A judge sided with the city of Oak Harbor in a lawsuit over the council’s decision to change a code that previously required a vote of the people before any city-owned park land can be sold or transferred to a private entity.

The decision is good news for a developer who proposed building a Hilton hotel in downtown Oak Harbor that would need part of adjacent Hal Ramaley Park as part of the project.

On April 11, Island County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Cliff granted the city’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed a complaint for declaratory judgment and constitutional writ of certiorari filed by the nonprofit group Whidbey Environmental Action Network, which is known as WEAN.

Marnie Jackson, the executive director of WEAN, said leaders of the group were disappointed in the judge’s ruling.

“We are in a moment of discernment as a team around what our next steps will be,” she said. “However, we do believe the city of Oak Harbor violated the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, and we may still have some legal recourse for the community of Oak Harbor.”

City officials, on the other hand, are pleased that the judge “found that the city did nothing wrong and dismissed all of WEAN legal claims, and the city looks forward to receiving the final written order from the Superior Court dismissing the case,” according to a statement.

WEAN challenged the amendment to a 1997 city code that was passed to protect city parkland. The amendment states that a public vote isn’t required if the council decides to swap park land as part of a development agreement where the swapped land is of greater or equal market value or if a developer agrees to make improvements that are worth 150% of the market value of the land granted by the city to the developer.

WEAN argues that that city should have gone through the State Environmental Policy Act, or SEPA, review before adopting the ordinance. WEAN claims that the amendment is a nonproject change in regulation that will impact the environment. Jackson said that the SEPA process would have provided the council with better information to base their decision on.

Also, WEAN claims that the council violated the state code of ethics for municipal officers because it makes an exception for — thereby granting a special privilege to — a specific hotel developer who wants to build a Hilton in downtown Oak Harbor.

On Jan. 27, the city filed a motion for summary judgment. The motion argues that the change doesn’t violate the state ethics code because it doesn’t bestow a special privilege to just one developer since it will apply to all people equally, and it gives the council greater flexibility to make decisions. The motion claims that the ordinance was not subject to a SEPA review because adoption of the ordinance was not an “action,” as defined in the state administrative code; that it would be exempt because it has no possible environmental impact; and that there was no land-use application.

The city’s motion explained that Sound Development, based in Mount Vernon, initially submitted a pre-application review to the city for a proposed development on the property next to Hal Ramaley Park. The proposal was for a building with a brewpub, residential units and a parking lot. City staff told the developer that the proposal was inconsistent with the development code.

Sound Development responded with a new pre-application for a four-story, 107-room Home2 Suites by Hilton Hotel with convention meeting space.

Cliff gave her oral ruling on April 11 and instructed the city’s attorney to prepare an order.