In a setback for the Whidbey Homeless Coalition, a recent decision from the Island County hearing examiner found that the county erred by allowing the nonprofit organization to proceed with a two-phased site plan review process for a proposed overnight homeless shelter in Central Whidbey.

The coalition is hoping to move The Haven, an emergency shelter currently operating out of a series of churches in Oak Harbor, to a former Jehovah’s Witness church on Morris Road near Coupeville.

The coalition was awarded a $415,000 shelter grant from the state Department of Commerce to purchase the building and property. The grant was passed through Island County; the board of commissioners approved a contract with the coalition for the grant a year ago.

The county’s planning department conducted a site plan review and approved the coalition’s proposal with conditions in December. The staff report stated that the coalition’s plan is to develop the property in two phases: the first phase would allow up to 12 guests, and the second phase, which would require additional permitting, would allow up to 30 guests.

After the site plan was approved, Coupeville resident Kyle Green, a nearby property owner, filed an appeal with the county hearing examiner, claiming that the decision was arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law, among other things.

Green is not alone in his dissent. Over 300 people who are critical of the appropriateness of its location have signed a petition opposing the proposed shelter.

In a Jan. 3 letter on behalf of Green, Reid Shockey of Shockey Planning Group argued that the analysis of the impacts of the project should have been for the ultimate buildout of a facility for 30 occupants. The letter stated that the county was wrong in finding that the project was exempt from a review under the State Environmental Policy Act.

In the decision made April 4, the county’s hearing examiner, Andrew Reeves, wrote that the county was wrong to approve the Whidbey Homeless Coalition’s request for a Type II site plan review to convert the Coupeville building to an overnight shelter for 12 guests because the county was aware that the full scope of the project includes 30 guests.

“Substantial evidence in the record demonstrates that, from the outset and consistently throughout the permit review process, the Applicant has intended for the project to provide an emergency night-to-night shelter for up to 30 people, which would require Hearing Examiner approval through the Type III decision process involving an open record public hearing,” the report stated.

As Reeves pointed out, the county was aware of the coalition’s intent for the shelter to have up to 30 guests because it received and began processing the Type III application for the second phase of the project months before approving the Type II site plan review application for the first phase.

As a result of the hearing examiner’s finding, the county’s decision to approve the Type II application was vacated.