Oak Harbor officials finally have a plan, and that is a good thing.

The $32-million Waterfront Redevelopment, Branding and Marketing Program, which the council adopted last week, is $32 million short of what it will take to fully implement, but at least it’s a start.

The more expensive aspects of consultant Roger Brooks’ proposals, such as a downtown hotel, special events center and moving the sewer plant, might be years away. But there are cheaper ways to get started and the council wisely decided to waste no time in showing the public that something is getting done.

A new city logo featuring boat sails was adopted, the name of City Beach Park was changed to the nautically-themed Windjammer Park, and a committee of city leaders called the Windjammers was named to press for progress. Much will depend on the success of lobbying Island County Commissioners for our fair share of the economic development funds which come from the state through the sales tax. Since Oak Harbor produces most of the county’s sales tax revenue, it only makes sense that the city receive its share of the proceeds. At present, that would amount to $250,000 annually for the new waterfront program. The city may ask for even more, reasoning that what’s good for Oak Harbor is good for the county. But before the city goes to the county hat-in-hand, it must have a detailed spending plan to present rather than the fuzzy $32 million figure.

The city council followed through on its promise to act on Roger Brooks’ recommendations, as opposed to putting them on the shelf to gather dust with numerous past studies regarding the downtown and waterfront. Having paid Brooks approximately $50,000, the council needed to show taxpayers that this time, the money wasn’t being wasted.

It’s easy to sit back and criticize people who are trying to redevelop Oak Harbor into a more tourist-friendly town, but it’s something Oak Harbor desperately needs. The council showed considerable courage in making itself a target for criticism when the easy thing would have been to do nothing.

Citizens should hold their fire on this one. Give the council some time to show that the plan is being implemented, while watching to make sure that the council produces some concrete progress in the near future.

In 10 years Oak Harbor could be a significantly nicer town to live in and visit. Perhaps we can say it all started with the plan adopted in March of 2005 by a visionary city council.