The city of Oak Harbor wants to hear ideas for making the city more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists.

At city council’s most recent workshop, Senior Planner Cac Kamak gave an update on the city’s active transportation plan, which is a multi-modal system of transportation choices that provide infrastructure improvement recommendations to enable people of all ages and ability to safely walk, bike and roll.

The council approved a contract with consulting firm Toole Design in November 2022 to collaborate on the plan. The company supports “innovative streets and dynamic communities where people of all ages and abilities can enjoy walking, biking and access to transit,” according to its website. The contract was approved by the Washington State Department of Transportation the following December.

Kamak said the consulting firm is planning to engage with the community in a number of ways, including through focus groups, print and web communications, interactive web maps and a survey.

The survey had a “soft launch” on April 3 and will be open until June 3. The survey can be found at oakharbor.gov/atp. People are also able to submit more specific comments and questions through an online form.

The survey has around 10 questions and an interactive web map. Kamak explained that people can make comments about the need for things like crosswalks, bicycle paths and sidewalks on specific areas of the map. On the city’s website, the survery states that the city wants to collect information about areas that are challenging to navigate for kids, older adults, and people with disabilities.

Kamak said Toole Design has also done a lot of data collection in regards to land use and zoning, street classifications, city parks, speed and traffic data, marked crosswalk locations and crash data.

“These are all going to be factored into developing the analysis of the existing network, which will then help in formulating projects that can better the system for walking and biking,” he said.

Kamak said that he hoped the plan would not only create a biking trail system within the city but provide connections to nearby biking networks in the region as well.

Councilmember Shane Hoffmire pointed out there is no sidewalk on the corner of Southeast Fourth Avenue and Midway Boulevard, where children walk to Oak Harbor Elementary. Kamak said projects near schools would most likely take higher priority.

According to the city’s website, the active transportation plan will be implemented beginning in 2024.

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