HomeMy WebLinkAbout02 - February 6, 2024CITY OF PORT ORCHARD
Planning Commission Minutes
216 Prospect Street, Port Orchard, WA 98366
Phone: (360) 874-5533 • Fax: (360) 876-4980
Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
February 6, 2024
Zoom Teleconference
COMMISSIONERS:
Present: Tyler McKlosky (Acting Chair), Joe Morrison, Stephanie Bailey, Louis Ta, Wayne Wright.
Absent: Bek Ashby, Annette Stewart.
STAFF:
Community Development Director Nick Bond, Principal Planner Jim Fisk, Associate Planner Shaun
Raja, Planning Intern Paul Fontenot.
1. CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner McKlosky called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. and led the
Pledge of Allegiance.
2. PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were no members of the public present in the chamber, and the remote
attendee did not request the floor. Consequently, there were no comments regarding issues not on the
agenda.
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JANUARY 17, 2024: Commissioner McKlosky asked if the other
commissioners had a chance to review the minutes from the January 2024 meeting and if anyone had
any issues or proposed amendments. Seeing none, a motion was entertained to approve the minutes.
Commissioner Bailey moved to approve the minutes with Commissioner Morrison as a second. The
motion passed unanimously.
4. BUSINESS ITEMS:
A. STAFF REPORT: 2024 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PERIODIC UPDATE:
INTRODUCTION, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND UTILITIES ELEMENTS.
Principal Planner Fisk introduced to the Commission Alex Campbell of AHBL to provide an
overview of the proposed amendments to the introduction, economic development, and utilities
elements of the comprehensive plan, which had been provided to the commissioners in the meeting
packet. The Commission's comments and feedback were requested.
Mr. Campbell emphasized that the focus of the current amendments was to ensure that the City's
comprehensive plan was consistent with Kitsap County and Puget Sound Regional Council
planning policies and requested feedback from the commission regarding these amendments to the
periodic update. Mr. Campbell asked that feedback be focused on the introduction considering the
Commission's experience and expertise.
Commissioner Wright commented that he did get a chance to read over the amendments. He
questioned whether the Comprehensive Plan's content would be sufficient for the City to deal with
the problems it would face over the coming decades. Commissioner Wright said that the main
problem the City currently has is with regard to motor vehicle traffic and he is worried that not
enough emphasis is given to address that concern. He said that the transportation content in the
plan is primarily focused toward walking and bicycling infrastructure and that is not conducive
with the City in its current form. Commissioner Wright also said that he'd spoken to some of the
City's constituents, and they were concerned about the amount of the plan addressing equitability
and the Commissioner asked if addressing equitability was a state -mandated provision. He also
questioned redevelopment plans within the update and the specifics on what that would entail. He
then passed the discussion to Commissioner Ta.
Commissioner Ta asked about the goals laid out in the plan concerning the redevelopment of the
City's housing supply and other land uses and asked for specific examples of immediate actions
that would be taken.
Director Bond first addressed the targets and goals that the in the plan were based on public
outreach and what the City's residents wished to see moving forward. Director Bond then
addressed Commissioner Wright's concerns about equitability, saying equity was addressed in the
Puget Sound Regional Council's comprehensive plan and that adding equity in the City's plan was,
in part, an effort to maintain consistency with the Vision 2050. He also mentioned that the
transportation segment of the plan did include driving holistically with the other forms of
transportation.
Commissioner Wright referred to the connections element and was concerned about the lack of
references to where the content with the plan was coming from.
Director Bond that the connections element of the plan was largely in response to the public
outreach and the public's desire to be more involved.
Mr. Campbell commented that the Commission's feedback was valuable feedback for the City
staff and the AHBL team. Mr. Campbell also mentioned that the changes could be made to make
the connections and equity elements of the plan clearer if that was a concern for the commission,
and that the Puget Sound Regional Council's references to equity were very explicit and it would
most likely need to be included in the City's plan, though changes in interpretation could be made.
Commissioner Wright replied that clarification would be helpful and reemphasized his concern
with the lack of clarity in the plan. He specifically referenced the plan's comments toward
representation of the City's history as well as connection to the City's trail network.
Director Bond commented that more detail about these Elements is located within specific
Elements of the Comprehensive Plan and that the Introduction would only refer to what would be
described in more detail in specific Elements. He also said that the reference to the City's history
was consistent with the City's guiding principles with regards to honoring the City's past.
Mr. Campbell commented that the amendments were made in the introduction cognizant of the
desire not to overwhelm the public with information and instead to point to where more details of
certain elements could be found further in the plan.
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Commissioner Wright suggested a preamble be included in the introduction describing what the
intent of the introduction was and from where certain elements of the plan were required and/or
inspired, perhaps referring to places on the City's website where more detailed information could
be found, and which departments were involved in which elements. He also mentioned that
regarding the historical elements of the plan and that potentially those within the City's historical
museum could be consulted.
Commissioner Morrison asked Mr. Campbell how the City's staff and the AHBL team would
address comments and desires from the Commission as more amendments to the plan were
introduced.
Mr. Campbell replied that they would compile the comments from the Commission into a
document as the periodic update is completed and then the AHBL team would coordinate with
City staff to discern when and how that feedback could and should be addressed. The City staff
would most likely go over this document containing the feedback after the first draft of the
comprehensive plan update had been completed.
Principal Planner Fisk added that the first comprehensive plan would also be presented to the
City's various subcommittees and feedback from those subcommittees would be included with that
of the Planning Commission.
Director Bond also mentioned that if there was a concern from the Commission that could not be
addressed in the comprehensive plan directly, the City's staff would reach out to the commission
to answer any questions individually.
Commissioner Ta asked about the scope of the economic piece of the comprehensive plan.
Mr. Campbell replied that the staff used the State Department of Commerce's as well as Puget
Sound Regional Council's regulatory checklist to guide the plan.
B. DISCUSSION: DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Director Bond reported that the Department staff recently toured Councilmember Chang's ADU
and mentioned that it's positive that we have an addition that is increasing the City's diversity in
housing supply.
ADJOURN: Commissioner McKlosky adjourned the meeting at 6:40 pm.
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