilize an iterative design process to ensure the final design is responsive to the community’s comments.

With a vision developed over multiple rounds of feedback, the process moves on to Step 3. The vision is given a critical path for implementation and the local government will formulate the best way to deliver results. This can include additional analysis, capital improvements, detailed design and construction planning, new policies, new incentive programs, and much more. The final content is ultimately decided by the City (as they are the ones responsible for the work) and, once complete, the process enters its final step. Actions are taken to adopt the vision and implementation plan. Next steps identified in the plan are initiated. Meanwhile, CCLR continues its work by providing technical assistance through the TAB program for as long as it is needed.

Within this general process, there are several unique elements that are added to meet the specific needs of the project.

For the City of Oak Harbor, this included the additional services provided by separate contractors. Those services ran in parallel with the V2A and delivered critical materials at specific points in time so that the project’s goals and objectives could be achieved.

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Project Goals and Objectives For the Vision to Action to be its most successful, the City identified the following project goals.

Goal 1: Advance and expedite the clean-up and redevelopment of the target site

Goal 2: Engage the community in a manner that creates a meaningful first step in the broader Downtown Waterfront Revitalization Project

Goal 3: Create a redevelopment strategy for the site and surrounding area that:

Goal 4: Create an opportunity for missing middle housing and more affordable housing options

These goals mark the outcomes that the project was designed to achieve, as in what should occur as a result of this work. Additional project objectives are listed below and relate to *how* those outcomes should be achieved.

In other words, the Vision to Action process was developed to not only deliver on the goals highlighted above but to do so in a way that fosters the following benefits:

Objective 1: Meaningful, Inclusive Community Engagement.

The Waterfront is a highly valued, highly utilized area. It is the heart of the City. Throughout the process, residents needed multiple opportunities to share their voice and have a real impact on the important decisions that determine its future. The workshops had to be delivered in a way that left them feeling like their participation had been worth their time.

Objective 2: Conceptual Visioning That Is Responsive and Flexible.

The conceptual designs needed to contemplate several alternatives at the start so that residents could see their myriad interests reflected in the work. Then, with structured exercises and feedback, those alternatives needed to be modified through participant feedback, consolidated according to stated priorities, and ultimately coalesced into a single preferred final design that would meet the satisfaction of a simple majority. Likewise, the visions needed a high degree of flexibility so that the core ideas could be implemented in many ways as circumstances evolve with time. No vision can achieve 100% support from all participants but the process would need to be transparent, iterative, and responsive to all the feedback provided.

Objective 3: Strategies That Position The City for Further Success.

Finally, as a Vision to Action service, the project needed to deliver a set of actions and approaches that the City could carry forward within months of completion.

This would include deliverables that augment future grant applications, policy recommendations that make development more feasible, immediate placemaking strategies for “quick wins” on the street level, and much more. These strategies would need to be cast over a near-, mid-, and long-term horizon and sorted by low-, mid-, and high-priorities based on the established critical path (i.e. prescribed sequence of events). In other words, the vision itself would need a useful, understandable “playbook” for how to move forward.

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Project Team

The team represents a multidisciplinary approach for addressing the full range of social, environmental, and economic needs.

Dahlin Group

Cascadia Partners

Center for Creative

Land Recycling

Farallon Engineering

Project Management, Planning and

Analysis, Community Engagement, Workshop Facilitation, Design and

Modeling

Project Management, Community Engagement, Project Steering.

Market Conditions Analysis and

Economic Development

Strategies

Environmental Investigation and

Clean-Up Solutions

City of Oak Harbor

To deliver on these goals and objectives, both in “what” would be achieved and “how,” the effort was designed with the following team composition and project approach.

Under the guidance of the City of Oak Harbor, the project team has produced key deliverables for each major stage of the project. The project stages were established in a sequence that would allow for joint fact-finding between the City and the community. All information sharing occurred through the workshops held from February through May, largely as a response to community questions and concerns. As information continued to develop, the Waterfront’s vision and priorities emerged and became the basis for the plan.

Urban Design and Architectural Renderings

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First, to maintain momentum throughout the effort, the project timeframe was kept as short as possible, with no more than six weeks between community workshops.

This allowed participants to maintain a grasp of the exchanges and conversations that occurred over time.

The workshops themselves were set up with three basic themes.

Workshop #1 was centered on information sharing. It was the point in time where we collectively established the situation that the City faced and gather the community’s feedback on how to proceed. This began with an overview of the current vision, the forecasted growth pressures, and then a time for reaction and discussion. By the end of the workshop, participants shared their needs, wants, and preferences through a structured set of exercises. Specific questions about the current vision, the city’s growth pressures, and their individual sense of the priorities were cataloged for use in the design work.

Workshop #2 was centered on application. Using the feedback provided by the community, and the work developed through Dahlin (the architectural design consultant), CCLR developed two 3D digital models to illustrate a refined, more detailed version of the Waterfront’s future. This gave participants a deeper understanding of the vision’s impacts, both positive and negative, to the current conditions. The 3D models were fully explored in a virtual simulation and participants offered their reactions in facilitated discussion and additional structured exercises. Their guidance was used to develop a final refined vision that will be provided in this planning document.

Workshop #3 explored feasibility. Cascadia Partners conducted this final workshop virtually and presented their findings on the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for economic development. They demonstrated the critical steps that the City can take to make the vision a reality, introducing a toolkit of solutions that will be provided in this planning document.

The workshops were delivered from mid-February to mid-May 2025. During this time period, Farallon Consulting delivered their monitoring reports and remedial investigations of the catalytic site. The City also pursued the demolition of the two structures, gaining approval from the necessary State agencies and completing the demolition by the time of Workshop #2, held on April 17th.

After Workshop #3, the total collection of data, designs, and community feedback were consolidated into the findings of this planning document. The results inform the final vision, the next steps, and will be delivered to the City Council for review and approval by resolution in September 2025.

Timeframe, Scope of Project

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Within this basic approach, community engagement was clearly the most critical element for success. All team members were fully capable of delivering on their tasks but the value of their contributions would increase significantly with well-attended public events and broad awareness within the community. The team developed an effective strategy to ensure the best participation possible.

The City of Oak Harbor has a tradition of excellent community engagement. With dedicated staff providing crucial information in a variety of channels and touchpoints, the City is able to utilize many different forms of communication to raise awareness. Much of the strategy detailed below involves reliable, proven methods that the City has implemented for years. CCLR provided a detailed community profile to help inform the approach and explore new methods wherever it seemed appropriate.

As shown in the data below, the community that resides within a 5-mile radius of the Waterfront has several notable characteristics. First, the population in the area is approximately 40,252 people, all of whom will have familiarity with the Waterfront and will be affected by the growth projected to occur here. Second, while household income and net worth is projected to be lower than the state average, the cost of living is subsequently lower, too. This suggests that the area has its own unique equilibrium and is currently unaffected by the state-wide trends.

The population is relatively young (median age 34.5) and the dominant groups are described as being city dwellers who are price aware, attentive to environmental concerns, comfortable with technology, and often in a period of transition either from new jobs, new careers, or at the end of a career with retirement on the horizon.

This includes what is referred to as the “Old and Newcomer” segment as well as the “Young Professional” segment. Most of the members in these segments rent their housing, occupy smaller households of 1-2 people, and make their homes in multi-unit buildings with an interest in urban lifestyles and amenities. These two groups make up approximately 25.5% of the entire population, or 1 in every 4 persons, within the study area. The remaining 74.5% of the population mostly include middle-income suburban dwellers, empty-nesters, and military-adjacent families. The City has several more unique groups of people within its general market

Community Profile

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The Tapestry Segmentation analysis translates standard demographic data into sensible, descriptive statistics of the typical consumer groups residing in a given area.

Waterfront Vision to ActionPage 23 segmentation and this summary is only a basic glimpse at the general make-up of its community. But it is enough to corroborate the experience of the City’s community engagement efforts.

For example, the community tends to be reliant on social media for its public information. Facebook is a proven platform for the older members of the community while Instagram is a proven platform for the younger members. The City’s website generates traffic as well, particularly from those seeking more information from the initial information postings. Finally, a utility bill newsletter is sent out each month and is a viable form of communication for those who do not often frequent social media. The utility bill newsletter and the local paper generate traffic to the City website. Finally, the City maintains a growing email distribution list and has the ability to post updates and continuing stories through that medium for those who opt-in to the service, which strengthens the connections and reinforces the key messages and critical information.

Social media and the utility bill newsletter served as a critical touchpoint for raising initial awareness and directing people to the website for more information.

The City website provided reference materials, detailed narratives, and historical material developed during the project. The community newspaper provided independent coverage and commentary. Finally, email distribution lists provided another source of reference material and updates.

In addition to the media strategy, the City made deliberate decisions to host its meetings and events in places that were convenient for the community.

Workshop #1 was hosted at City Hall. Workshop #2 was hosted at the nearby Marina Club. Likewise, a separate presentation was held at the regularly scheduled Chamber of Commerce meeting that took place on the same day as Workshop #2. The two events were deliberately held on the same day to further boost awareness and generate participation. Finally, meetings were held on weeknights and provided food, drink, a play area for children, and a gift card raffle for participants.

Workshop #3 was held virtually to offer further convenience after two major in-person events had taken up significant time.

Altogether, the outreach strategy brought together hundreds of people and raised awareness throughout the target area. Over 95% of residents attending the events stated that the events were worth their time. Every

Page 24Waterfront Vision to Action participant had regular opportunities to provide feedback through write-in comments, open question and answer periods, exercises, and surveys. Feedback was regularly reflected in the presentation content and conversations before, during, after, and outside of the events kept participants engaged. This was particularly important because new information and key milestones emerged throughout the project’s duration, beginning with the environmental investigation and building demolition.

Remedial Investigation The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) awarded the City an Integrated Planning grant for $200,000, which required a zero (0%) match from the City, to address the environmental cleanup of the City’s properties at 1081 and 1091 SW Pioneer Way.

As part of the grant, Farallon Consulting, L.L.C. (Farallon) was selected to complete a remedial investigation and feasibility study for the environmental contamination under the City owned parcels. Total costs are not to exceed $107,000. In August 2024, Farallon prepared a Remedial Investigation (RI) Work Plan on behalf of the City to evaluate the nature and extent of contamination at the City’s property. The property is part of the greater site, which is defined under the Washington State Model Toxics Control Act Cleanup Regulation (MTCA) as where hazardous substances, other than consumer products in consumer use, have come to be located at concentrations exceeding MTCA cleanup levels. The Site is listed on the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) Confirmed and Suspected Contaminated Sites List under Facility Site Identification No. 78354693 and Cleanup Site Identification No. 16831 due to a confirmed release of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) to soil.

In accordance with WAC 173-340-350, the purpose of an RI is to adequately characterize a contaminated site, including distribution of hazardous substances, affected media, and the potential risks to human health and the environment. The results from the RI will enable establishment of cleanup standards and the development of and evaluation of technically feasible cleanup action alternatives in accordance with WAC 173-340-350 through 173-340-370.

In August 2024, Farallon installed five new groundwater monitoring wells to a depth of approximately 15 feet below ground surface. Farallon then completed four quarters of groundwater sampling in September 2024, December 2024, March 2025 and June 2025. Recently, Farallon has tabulated all four quarters of groundwater data, confirming that contaminant concentrations remain less than applicable cleanup levels for four consecutive quarters. There are two areas adjacent to Pioneer Way where petroleum contamination sample results from the soils were above cleanup levels, both located about ten feet below the surface.

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The draft Feasibility Study completion is targeted for early fall for submission to the City, Ecology and CCLR for review with an expected finalization by the end of 2025.

Past illustrations of the Waterfront’s future serve as a useful foundation but the catalyst site and surrounding properties need more detail to help the City refine its vision. To this end, the Dahlin Group developed artwork at the City’s guidance using hand-drawings and 3D rendering that captured the general essence of what the vision already established (e.g., 4-5 story buildings with mixed-uses, pedestrian-oriented frontages, and high quality facades). This artwork was refined several times over with City staff to encapsulate the ideals. Notable features include the multi-toned facades with flat roofs, parapets, significant articulation, and a high level of transparency (i.e., many windows

Conceptual Designs contained within the facades). To enhance the urban design, the new buildings are placed along the street frontages with vehicle parking directed to underground podiums and/or the site interiors, which is consistent with the district’s broader design features.

The skyline image of vertical mixed use, provided by the 2000 Harbor Pride plan, serves as the primary inspiration for the new renderings.

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Along Bayshore Drive, the renderings showed the general scale and placement of new development that elevates and extends the scale from the downtown core. Building frontages are constructed to the full edge of each lot, creating shared walls between properties. Openings are placed along the sidewalk’s edge with tall storefront windows offering views of the water and inviting visitors for active retail and office uses along the first floor.

Meanwhile, the catalyst property at 1081 and 1091 Pioneer Way is illustrated to show itself prominently at the corner of Bayshore. It serves as a gateway to the district and livens the street with outdoor cafe spaces, porticoes, and landscaping. The renderings assume that each new development has a building height of 55 feet or greater. Lot coverages are estimated to be at least 70% or greater, thus showing that vertical development will occupy the great majority of each lot. Finally, several design choices helped envision how the future development foster a livable

Waterfront Vision to ActionPage 27 and beautiful city center by promoting active outdoor living from the open deck spaces on the upper-story residential, the wider sidewalks for activities and festivals, and the development of open plaza space at both major corners of the catalyst sites.

Finally, on the other end of the district, adjacent to Windjammer Park, the Dahlin Group designed the conceptual renderings for a new Town Center. This concept was developed as a means of reusing several underperforming, large, open parking lots at the intersection of Highway 20 and Pioneer Way. Using the same basic design features shown at the catalyst site, Dahlin expanded the buildings to occupy approximately 12 acres of land and create a mixed-use center that would serve as the other gateway to the district. Again, consistent with the downtown core’s original form, the buildings are attached, mixed-use, multi-storied, and rise up to 55 feet or greater in height. The materials, facade designs, and transparency rates, and lot coverages remain consistent with the form established in the Bayshore and Pioneer Drive concepts. The buildings place themselves in a manner that faces outward to Windjammer Park or the adjacent streets, creating more lively public spaces for active first-floor use, while the remaining levels are reserved for residential and/or office uses.

The renderings focus on the potential for the “Waterfront East” area along

Bayshore and Pioneer Drive. But the essential themes apply to the

“Waterfront West” area that occurs near Windjammer Park.

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The Town Center concept at “Waterfront West” capitalizes on the underutilized space adjacent to Windjammer Park.

Waterfront Vision to ActionPage 29

Workshop #1

General approach and intent

Workshop #1 was held on February 27th at City Hall.

Per the City’s outreach strategy, the event was publicized a month in advance with a public presentation to City Council on January 21st, Facebook and Instagram postings, and the debut of a project website. The efforts were successful and the workshop was delivered to a capacity crowd at the City’s chamber room.

Workshop #1 was centered on information sharing. This was the point in time where we collectively established the situation that the City faced and gathered the community’s feedback on how to proceed. This began with an overview of the current vision, the forecasted growth pressures, and then a time for reaction and discussion. By the end of the workshop, participants shared their needs, wants, and preferences through a structured set of exercises. Specific questions about the current vision, the city’s growth pressures, and their individual sense of priorities were cataloged for use in the design work.

The Council Chambers were at capacity for Workshop #1 with residents engaging fully in the discussion and polling exercises.

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The Situation Ahead

To provide feedback, attendees participated in live polling via personal cell phones and paper surveys after receiving an overview of the Waterfront vision, the City’s projected growth over the next 20 years, and the emerging development trends in the region. These trends make up the situation the City faces, much of which has been formally established through the City’s comprehensive planning effort that is occurring in parallel with the Waterfront project.

The comprehensive plan includes a Land Capacity Analysis that was completed and reported in October 2024, just three and a half months earlier. The findings show that the city would see its population increase from 24,840 to 38,507 by 2045, an increase of 13,667 people. Meanwhile, under current conditions, the City’s total buildout of all available lands would provide enough housing and nonresidential development to support less than half of the project population but would provide sufficient capacity for employment needs.

To support the total growth projected for the area, the City would need to create new capacity for an additional 2,801 dwelling units for 7,320 additional people. This would be a challenge for any community and it is a common issue among cities in the greater Seattle area. Further analysis shared with the community demonstrates that surrounding counties are addressing this need through a significant increase in multi-family housing.

Where could such housing be placed in Oak Harbor?

One natural place is the Waterfront, which already contemplates such development and has the capacity and potential to support it better than most parts of the city—thanks to its natural amenities, parks, street network, and proximity to services and employment.

With the needs established, the workshop pivoted to a discussion on the solutions.

This table is provided by the City’s Land Capacity Analysis, an important part of the City’s comprehensive plan update.

Waterfront Vision to ActionPage 31

There are 7 key themes contained in the Waterfront’s vision. When asked to rank them by importance, sur-vey respondents established the following order:

1. Walkable streets

2. Vibrant public plazas

3. Live-Play-Work activity areas

4. 5-story buildings with mixed uses

5. Rich urban canopy, lots of street trees

6. Public art and unique civic features

7. Special district signage and branding

The City faces major growth pressures over the next 20 years. After providing data on the situation ahead, residents were asked to measure their level of agree-ment with the following statements:

1. “As of now, Oak Harbor can support this [project-ed] level of growth and thrive.”

2. “Oak Harbor will need to make major policy chang-es to support this level of growth.”

3. “Oak Harbor will need to make major infrastructure improvements to support this level of growth.”

4. “The Waterfront should be a cornerstone for fos-tering this growth in a sustainable manner.”

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 equaling Strongly Dis-agree and 5 equaling Strongly Agree, the audience shared their level of agreement as follows:

Statement 1: Disagree (2.5 out of 5) Statement 2: Agree (3.7 out of 5) Statement 3: Strongly Agree (4.2 out of 5) Statement 4: Strongly Agree (4.0 out of 5)

Situation Assessment

Vision Theme Rankings

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Next, participants were asked to state their pref-erence for housing as a future land use along the Waterfront. Overall, the majority of people (63%) preferred housing to be a secondary use.

14.5% preferred it to not be a focus for the Water-front.

8% preferred it to be a primary use.

14.5% preferred to have as much housing as possi-ble.

Housing Preferences

Participants were asked to state their preference for tourism as a future land use along the Waterfront.

Overall, the majority of people (63%) preferred tourism to be a major use with visitors staying over-night.

2% preferred Tourism to not be a focus.

13% preferred visitors have a brief stop in the area.

22% preferred visitors to stay for several hours.

Tourism Preferences

When asked about Economic Development, the majority of people (64%) preferred that there be *some* jobs and employment, mostly as retail and services.

11% preferred that jobs and employment not be a focus for the vision.

23% preferred *more* jobs and employment, so that the Waterfront would be a Central Business District.

2% were happy with any amount of jobs and employ-ment.

Economic Development Preferences

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When considering Parks and Civic Spaces, 50% of survey responses stated “I am happy with the Wa-terfront’s existing parks and civic spaces.”

Another 45% stated “I want more parks and civic spaces along the Waterfront.”

The remaining 5% stated they did not want to see parks and civic spaces as a focus for the vision.

Parks and Civic Spaces Preferences

Participants were shown concept renderings of the future reuse of the subject properties at 1081 and 1091 Pioneer Way. They were then asked to provide their reactions to the thought of a five-story building on the site. 50% of respondents stated “I think it is exciting”.

25% stated “I don’t like it.”

0% stated “I don’t care either way.”

25% stated “I think it is acceptable.”

Participants were then shown concept renderings of the additional five-story buildings along the…