Oak Harbor consultants outline zoning, incentives and placemaking to make waterfront redevelopment feasible

David Cool, development services director for the City of Oak Harbor, hosted a virtual workshop to present findings and next steps on downtown waterfront redevelopment and the market feasibility analysis produced with Cascadia Partners and the Center for Creative Land Recycling.

Consultants told participants that mixed‑use, waterfront redevelopment faces significant near‑term market headwinds — high construction costs, elevated interest rates, limited local labor, brownfield and fill‑land issues and a sparse local track record for stacked mixed‑use projects — and recommended a package of district‑scale actions rather than a single fix. "There's no silver bullets," said Alex Joyce, managing partner at Cascadia Partners.

The consultants emphasized that residential demand is the primary driver for mixed‑use projects in Oak Harbor. "The residential market ... is what's really going to drive mixed use development," said Allison Platt, senior associate at Cascadia Partners. They also said commercial leasing remains constrained post‑pandemic and that smaller ground‑floor retail is likelier to pencil than large retail or new office space.

Why it matters: downtown redevelopment could add housing, foot traffic and business opportunities but will likely require public participation. Consultants recommended four broad toolsets — policy/zoning adjustments, placemaking investments, targeted incentives, and a…