Oak Harbor Council Approves Salem Township Annexation to Meet Grant Deadline

Oak Harbor's village council approved an emergency ordinance at its March 2 regular meeting authorizing an annexation agreement with Salem Township, moving quickly to secure eligibility for a pending infrastructure grant while also resolving a long-standing police jurisdiction problem affecting several properties on the village's edge.

Mayor Quinton Babcock outlined two core arguments for the annexation. The first is operational: Oak Harbor officers would be first to respond to calls at the affected properties, but currently have no legal authority once they arrive. "If the police show up to one of these properties, which they will because they're going to be the closest, they don't have jurisdiction," Babcock said. The second is a tax equity concern. The properties' owners are "in the village, using all the village services, and receiving the benefits of those services, but they aren't paying taxes like their neighbors are," he said.

The council passed the ordinance in emergency form specifically because the village has a grant application in progress for local infrastructure work, including sidewalks, and the accelerated timeline supports that filing.

On the negotiation front, Babcock said Salem County trustees had previously agreed in principle to the proposal and received a draft agreement from the village. The trustees requested more information, but Babcock said he has not heard back on where they currently stand. Under the ordinance's terms, both sides have 90 days to finalize the agreement.

If those talks stall, the village has options. Babcock said the council could revisit the issue later, and that Oak Harbor could technically proceed with annexation on its own if the affected homeowners consent. Still, he said the village would prefer to resolve the matter collaboratively. "They would prefer to take care of it on the front end," he said.

The 90-day clock began with the March 2 passage, putting a potential agreement deadline in late May. The village has not yet disclosed how many parcels are involved, the specific grant program the emergency ordinance supports, or the application deadline driving the urgency.