Oak Harbor City Council decided to take a step forward last week in installing an unusual and somewhat controversial mid-block crosswalk.

A total of $23,000 in grant funds will be used to design and permit a pedestrian crossing on East Whidbey Avenue between State Highway 20 and Oak Harbor Street.

The money is from a larger $224,500 grant the city was awarded earlier this year. The money comes from the federal government and is administered by the state.

The crosswalk is meant to deal with the copious jaywalking between Saars Market and other businesses on one side and the Rollerbarn and residential units on the other.

The idea for the project originated with Harbor Tower Village, a retirement center across Whidbey Avenue from Saars Market. Some elderly residents cross mid-block because of difficulty walking uphill to the crosswalk.

Oak Harbor Mayor Scott Dudley spearheaded the effort to get it funded.

“I still perceive a real need for a crosswalk here,” Mike Merickel said during the council meeting.

Merickel, an Oak Harbor resident, has been vocal on the issue. He said he commonly sees elderly people, children and parents with youngsters crossing in the area and is worried about the potential for an accident.

The project hit a snag earlier this year when council members, particularly Rick Almberg, questioned the wisdom of putting in a crosswalk on a road crammed with driveways, entrances and exits.

Almberg, a retired construction manager, made a motion at requiring the city to get an opinion letter from an engineer about the feasibility of the project before moving forward with it.

The city hired engineer Ryan Peterson, of Transpo Group, to look into the issue. The segment of East Whidbey Avenue is the busiest east-west arterial in the city, carrying an average of 10,200 cars a day.

Peterson counted 25 pedestrians walking across the road mid-block from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on a Wednesday.

The mini-study concluded that “a demonstrated need” exists for a crossing in the area.

The study proposes two options for configuring the crosswalk. Both call for a pedestrian “refuge” or median, relocation of a driveway into an apartment complex parking lot, edge-lit signs and in-pavement lights.

One option would restrict the intersection with Northeast Barron to right-in and right-out turning. Councilwoman Tara Hizon said she wondered how residents in the area would feel about that.

Almberg pointed out that the owner of the apartment complex would have to agree to close off the parking lot entrance for the crosswalk project to work.

After the meeting, Dudley said he was glad the project is moving forward, but he thinks the opinion letter was a unnecessary step that cost about $4,000.

“We wasted time and money just to get questions answered that would have been answered anyway” in the project design phase, he said.