Oak Harbor has tightened up its ordinances regarding school safety zones.

The change, which repeals two ordinances and provides a clear definition for one, came by request of a mother of five children in four schools and a member of the school board, Nicole Tesch.

At a city council meeting in September, Tesch offered a presentation of her proposal. The code amendment was written and fine-tuned, then adopted by the council this week.

At the earlier meeting, Tesch said the impetus for the proposal were derelict vehicles sitting outside North Whidbey Middle School, violating city code by obstructing the view.

“I almost hit a child in the crosswalk because I didn’t see them because of the RV parked in the way when I dropped off one of my kiddos,” she said.

The vehicle sat within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, 20 feet of a crosswalk, 30 feet of a school flashing signal and had not been moved in over six months. Both vehicles had expired tabs, she said.

When she affirmed these violations in the code, she found some other things that needed changing.

“To help you guys out, because I used to do this as a job here, I actually rewrote the code, the entire parking code, with my tracked changes to assist in the process as well as pictures included that will make it a little bit handy,” she said.

Tesch also updated road names that hadn’t been changed in the city code.

Police Chief Tony Slowik met with Tesch and reviewed the codes, seeking to create a single school safety ordinance that allows for future growth, sends a clear message to the public and ensures consistency with traffic engineering, education and enforcement, he said.

The updated language restricts parking within 1,000 feet of any real property owned or leased by a public or private school.

Many schools are adjacent to neighborhoods, said Councilmember Eric Marshall, concerned that people may use this code to not allow people to park near their own homes.

Traffic engineers will recommend new signage in some areas, said Slowik. Before doing so, they assess all aspects thoroughly on a case-by-case basis.

Councilmember Jim Woessner looked at the new code as a tool to be implemented upon need, not a sweeping change for everywhere.

The ordinance passed unanimously on Tuesday.

“I wanted to first say thank you to the Oak Harbor Police Department and the Oak Harbor City Council for not only hearing the words that I said during public comment but for taking this code change to the next level,” Tesch said. “This really makes a huge difference amongst all of our schools.”