Colleen Johnson wants to keep Alcoholics Anonymous alive and strong in Oak Harbor, but she’ll need a conditional use permit to do it.

An AA member since 1999, Johnson can’t emphasize enough the need for such a program in town.

“It’s a life saver for so many of us,” she said. “We now hold 21 meetings a week.”

According to Johnson, the Oak Harbor AA began in Feb. 1952. For the past 30 years, members met in the basement of Windhaven Chalet on Oak Harbor Road, until a new owner purchased the building and raised the rent by 65 percent.

Recognizing the importance of AA to the community, Johnson purchased a home on Seventh Avenue. She put 20 percent down and is paying off the mortgage with donations from AA members.

“It’s all strictly by donation. We have no endowment and get no tax breaks,” she said of the Seventh Avenue home that serves as the new AA meeting hall and rental residence for a recovering member. “We are independent and nonprofit.”

Although Johnson installed a double driveway, it does not provide enough parking, according to city planning standards.

On Friday, the Oak Harbor hearing examiner will review Johnson’s request for a conditional use permit, which she was required to obtain before opening the home to meetings. She inadvertently started holding meetings before the permit was in place.

“I’ve always lived in oukskirt areas. I had never owned property in a city before this. I really didn’t know better,” she said of starting meetings before getting the conditional use permit through the city.

There’s not enough space on the property for the 13 parking spaces that the city requires, so Johnson looked to PSE and a nearby Lutheran church for additional spaces.

But PSE doesn’t want to pave its gravel lot, located across the street from Johnson’s property, and the church lot is too far away, according to the city.

The city received one letter in support of the permit, and one letter against it during the comment period, in addition to several complaints before the comment period “regarding parking, use of the property for AA and frequency of the meetings,” according to the hearing examiner’s agenda packet.

City staff recommend that the hearing examiner does not approve the permit.

“I just don’t understand why the city isn’t getting behind us,” she said. “What would you rather have: people in recovery, or people out there drinking and driving?”

The Oak Harbor hearing examiner will review the conditional use permit on Friday, Feb. 6 at 10 a.m. at Oak Harbor City Hall, 865 SE Barrington Dr.