Heeding the words of several residents, the Langley City Council agreed to task the planning director with gathering data on the marina’s visits and projections ahead of a public input meeting eyed for mid-April.

During a workshop this past Thursday, the council met with the city’s administration to go over a range of near-term and long-term issues. Chief among them was the pressing discussion of how the city can better transport people to and from the Port of South Whidbey Harbor, commonly called the Langley marina.

Michael Davolio, Langley’s new director of Community Planning, proposed starting the project process from scratch. The next step will be a stakeholder input gathering considered in the second week of April, when project advocates present the merits of specific designs, from funiculars and lifts to trolleys.

“My goal is to be able to bring people together, get everything out on the table and give the council everything to make a good, informed decision,” Davolio said.

Some of the well-debated ideas include a funicular along the Cascade Avenue bluff and a bridge and elevator. For any bluff-side project, the city will need a willing marina-level property owner — Langley doesn’t own land at the base of the bluff.

Council members discussed the challenges of depicting what the project may look like, particularly how a single image might dominate and negatively influence public perception of a specific design or the entire project. They worried it might carry enough weight that people ignore the potential for future changes to make it more amenable.

Council members referred to public outcry after The Record published early design mockups of the bridge and elevator, dubbed the Langley Lift, that showed a well-obscured view from Cascade Avenue. The designs had already been publicly released and posted on the city’s planning website when published.

“Trying to show one option is very myopic,” Councilman Thomas Gill said, adding that visuals such as dioramas may help people understand location, size, impact and scale.

City leaders and businesses have cited the need to bring boaters up from the marina. Clipper Vacations has scheduled a handful of whale watching tours to stop in Langley in the coming months. Company CEO Darrell Bryan has also informed the city and written a letter to the editor in The Record casting support for a funicular to transport people up the bluff, circumventing the walk up Wharf Street.

No project will be approved by the date of the first Clipper visit in March. In the interim, Langley is considering renting taxis or a large van to work in conjunction with the Langley Main Street Association electric golf cart to shuttle people up and down during the visits. McCarthy said the city spending money to help business would be considered a “legitimate economic development expense.”

A previous version reported an earlier date for the meeting which was later canceled.