A peninsula business services company is proposing some weed-related development in Oak Harbor.
Clearwater Business Services, a Lakebay-based company, owns three properties on Ault Field Road and wants to build industrial warehousing for, among other things, cannabis production and processing facilities for its clients in the marijuana business.
Clinton-based project management company Young Associates Project Services hosted a community meeting Tuesday evening to review Clearwater’s proposed plan for the space.
According to Jocelyn Potter Young, one of the founders and managers at Young Associates, Clearwater wants to divide its three Ault Field Road properties, which total 20.5 acres between Goldie Road and Hawk’s Prairie Road, into 10 lots. Cannabis-related facilities, including an outdoor growing site, are only proposed for five of the lots.
The rest of the area will house other commercial or manufacturing facilities, and seven acres of the space will be reforested.
The properties are already zoned for industrial use. No marijuana retail services would be offered on any of the lots, and consuming marijuana on the property would be illegal.
However, Clearwater isn’t free and clear to begin development yet; because the previous owner clear cut the lots, and because they are located within Oak Harbor’s urban growth area, government agencies are hitting the brakes. The Department of Natural Resources has a 10-year management plan provision on the properties, and Island County has issued a six-year development moratorium on them, as well.
Potter Young said Clearwater, the Department of Natural Resources and Island County have worked together to identify a path to removing the moratorium.
The first step was Tuesday’s community meeting. Next, Clearwater will participate in a pre-application conference with the county.
“All the proposed project information at this point is preliminary and will be finalized once the pre-application conference is complete,” Potter Young said. “The owner will then prepare and submit the site plan review permit to Island County.”
No development will take place until after the site plan review is approved by the county.
