With a unanimous decision at a recent city council meeting, Oak Harbor’s city limits grew by about five acres.

Known as the Oak Town Properties on North Oak Harbor Road, the three parcels came to the council’s attention via a request from the landowner, Jack Ng. According to Councilmember Jim Woessner, bringing the property into city limits is “inevitable” and indicative of the direction the city is heading.

The annexation fits within the city’s goals and policies for urban growth per the urban growth area element of the comprehensive plan, said Cac Kamak, principal planner. The properties dwell in the commercial zone and are already served by city water.

Hooking the properties up to wastewater will be challenging, he said, but it doesn’t have to be immediate. Ng could still do small developments, such as storage units, without wastewater connection.

When a county property wants to join the city, it’s typically because of the way the property may be used, Woessner said in an interview, but “it’s a double-edged sword.”

The city offers more uses and greater density, as the county septic systems reduce the buildable area. The drawback to annexation is stormwater rules, he said. The city requires a stormwater analysis that the county doesn’t, which can be expensive.

With the recent acquisition, Councilmember Shane Hoffmire said the city is setting a precedent that if someone wants to annex, they will be allowed to.

But, according to Woessner, this annexation is a “no-brainer” in a way that the next one might not be.

The city is currently looking to expand that area of town as it’s “commercial core” he said, and one of Ng’s parcels already has what will be one of the town’s largest industrial buildings, which adds to the tax base.

The city’s buildable land analysis concluded that if the city redevelops 50% of its commercial land to best possible land use, it could create 1,200 new jobs. With the state’s enforcement of accommodating 5,500 new housing units within Oak Harbor limits in the next 20 years, this is a must.

“Affordable housing is nothing if you can’t provide jobs,” Woessner said.

Ng’s focus is a bit smaller scale.

“I’m just a taxpayer, and I’m happy to pay taxes to the city of Oak Harbor,” he said at the meeting.