An increasing number of people are pushing city leaders to reconsider the siting of the future sewage treatment plant.

Seven citizens and a county commissioner told members of the City Council during their Tuesday meeting that the site adjacent to and protruding into Windjammer Park is the wrong spot.

A group of critics opposed to the site have also started a group, Friends of Windjammer Park, and a Facebook page under the same name.

Mayor Scott Dudley has been the most vocal public official asking for the site to be reconsidered, even citing his displeasure with the project as his main reason for not seeking re-election.

On the other side, attorney Chris Skinner, speaking during the public comment period, and several council members emphasized that the siting of the plant was made after a public process that lasted years.

They pointed out that Dudley broke a tie vote in favor of building the project in the Windjammer Park vicinity.

Skinner said changing the decision now would be “extremely expensive.”

“This council gave all of those decisions a lot of thought,” Skinner said. “So now, for someone motivating people in town to come in here to question the decision … based on the assumption that this is going to be an eyesore is a mistake.”

Franji Christian, member of the Friends of Windjammer Park, said her interest in the issue was piqued with the news of the escalating cost projections that came out last month.

One of the city’s contractors estimated the cost of construction alone at $116 million, which was nearly 50 percent above the cost estimate in the facilities plan.

But her primary concern, she said, is preserving the waterfront park.

“It’s a major city asset,” she said. “When I got to looking at it a bit deeper, I don’t think it was completely thought out as well as it could be.”

Yet Christian conceded that those opposed to the site “don’t stand a chance” of having it moved.

She said she will continue to be involved to help ensure that the best possible decisions are made for the park.

The City Council set aside a special public comment period late in the meeting to accommodate Commissioner Jill Johnson, an Oak Harbor resident. She said the site “is a terrible choice for a sewage treatment plant.”

“I think that because,” she said, “what I’ve seen this community do over time is take the most pragmatic, cost-effective, aesthetic-be-damned approach to design because we don’t like to pay for it.”

She said she’s heard the argument about the importance of getting the project done soon in order to take advantage of low borrowing rates.

“That’s not motivating to me as a citizen,” she said, adding that she and people  she spoke to are primarily concerned about preserving a great community resource.

Yet, she said, she believes that city leaders are also motivated to preserve the park, but she said they aren’t communicating their vision to the public effectively.

“They are not hearing about some of the other ideas and visions associated with why this might be valuable,” she said. “I pay attention, and I’m not clear about what some of those ancillary benefits are.”

Councilman Joel Servatius spoke about how construction of sewage treatment plants in other communities have led to transformational revitalization.

Councilwoman Tara Hizon, however, pointed out that a lot of decisions about the project — from the design to any park enhancements — have yet to be decided, which is why the council is unable to share a specific vision about the future of the park.

Dudley had the last word on the subject, saying that the information the city has about the site is a lot different than the information the city had when the decision was made. He said he would have picked a different site if he had the current information.

He compared the project to the conversion of the downtown section of Pioneer Way to a one-way street — a project that was unpopular with some folks.

“I agree wholeheartedly with Commissioner Johnson, we can reassess, we can make a better decision,” he said.