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Council adopts code amendment allowing certain building projections into setbacks, defers daycare sizing to state standards
Summary
The council approved Ordinance 2020 to amend Oak Harbor Municipal Code definitions to allow limited projections into building setbacks and to remove local square-foot standards for daycares in favor of Washington State standards.
The Oak Harbor City Council adopted Ordinance 2020 on May 6 to revise two definitions in the city code: one governing building lines and one related to private nursery school/child day care centers.
Senior planner Ray Lindenberg told the council the amendments respond to concerns from a local developer and align the code with other cities. The measure allows certain projections — for example fireplaces, chimneys and architectural features — to extend up to 2 feet into required setbacks; eaves remain allowed at up to 3 feet. The council also removed a locally defined square-footage standard for day care centers and will rely on Washington State standards instead.
“We were asked to take a look at that by a local developer who said that other cities do allow for those sorts of things,” Ray Lindenberg said during his presentation. Lindenberg explained the change for projections was proposed because the city recently reduced setbacks and the older definition was preventing some commonly accepted architectural features.
On the daycare definition, Lindenberg said the local rule functioned “like a definition kind of masquerading as a regulation” and that the city would defer to the State of Washington’s standards to regulate required square footage for childcare.
The council opened and closed a public hearing with no public comments and then voted to approve the ordinance. A motion to approve Ordinance 2020 was made by the mayor pro tem and seconded by Council Member Wiggenstein; the mayor called the vote and noted the measure “passes unanimously.”
The ordinance changes clarify what architectural elements may encroach into setbacks and remove local prescriptive sizing for childcare facilities, leaving licensing and square-footage standards to state regulation.
