The days of limited access are over.

Oak Harbor’s waterfront trail, more than 20 years in the making, will extend to Maylor’s Point.

Whidbey Island Naval Air Station Commanding Officer Gerral David announced a partnership between the Navy and the city of Oak Harbor to extend the trail from the Yacht Club, where it currently ends, to Maylor’s Point. Applause erupted from the crowd of more than 50 attendees following David’s much-anticipated announcement at the ribbon cutting for the waterfront trail boardwalk Friday afternoon at Flintstone Park.

“We are proud to be a part of Team Whidbey,” he said Friday, warning there are still some loose ends to tie up before the project moves forward because the trail will be on Seaplane Base property.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Navy restricted public access to the Seaplane Base, and consequently to Maylor’s Point. But a recent change in base classification makes the trail extension possible, David said.

NAS Whidbey quietly removed guard staff and barriers from the Seaplane Base “Maui Gate” in December to redistribute personnel to other areas of the base, but did not publicly announce the change until a February Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Slowik called the boardwalk segment of the waterfront trail a proud achievement for the city of Oak Harbor, giving credit to the volunteer time, labor and materials that made the project possible.

A plaque at the east end of the trail lists the names of all the people who made the long-awaited project move forward, including Fakkema & Kingma, Hayden H. Watson, Materials Testing & Consulting, Inc., Island Construction, Inc., C. Johnson Construction, Inc., Pro Build, LangCo Northwest, Inc., Krieg Concrete Products, Inc., Krieg Construction, Concrete Nor’West, Western Concrete Pumping, P&L General Contractors, Inc., Laser Construction & Development, Inc., AA Electric Co., RDA & Associates, Inc., Valdez Construction, Jet City Equipment, Diamond Rentals, Northwest Granite & Flooring, Dr. Mack Whitford, Dr. Byron Skubi, Greg Goebel, Josh Duhrkopf, Sean Welch, Joel Valles, Paul Ongna, Chris Hightower, former Mayor Patricia A. Cohen and Oak Harbor city employees.

The next segment of the waterfront trail will be fashioned in a “low impact development style,” that is “kinder to the earth and kinder to the environment,” Slowik said.

The Maylor’s Point extension will offer Oak Harbor residents and visitors more than three miles of uninterrupted trail along the waterfront.