An effort to name the new park on Scenic Heights Road that connects to Oak Harbor’s waterfront trail is headed back to the drawing board.

In an unanimous decision Tuesday, June 7, the city council voted to reject the two names recommended by the Oak Harbor Park Board last month and send it back to the group so it can come with new suggestions.

The decision followed comments by several people in the audience, all of whom were advocating for different names than the two proposed: the Scenic Heights Trailhead and the Scenic Heights Overlook.

The park board had worked on the names for several months, seeking input from the public and narrowing down a list of at least 12 recommendations. The advisory group made its final decision in May.

“The two choices are based primarily on the neighborhood and common usage identification,” said Cathy Rosen, director of the city’s public works department.

It appeared that few at Tuesday’s meeting cared for either name, however. Ron Hancock, chaplain with the Oak Harbor Fire Department, urged council members to delay making a decision so a name that better reflects one of the city’s many legacies could be selected.

“It’s not just about one of us, it’s about all of us,” Hancock said.

Another, Aida Martin, proposed the park be named after her father, the late Bert Letrondo. She said his love for the city and his efforts over the years to improve it made him an icon within the community and an ambassador to Oak Harbor.

City Councilman Danny Paggao also voiced support for Letrondo, saying the man was a prominent figure who helped pave the way for cultural diversity within Oak Harbor.

“There was once racial tension in the high school and he was the one called in to diffuse that tension,” Paggao said.

However, the councilman also seemed willing to support one of the park board’s choices. He agreed with several other council members who said that of the two recommendations, the “overlook” choice was preferable to “trailhead.”

Long-range plans to expand the trail system west along the waterfront will make it so the park is no longer the head of the waterfront trail, which makes overlook a more technically accurate name.

Some council members expressed concern over naming the park after Letrondo for fear of offending members of the Freund family. City Councilman Jim Palmer said Arnold Freund, who passed away last year, owned much of the land in the area and it’s his name that Freund Marsh is named after.

“I think that would be offensive to the family, so I’m not for that,” Palmer said.

Both City Councilwoman Beth Munns and City Councilman Jim Campbell said they preferred the overlook name. Munns said she asked if some of the original suggestion could be saved for other parks and Campbell expressed a willingness to see another park named after Letrondo.

“I would like to find some way to honor the man, but I don’t know if this is it,” Campbell said.

Finally, council members Rick Almberg, Bob Severns, and Scott Dudley voiced a wish to see the issue go back to the park board for further review.

Almberg wanted a name that related more to the city’s culture, Severns wanted the issue reviewed again due to one park board member being absent when the decision was made, and Dudley said he wanted the name chosen to be permanent.