Oak Harbor planning commission reviews first draft of 2025 comprehensive plan update, EIS timing discussed

Oak Harbor Principal Planner Kat Kamak opened the October 14 Planning Commission meeting with a review of the city’s 2025 comprehensive plan policy update, saying the city is taking an initial, element-by-element look at existing policies for parks and recreation, economic development, government services and a newly proposed climate resiliency element.

“This is the first take at it. We’re looking at the existing policies right now,” Kamak said, and added that the city plans to start an environmental impact statement tied to the comprehensive plan “at the end of this year or beginning of next year.”

The draft policies were prepared with help from consultant Kimberly Horn; Erin Kelly of that firm attended the meeting remotely. Kamak and Kelly said the EIS route is preferred for this update because projected population and development growth exceed the scope of the city’s previous environmental review. Kamak said the EIS will inform the draft plan and the city will limit discussion of certain “remote elements” until the EIS process is complete.

Why it matters: The comprehensive plan sets high-level goals and policy guidance the city uses to align land use, utilities, public safety and capital investments over a 20-year horizon. An EIS tied to the update will evaluate potential environmental impacts of the growth assumptions in the plan and surface mitigation options that could affect future development rules, capital projects and intergovernmental agreements.

What staff described

- Scope and schedule: Kamak said the commission is reviewing policies now and staff will gather comments, revise a draft and return it to the commission and public for additional review. She said staff expects the EIS process to occur mostly next year and that…