Island County zoning review could open North Whidbey lots to housing

A zoning call in Island County could decide whether long-forgotten North Whidbey lots stay paper history or become the backbone of future housing near Oak Harbor.

Oak Harbor real estate agent Charlie Moore filed for a certificate of zoning compliance in December 2025 for property near Arnold Road and Highway 20, inside the Plat of San de Fuca and within Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. The land is described as roughly 20 acres, but the old subdivision contains about 45 lots laid out in the late 1800s. Moore is not seeking a building permit, and no construction would start just because the county approves the filing. The question is whether those lots legally exist under today’s rules.

That distinction matters in a housing market where every buildable parcel counts. If the land is treated as ordinary rural acreage, Island County code says the Rural zone has a minimum lot size of five acres and a base density of one dwelling unit per five acres. If the San de Fuca lots are found to be legally established, the site could support far more homes, potentially up to 45 dwellings, depending on how county rules are applied. Moore has said he is preparing the property for someone else to develop later, not developing it himself.

The county’s certificate of zoning compliance form says the process is meant to establish whether a lot, use or structure lawfully existed before Dec. 1, 1998, the effective date of the current code. Even if the lots clear that hurdle, Island County Planning & Community Development would still have to examine practical issues before any permits are issued, including soil permeability, critical areas and setbacks.

The site sits inside Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve, a nationally recognized landscape that Island County describes as the first historical reserve in the National Park System. The reserve is managed through a partnership that includes the National Park Service, Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, the Town of Coupeville and Island County. A Historic Reserve Committee created under a 2011 cooperative agreement also reviews projects and makes recommendations tied to the reserve’s design guidelines, which aim to protect historic and scenic character while allowing flexible review.

The timing gives the filing added weight. Island County has said it recognizes a large need for affordable housing on Whidbey and Camano islands, even as commissioners extended an emergency moratorium on land-use and building applications in certain Mixed-Use Rural Areas of More Intensive Development on April 7, 2026, through Oct. 14, 2026. The county’s delayed comprehensive-plan update adds another layer, with draft elements and regulations published Dec. 10, 2025, for a comment period that ran through Feb. 9, 2026. The San de Fuca decision could become an important test of how Island County balances housing pressure, rural character and the legal status of old plat lots on North Whidbey.