FREELAND — Now that the incorporation committee has set the city boundaries for the proposed city of Freeland, some residents who didn’t make it inside the boundaries are wondering why they were left out. Others, however, are pleased they weren’t included.
The committee working to make Freeland the county’s first town since 1915 finalized the draft boundaries of city limits last week.
Although the incorporation committee has established a boundary for the proposed city of Freeland, the Board of Island County Commissioners, as the boundary review board, will have the final say about where the final boundaries will be set.
Registered voters within those boundaries will determine whether Freeland is actually incorporated, and supporters are hoping to put Freeland cityhood on the November ballot.
Carol and Rod Mourant just built their new home off Lancaster Road, outside the proposed city boundaries.
The couple moved here from a town in Florida that went through the incorporation process, and they say cityhood ruined their former community of Palm Coast.
They said they don’t want to see the same thing happen in Freeland.
“Within two years our taxes doubled in Palm Coast,” Rod Mourant said.
“Incorporation is one of the reasons we left Florida,” he said. “Costs went through the roof and it destroyed a nice, small rural area.”
“We don’t need city government. The county does more than an adequate job. I can’t say enough good about the Island County planning department and emergency services,” Mourant added.
“Incorporation will bring dense development with new businesses and low income housing and apartments,” Carol Mourant said.
An example, she said, were the high rises that popped up along the inland waterway of Palm Coast after its incorporation.
Mourants say supporters of that incorporation effort regret it now.
“The population doubled in four years,” Rod Mourant said.
Scenic Road is the southern boundary for the proposed city. The majority of residences are located within the draft city limits, but a few are across the street are outside the proposed city limits.
Dave McClellan, a real estate agent in Langley, lives at near the top of Scenic Road just outside the boundaries. He’s still undecided on the incorporation issue.
“I don’t have an opinion yet. I am not sure how it will impact me,” he said.
“Some people are thrilled to death and others are totally against the idea,” McClellan said. “But it is the wave of the future. Freeland is the center of commerce on South Whidbey.”
Carol Payne also a resident on the rural side of Scenic Road, said she wanted to spend more time studying the issue.
“I don’t know what the ramifications will be if we’re outside the boundary,” she said.
Payne also wondered if property values would be different for those outside the proposed city.
Dave Hardesty, a test facility engineer with Lockheed Martin in Tracy, Calif., owns property in Mutiny Bay within the proposed city boundaries. He plans to move to Freeland in two years.
“Most times what sounds like a good idea really isn’t so good once all the facts are looked at,” Hardesty said.
“The best we can do is to present all the facts, positive and negative, and then let the public decide,” he said.
Hardesty is concerned because he’s not registered to vote in Island County, and won’t be allowed to cast a ballot on the issue of incorporation
“Are my rights to speak and vote about my future going to be ignored?” he asked.
The latest draft boundaries are much smaller than ones reviewed by incorporation supporters in recent months.
The boundary committee decided not to include Useless Bay Colony because of its distance from the heart of Freeland.
Some Useless Bay residents were hoping to be included in the city, especially if the city could ban hunting in Deer Lagoon.
“I am not surprised Useless Bay is not included considering all the rural land between us and current Freeland,” said Colony resident Bill Thieme. “Also I cannot yet tell if we would be benefited or harmed.”
