Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm calling to order the July 20th, 2026 Bremerton Regular Planning Commission meeting. The first item on the agenda is a roll call to confirm that we have a quorum.

Commissioner Peterson. Here. Commissioner Wofford.

Here.

Commissioner Browning.

Here.

Commissioner Kirksell. Here. And commissioners Doreen, Miller, and Powell are excused. We have a quorum.

Next up is approval of the agenda as presented. Hearing and seeing no objections, we will approve the agenda.

And do we have a motion to adopt the minutes from June?

I move to approve the minutes from June.

Second.

Okay, we have a motion from Commissioner Kirksell and seconded by Commissioner Wofford. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

The public workshop tonight reviews a zoning code amendment application made by the Bremerton Housing Authority requesting to amend BMC 20.46.090 temporary encampment permits. No formal decisions will be made tonight. We will review a staff presentation and receive public testimony prior to the Planning Commission providing staff feedback on how to proceed with a public hearing in August. Presenting is Garrett Jackson, Planning Manager with the City of Bremerton.

Thank you, Commissioner Peterson. As you see on the screen, we are reviewing potential zoning code amendments this evening proposed by the Bremerton Housing Authority to the temporary encampment portion of the code BMC2046090. The orders of the day or the Planning Commission should review the proposed zoning code amendment application submitted by BHA, receive additional public testimony regarding the proposed amendment, and consider the proposal's consistency with the review criteria established in the Bremerton Municipal Code prior to a public hearing in August. All right, just do some review from our previous workshops. Initially, there was a May workshop scheduled to review the BHA zoning code amendment, and that was canceled at the request of BHA so that they could revise the scope of their application. A new scope was received June 1st and a planning commission workshop went through on June 15th, bringing us to this evening, the July 20th workshop, where we will further review that application and against the criteria of the municipal code. Prior to a public hearing for the planning commission on august 17th so as mentioned by vice chair peterson there is no formal recommendation made tonight a formal recommendation on the proposed code change would be made to the city council at the august 17th public hearing uh That would then be delivered to the city council who would determine potential study sessions and hearing dates in the future. And just to make sure that everyone's clear on what the proposal is that we're reviewing tonight, the BHA proposal is limited in scope to adding a single parcel to our temporary encampment permit code. Currently, the District Center Core, General Commercial, Freeway Corridor Industrial, and Puget Sound Industrial Center zones are permitted to have an extended three-year temporary encampment permit. BHA's request is to add this single site at 1231 Sheridan Road to that list of eligible zones for a three-year encampment. Just to ensure that everyone understands the difference between permanent housing and a temporary encampment, step housing is required by RCW 3521-683, and those are permanent buildings. So STEP building means indoor emergency shelters, transitional housing, emergency housing, and or permanent supportive housing, creating that acronym of STEP. Now these structures have to meet local development standards and Bremerton has already completed the code amended process for STEP housing in our code. So to be clear, the Bremerton Housing Authority could apply today for any step housing at the 1231 Sheridan site as an allowed use in that zone currently. The amendment that we're reviewing is for temporary encampments at that 1231 Sheridan site. And that's guided by RCW 3521-915, which requires that the city allow religious institutions to have temporary encampments for a limited time. Now temporary accommodations do not meet building code standards or local development standards and do not count toward growth targets established in our comprehensive plan. The Washington State Building Code Council is currently considering draft regulations for temporary emergency shelters, but currently there are no building code regulations that address these temporary structures. The Washington State Department of Commerce just last month issued some reiterative guidance. Since 2024, this guidance has been the same, but it was reiterated in a presentation from the Department of Commerce in June just last month. which notes that the temporary structures for step housing are not step housing, but that they may be allowed by local jurisdictions, and they're encouraged to do so by the state, but that it is elective for jurisdictions to allow temporary structures. This also means that these structures still cannot be counted to court comprehensive plan local housing goal need allocations. So addressing homelessness as a regional issue in Kitsap County. Every year Kitsap County publishes a point in time count that accounts the number of homeless individuals throughout Kitsap County. Now typically this is an undercount because this is a population that is hard to provide a very specific count for, but that 46% of those identifying as homeless reported that they lived in Bremerton. Now this is, as you can see from the pie chart on the right, this did not include unincorporated Kitsap County, only cities within Kitsap County. So this may not be very accurate and it is self-reporting. And then moving on to the Kitsap County Homelessness and Housing Plan. It's a five-year housing plan adopted by Kitsap County with the participation of every jurisdiction within Kitsap County. And this document points out that the countywide planning policies, these are policies that guide every jurisdiction within Kitsap County, include provisions to assist individuals experiencing homelessness. and that individual comprehensive plans for each Kitsap jurisdiction contain provisions for addressing homelessness. Now the one exception to that is Bainbridge Island. While they have draft policies in place, they have yet to adopt their comprehensive plan. And then this document, this five year housing program notes that existing services and those planned for the future are largely located in the city of Bremerton. Going so far as to specifically state that homeless crisis response system providers identified several critical gaps that hinder progress and that includes that geographic disparities exist with services concentrated in the city of Bremerton. Now this chart here was going gone into a little more depth at the June workshop but this is part of that five-year housing plan and also the county-wide planning policies. And the overall output is that the city of Bremerton leads all Kitsap jurisdictions per capita by an exaggerated amount. And this is a snapshot that's taken in the year 2020. So it's a snapshot of services and housing in place for the year 2020 and then projected out to the year 2024. And in both instances, Bremerton provides drastically more housing than other Kitsap jurisdictions. Thank you. Now, making this more pronounced, the city of Bremerton has added several facilities since the year 2020 with the intention of providing assistance to those experiencing homelessness. So this includes a respite center on Sixth Street downtown in 2026, Evergreen Bright Start downtown on Warren Avenue in 2024, Wheaton Landing on Wheaton Way in East Bremerton in 2024. And Sakas Ubali, located in Manette, that opened in 2025. Pendleton Place, which opened in 2022. And Star of Hope, which has been approved by permit by the city, but has yet to start construction. now these are all projects that are either constructed or at the case of star of hope permitted by the city but this doesn't include pre-submittal conferences that we may have had properties being purchased by bremerton housing authority peninsula community health services and others for projects in development for the future just going to review our existing code section So the existing temporary encampment permit code section allows for 183 day temporary encampment permit in any zoning district in the city. So in all zoning districts, you have a type one permit, which is the simplest permit that we have to allow for 183 day permit. This requires outreach to police, fire, schools, childcare, and the health district. It requires a neighborhood meeting, mailed notification within 500 feet, an agreement to inspections from police, fire, building and the health district, plans for security, sanitation, trash, setbacks and screening, and to establish a code of conduct for eligibility. We also have a three-year temporary encampment permit, which is a type two conditional use permit. This requires additional public outreach, that social services be provided on site, that accommodations are composed of durable, rigid material. So with that in mind, you'll see the pictures of a tent here on the right, and that would be considered a non-rigid material as opposed to the lower image, which shows like a pallet shelter or a lehigh type shelter, which would be considered a rigid material. These are eligible for smaller sites. So anywhere that has a half acre site would be eligible within select zoning districts. So this is a map of the zoning districts that currently allow for a three year temporary encampment permit. You'll see those properties in black here within city limits. That includes once again the District Center Core, General Commercial, Freeway Corridor, Industrial Zone, and Puget Sound Industrial Center. The Comprehensive Plan and Harrison Heights Sub Area Plan will review those goals and policies now and how that might interact with the project. Now both of these documents, both the Comprehensive Plan and the Harrison Heights Subarea Plan took several years of public feedback and public meetings to get to those adopted plans. The Comprehensive Plan was updated in June of 2025. The last time the Planning Commission reviewed substantive amendments to the Temporary Encampment Code was in May of 2024, and the Washington State Department of Commerce published guidance on step housing in July of 2024. So I point that out to state that the Planning Commission was not aware of how of the state commerce guidance for step housing the last time substantial amendments were proposed by BHA. Now, population estimates indicate that the city will grow to just under 64,000 people by the year 2044. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Bremerton's population was over 45,000 people in 2025. This means that the city is forecasted to increase its population by over 40%. The Harrison Heights subarea plan began essentially in 2017 when CHI Franciscan announced that the operations for the Harrison Medical Center would be transferred to new facilities in Silverdale. And then the demolition of the nearly 320,000 square foot hospital followed in 2025. Harrison Heights sub area plan was adopted in 2020 and last updated in June of 2025 with the comprehensive plan update. The sub area calls for nearly 1700 residential units to be constructed by the year 2044. And that total is approximately 3600 people to be added to the sub area through dense housing and mixed uses. So along with provisions for step housing and temporary encampments, the city of Bremerton has had a number of recent code updates to address permanent housing needs in the city. According to the Department of Commerce, rising rents combined with lagging incomes and a lack of housing supply are the core causes of increased homelessness in the state. Throughout the comprehensive plan update process, we provided a link to this eight minute video here. What are the root causes of homelessness? And that link's included in the packet. And it calls out that the main reasonings for homelessness is a lack of housing. And so the city of Bremerton has been very busy providing code updates to increase our housing supply, particularly through the 2025 comprehensive plan update. That includes a number of density increases and maximum structure height increases, relaxing standards for accessory dwelling units, we have a pre-approved ADU program, middle housing consistent with the state of Washington, multifamily that's allowed citywide in every residential zoning district, the ability to convert existing buildings to multifamily with a 50% bonus in density, co-living housing where you could rent out individual rooms of your home consistent with state requirements, step housing consistent with state requirements, unit lot subdivision, affordable housing bonus to religious institutions, and specifically the Bremerton Housing Authority, and no minimum parking standards citywide, which is more lax than any other jurisdiction in Kitsap County, all to promote development and increased housing. The Comprehensive Plan and the Harrison Heights Sub Area Plan have a number of goals and policies promoting the development of housing. LU1A calls out specifically that land use centers like the Harrison Heights Sub Area Plan should have compact mixed use development and that that should be focused in city centers. H2H calls that we should provide sufficient housing for the city's projected population and housing targets, especially in city centers like Harrison Heights. H3B encourage rental of subsidized housing throughout the city in a manner that accommodates Bremerton's fair share of countywide need. H3F, identify and implement strategies to meet affordable housing targets identified in the countywide planning policies. Promote and encourage Bremerton Housing Authority and other nonprofits to provide housing and home ownership opportunities for low income and moderate income households. And then specifically within the Harrison Heights subarea plan, transform, excuse me, support the transformation of underutilized lands, such as surplus public property for higher density mixed uses developments. Encourage the development of multifamily housing to increase the supply of available housing. HH19, collaborate with local and regional agencies and stakeholders to reduce homelessness. HH21, future development in Harrison Heights is attractive with high quality architecture and urban design. In HH13, Harrison Heights enjoys a business climate that encourages development aligned with the sub area vision and provides clarity and certainty to developers and property owners. So staff notes that there are some inconsistencies with the proposal and the comprehensive plan. Consistent with RCW 3521-683, the Sheridan site could currently develop step housing at this location, including a permanent indoor emergency shelter. Per the Washington State Department of Commerce, temporary structures are not considered step housing and cannot count toward our housing allocation goals identified in the countywide planning policies and in our comprehensive plan. The city currently permits a 183-day temporary encampment permit in any zone within the city and a three-year temporary encampment permit in select zoning districts. Existing temporary encampment permit standards in Bremerton are the most lenient of all cities within Kitsap County. Consistent with information provided in the Kitsap County Homelessness and Housing Plan and local development patterns observed since 2020, the city likely accommodates more than Bremerton's fair share of countywide need of subsidized housing. Approval of the proposed zoning code amendments would likely further exacerbate existing geographic disparities of services cited in the Kitsap County Homeless Housing Plan for 2025 to 2030. Because the proposed amendment would apply within a designated countywide center, it may displace the compact mixed-use development envisioned by the Comprehensive Plan and Harrison Heights Subarea Plan. This likely hampers the City's ability to achieve housing allocation goals found in the countywide planning policies and Comprehensive Plan. According to the Department of Commerce, high rents and not enough affordable housing are the most significant challenges for reducing homelessness in Washington. The production of high density housing, including step housing, made better further goals of combating homelessness locally. Now moving into the criteria approval for a zoning code text amendment. So there are two criteria for the Planning Commission to consider to approve a text amendment. Now per BMC 218010, text amendments may be necessary when changing circumstances or conditions justify updates to the zoning codes development regulations, provided those changes remain consistent with the comprehensive plan. As the comprehensive plan was adopted in June of 2025, it is unclear what changing circumstances prompt this change. The approval criteria one is, is it consistent with the goals and policies of the comprehensive plan? And two, it does not conflict with other city, state or federal codes, regulations or ordinances. Should the planning commission find that either of these criteria are not met, the zoning code amendment should not be recommended to the city council for approval. Moving into the planning commission options. So as we discussed at the June workshop, there are three options for the Planning Commission to consider. Option one is a frontage-based option. Now that moves the, it would still be the singular site on Sheridan Road for a potential zoning code amendment, but it would change the language from the specific parcel number to properties fronting Sheridan Road within the multi-use zone of the Harrison Heights subarea plan. Option two would be to add the entire Harrison Heights sub area plan to the list of eligible sites for a three year temporary encampment. And I'll note that option two is the BHA preferred option, though they are comfortable with option one as well. And option three would be no change is recommended by the planning commission to the city council. Now the planning commission would determine in this case that the zoning code amendment application does not meet the goals of the comprehensive plan or sub area plan. And a formal recommendation for no code change would be made at the public hearing on August 17th. The applicant would not, if this were accepted by the city council, the applicant would not be able to apply for a three year temporary encampment at the site but could currently apply for any step housing on the site immediately. Staff recommends option number three to align with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan and Harrison Heights Subarea Plan. And then moving into public comments. So we have published online, as of 3.30 today, 111 public comments. There was one additional comment that I saw that came in after that time. And a hard copy has been provided in front of each one of the planning commissioners. Staff has not had time to review it in preparation for this meeting. But this packet can later be updated to include that singular comment. The summary of the top 10 most common themes were concerns over public safety and security, that there was a lack of transparency. I should note that both for public safety concerns, that criteria related to this site for the operations and security, that would occur with a conditional use permit. which would happen only if this zoning code amendment were adopted. Lack of transparency, their notice is provided for this zoning code amendment consistent with adopted code criteria. Any other outreach to the community would have been elective from the applicant and not required by the code for this zoning code amendment. Questions about long-term intent, that there may be differing proposals from the applicant on what they're going to do with the site long term. Consistency with zoning and comprehensive planning that the proposal does not meet the criteria for those items. Concerns over economic prosperity and property values in the surrounding area. Operational details. which once again, both the public and the applicant have had a potentially hard time separating the proposed project from the proposed zoning code amendment. So the zoning code amendment would only allow for a temporary encampment at this site. It does not, preclude the property owner from having a larger encampment that takes up the whole five acres. To our understanding the BHA would limit the site to 30 pallet shelters, but there's no code requirement that would require that. So you could in theory have pallet shelters throughout this five acre site. So those types of Site specific details are not included in the zoning code amendment for operations. So just so the public is aware, we are not approving a 30 unit pallet shelter. This is to allow for a temporary encampment on the entire property and separating out those potential future development plans from this zoning code amendment can be difficult. There are concerns over location due to adjacent schools, senior apartments, and ball fields. And there are several comments that are supportive of the proposed amendment. including support for addressing homelessness either at this site or other comments have noted support for addressing homelessness through step housing, either at this site or at other sites, but not through a temporary encampment. And there were a few, two or three requests to delay the August public hearing. Staff doesn't feel like that's necessary. We have public comments that are on the record. The Planning Commission and the public would have from this workshop until the public hearing to review the public comments that have been made and application materials that have been made. So just throwing that in for the Planning Commission. And we also have included as attachment D feedback from elected officials trying to clarify the record with the applicant. So we have a June 26th letter from City Council President Jayme Hrabowski and Vice President Denise Frey that is, like I said, provided as attachment D in the packet. And this provides a timeline for council participation with the BHA proposal and also points out that the city council did not endorse, direct, or request a development at the 1-2-3-1 Sheridan site or a pallet-only model. And then also a July 10th letter from Mayor Greg Wheeler that notes that $1.1 million in ARPA funds may be redirected to other eligible uses. So there has been some concern that the city may lose these ARPA funds if not used by this specific site on Sheridan and the mayor writes to note that that is not the case. So the orders of the day are for the Planning Commission to review the proposed zoning code amendment application submitted by the Bremerton Housing Authority, receive additional public testimony regarding the proposed amendment, and consider the proposal's consistency with the review criteria established in the Bremerton Municipal Code prior to a public hearing in August.

Thank you, Mr. Jackson. It's my understanding from the materials submitted that the applicant, Bremerton Housing Authority, does not wish to provide a statement or presentation at this time. Does anyone in the public have comments on this public workshop? OK. We ask that you state your name for the record and please submit, please limit your comments to three minutes or less. A timer system will be used so that everyone is treated equally. Please come up to the podium and wait to be recognized. If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand and wait to be recognized. Please direct your comments to the Planning Commission. This is a comment period, not a question and answer period though. Please, everybody, silence your phones, please. Audience members should be respectful while others are providing comment. There's a lot of people that are gonna disagree with each other tonight, so please, no heckling the people that are speaking. Please respect them. And with that, I open up public testimony.

All right. Good evening. My name is Dwight. Before I begin, I want to acknowledge something that may make people uncomfortable, but discomfort does not make it untrue. I am a young black man entering a space where very few people are likely to look like me, come from my background, or currently live through the circumstances I am speaking about. I understand that young black men can be judged before we even have finished introducing ourselves. We can be viewed as threatening when we are passionate or disrespectful when we are direct. I am asking everyone in this room to give my voice a fair chance to be heard. Do not judge the value of my message by my race, age, gender, clothing, housing status, or whether my words make you uncomfortable. Listen to the substance of what I'm saying. My perspective does not merely matter. It is necessary. I am not studying homelessness from an office. I am currently trapped inside the system that you are making decisions about. I have worked, saved money, submitted documents, communicated with agencies, and pursued housing. I know what it feels like to be moved through temporary programs while still being denied the one thing that would actually end my homelessness, a permanent home. City records show that $1.3 million in public funding was obligated for the original hybrid shelter project, $1.1 million in ARPA funding, and another $200,000 in real estate excise tax funding. I understand that the council has not yet approved using that money for the revised proposal of approximately 30 pallet shelters. That is exactly why this is the time to reconsider the direction of this investment. Let us put $1.3 million into perspective. According to the Bremerton Housing Authority's own 2026 payment standards, $1.3 million is the equivalent of one full year of rent for approximately 64 studio apartments or 58 one-bedroom apartments. It could cover approximately 44 two-bedroom apartments for a year, with two adults voluntarily sharing appropriate two-bedroom units. That could provide a real apartment housing for approximately 88 people. Those are rent-only estimates. I understand that deposits, utilities, services, administration, funding restrictions, and housing availability must also be considered. I am not claiming that every dollar can simply be moved tomorrow without a legal or financial process. I am saying that $1.3 million represents the power to place dozens of people into real apartments. Therefore, before this community spends that level of money expanding another temporary shelter system, permanent apartment housing should be treated as the primary objective, not as a distant possibility after people spend years moving through the temporary programs. Kitsap County's preliminary 2026 count identified 551 people experiencing homelessness, including 230 unsheltered people, Nearly half of the surveyed unsheltered households were encountered in Bremerton, and the county acknowledges that its count is an undercount.

Thank you.

Hi, my name's Julie Graves, and I have lived in the city of Bremerton since 1989 and been a homeowner here since 1993. I started working in affordable housing in 1994 when I was working for Kitsap Mental Health and creating housing opportunities for their clients who were being released from Western State Hospital back into the community. I've worked in affordable housing ever since then and have done a couple of significant developments with over 40 units. What I've found in my career creating affordable housing is it typically takes at least five years from project concept until you have a certificate of occupancy and residence moving in. And that's the reason I support a pallet shelter type concept is that we need housing for people today. And having an opportunity for that housing to be provided over a period of three years would allow Bremerton Housing Authority to create the permanent units that are needed. They already have the land. They're already working on the plans So there are us, you know a significant step ahead in terms of that five-year goal but providing all of the different funding sources that are necessary to come together is no easy task and and I know that personally from all the work that I did for the for housing kits up over 17 and a half years I now work for another housing Authority and it's the same thing it's not quick it's not easy I also understand that other residents of the city are concerned about how this will impact them and I think what we've seen with the developments that I've been involved with over the years is that properties that are well managed and well maintained have a positive impact on the neighborhood. The people who would live at this property are people who don't want to be homeless. They want to follow the rules. They don't want to create problems for the neighborhood. I encourage you to approve the Bremerton Housing Authority's request so that we can have homes for 30 people that last over a period of time while Bremerton Housing Authority creates the permanent units thank you

Hi, I am the Reverend Arianne Davison. I have lived in Bremerton for... Sorry. I'm the Reverend Arianne Davison. I've lived in Bremerton for more than 10 years, and I am the priest in charge at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Callahan, about a block and a half, two blocks from the site. I stand in support of this proposal because... We have been in this neighborhood for more than 60 years, for about the time that the hospital was built. And we've seen the changes in the neighborhood. And a thing that has come up over and over again as we talk internally is that there have always been homeless people sleeping outside in Harrison Heights. We've done a lot of things over the years, the decades. to ameliorate homelessness and i'm excited about all of the plans for permanent housing for the step shelters that are permanent structures i'm grateful for all of that i'm grateful for all of the things that my neighbors in other places in port orchard have done that i know have happened in the last 10 years to work on these things. I understand it can seem like Bremerton is taking a bigger share of the work, but I'll say as a very local neighbor, as an organization that's been working with the poor and unhoused in this neighborhood for a very long time, we see an urgent need that will not be addressed like that will exist for the next five years while we wait for other more permanent projects to be developed we know that there's a gap in housing stock it's true here it's true all over the world really and so we don't feel like Waiting it's really hard to step over people whose names I know who I can't bring inside We want to find ways that we can support a community of people growing together and being good neighbors to each other I believe that we could do work and Bremerton Housing Authority can do work and to make sure that the site is appropriate for the neighborhood and safe. I believe that we will be able to develop community partnerships so that we can be good neighbors, whether we have houses to live in or not. I believe in our neighborhood. And I hope that we all can find ways to be good neighbors and that this planning process allows us the opportunity to be good neighbors to people who don't have a place to live and to people who do in our neighborhood. Thank you.

Hello, thank you Bremerton Planning Commission for your care for our beautiful city. My name is Susie Beale and I have lived in Bremerton for 18 years. This is where my husband and I raised our three children and where we call home. I have also been a pastor at Summit Avenue Presbyterian Church in West Bremerton for 14 years. And for the last three years, I have been a commissioner with the Bremerton Housing Authority. I am here today to speak in favor of the zoning code change for the Sheridan property. First, my faith in a loving God compels me to advocate for our vulnerable neighbors and reject narratives that dehumanize the unhoused while prioritizing the privileged. My faith in Bremerton Housing Authority assures me that any property owned and operated by BHA would be clean, cared for, and responsibly managed. Secondly, as a homeowner and as a parent, I understand the concerns of those who do not want unhoused people living in their neighborhood or near a school. However, the reality is that we have unhoused people in all our neighborhoods and close to all of our schools. This morning on my walk in my own Marine Drive, Rocky Point neighborhood, I passed by a gentleman and his dog who slept in the woods last night right next to Crown Hill Elementary. In my years as a pastor in Bremerton, it has been a regular occurrence to have people living in their vehicles in our church parking lot, setting up tents in the woods on our property, or sleeping under the awning outside our sanctuary. I am familiar with and have personally cleaned up messes that occur when people live in vehicles or outdoors and do not have access to a bathroom. The plan proposed for the Sheridan site would provide and maintain bathrooms, showers, laundry, and other services that give people dignity and hope. Third, I want to talk about the zoning request that is the focus under consideration tonight. It is important to clarify that only one acre of the five acre parcel is proposed to be used for any kind of temporary housing. The other four acres would be for permanent housing. It is also important to clarify that this zoning request is not about the low barrier shelter that was part of the larger hybrid plan. This zoning request is about the pallet shelter proposed. for people who would be screened and who would be supported in moving toward permanent housing. Finally, I want to talk about the land itself. The Sheridan site was previously owned by a faith-based organization ordinarily associated with hospitals and other places of healing and hope. THE PROPERTY SAT UNSOLD FOR MANY YEARS. NO DEVELOPER WANTED IT BECAUSE THE SELLERS HAD SO MANY PROTECTIONS AND REQUIREMENTS FOR HOW THE LAND WAS TO BE USED. BUT WHEN THE SELLERS HEARD ABOUT THE VISION OF PROVIDING A PATHWAY OUT OF HOMELESSNESS AND INTO PERMANENT HOUSING, THEY AGREED TO SELL THE PROPERTY TO BHA. I BELIEVE THIS PARCEL WAS SET APART FOR A PURPOSE SUCH AS THIS. THIS LAND HOLDS A PROMISE OF HOPE AND HEALING FOR OUR UNHOUSED NEIGHBORS.

Well, my name is Edmund Cuevas. I am a disabled veteran and currently a federal law enforcement officer. I was born in the Dominican Republic. I came here as a young man. And by the way, I don't feel threatened by anybody here. By the way, I don't feel threatened by anybody here. I think there's a lot of kind and loving people. I don't think that the color of my skin has anything to do with this. I don't feel judged by anybody. In fact, most people here in this room have been very kind to me. Here's what I have to say about this issue of homelessness. As a police officer, short time in Tacoma PD, the impact of homelessness in that particular city and also in Seattle is tremendous. We cannot deny it. It's a big problem. I don't think that the problem is to provide this kind of temporary housing in the city of Bremerton. I think this utopic idea is going to cause more issues and more problems. My home, my house, where my wife and I of 20 years have three children, we live about 300 yards from where this is proposed to be built. I want you to understand that SARS, the store that is just in front of it, when we go to buy groceries there for whatever reason, if you have an emergency there, you cannot use the restroom. You know why? Because of a homelessness issue. So if you think about the impact that that causes to our city, to our businesses, And to people like me who raise children and perhaps want them to go outside and play, we feel very unease with having unvetted people living in these places. Now, if you think that the impact is just going to stop at people not being able to use the restroom there, just wait until you build this place, which is a mistake, by the way, you're not only going to cause them to close their bathrooms, they will be driven out of business. I've seen it. I've seen the impact in Tacoma. And as a federal police officer, I've seen it also nationwide. And you might think, so well, what is the solution to this problem? Well, I don't know. But I tell you, building that building there is not the solution. I'm not much of a beggar. I've been working really hard since I came to this country. that started by having to learn another language. And I'm begging you, don't do it. It's going to have a very deep negative impact to the city of Bramerton. If you think this is going to solve the problem, I want you to think about this. What are you gonna do with the building when it's vacant? Because it will be, you won't be able to maintain a proper building there.

Oh, we seem to have some differences of opinion here. I'm Suzanne Griffith. I live in District 1, a little ways from the proposed site. Am I not? OK. I'm Suzanne Griffith. I live near the proposed site, not close to it. I was born here many years ago. I've been back here for over 30 years, and I've seen this situation develop. When I got back here, it was a couple, a few years before I saw homeless people. But I was working in Seattle, so I saw them there. I think we live in a country that some of us feel has a lot of money that's going to the wrong places, or the wrong people, or too much of it is going to certain people. And not enough of it is going to people who really need it, like homeless people. So I do believe in helping the homeless. I don't believe in nimbyism and shifting them off to somewhere else. I'm sorry I have to disagree with the last person who spoke. He was very well spoken, but I don't agree that that's a wonderful neighborhood. I've been through there for, like I said, over 30 years, and it's a neighborhood. There's nothing particularly special about it. When the hospital was there, it was kind of a nice place to visit, briefly.

PLEASE PAUSE THE TIME.

I'M SORRY.

STAFF, CAN YOU PAUSE THE TIME? CAN THE AUDIENCE PLEASE NOT INTERRUPT THE PEOPLE?

IT'S OKAY.

NO, NO, NO. IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN MORE. SO YOUR TIME HAS BEEN PAUSED.

I DO FEEL THAT HOMELESSNESS IS A PARAMOUNT PROBLEM IN OUR TIME THAT WE NEED TO ADDRESS. it's not just a little side issue that we need to shuffle off to somebody or somewhere else i'm very serious about it i don't uh i could see most people i know becoming homeless within a few years if they're not now it could very easily happen the shipyard closed down for some somebody got a whim to close down the shipyard imagine what this city would be like if sailors were laid off, for example. What would it be like here? We need to have plans for all of our people. We need to take care of all of our people that are here. And if more come in, well, we don't want that. But I was at the site yesterday with a friend. We looked it over. It looks like a pretty good site to me. It looks really appropriate. It's a big grassy plain. THERE IS A SCHOOL, BUT IT'S SEVERAL BLOCKS AWAY. AND BOTH, EVERYTHING IS FENCED. THE BALL FIELDS ARE FENCED. THE SCHOOL IS FENCED. I WORKED AT VIEW RIDGE FOR AN ATTEMPT JOB. IT WAS PRETTY SECURE. SO IS THAT, MY TIME IS UP? OKAY. THANK YOU.

My name is Tana Armitstead, and I would like to ask our city leaders, why is it so easy for private developers to put up endless new apartments when a desperately needed shelter has been willfully delayed by paper tape and fearmongering campaigns? The pallet shelter project proposed by Bremerton Housing Authority will be lifesaving for so many of our vulnerable and marginalized neighbors. We have seen with great success other projects similar to this one in Western Washington, and Bremerton deserves this. We deserve this. We, the community, have seen the clear paper trail connecting council members with Sound West Group, the real estate developers with an active interest in privately developing the property that was promised for use as a shelter. And we know this through the diligent research done by a very select few of our community members and leaders who have stepped up where you have failed us. They found this by sifting through public emails and other records that they were able to find because you so carelessly left it out in the open. Proof that you hoped to divert resources destined for helping our most vulnerable community members. and our communities at large. Everybody will benefit from this. I love that neighborhood. I think it's beautiful already, and it could be so much more beautiful if we were taking care of our people. And when people spoke out about these truths, they were labeled terrorists, mimicking the fascist behavior of the thugs running our federal government. Please, please do the right thing now and put our community first. Greenlight this project and put roofs over our neighbors' heads. Every truly great society lifts up its most vulnerable people first. Let us be great. Thank you.

Okay, my name is Brandi and I'm just here today because I believe our community deserves solutions that are based on compassion and facts, not fear and bias. I'm also here to speak for our homeless neighbors who are too busy stuck in survival mode right now to find the time to come to meetings like this and speak up for themselves. As somebody who was homeless with my own children over a decade ago, I understand the importance of having people fight for me. so i've read the fear-based concerns about the shelter being built near schools and nobody's thinking about the homeless children that would benefit from a shelter near a school so that they could actually get to their classes regularly get enough sleep and stability to go to class and and beat the odds of the homelessness, right? So not building a shelter won't make homelessness disappear. It simply leaves people sleeping in parks, cars and throughout our neighborhoods without access to the services that can help them get back on their feet. A well-managed shelter connects people with housing, health care, mental health services, and employment resources. That benefits our entire community. Homelessness is not a crime. It's a housing crisis. The people who need this shelter are veterans, families, seniors, survivors of domestic violence, children, and neighbors who have fallen on hard times, also addicts, because addicts still deserve shelter. So now for that concern of people don't want the addicts on the street, right? They think that they don't deserve access to shelter and I disagree. Everybody deserves access to shelter. No one overcomes their addiction while sleeping in a tent, in a car or on a sidewalk. Recovery starts with stability and for many people that begins with having a safe place to sleep. I know this because when I lived in a shelter with my children, It wasn't just a free-for-all. We didn't just go inside. There weren't people just smoking drugs and doing all these horrible things. There's plenty of rules. They're very strict in these shelters, and they have a lot of expectations for you, right? They provide the structure, the accountability, and the access to resources that the people simply don't have when they're living on the streets. people struggling with addiction are still human beings they're someone's son daughter parent or sibling they deserve the opportunity to get help instead of being written off as hopeless we don't solve addiction by denying people shelter we solve it by giving them a safe place where they can begin to rebuild their lives and connect with treatment and support compassion and accountability can exist together providing shelter isn't giving up on people it's giving them a chance And just one last thing to speak on the gentleman talking about how the bathrooms at SARS are closed. That should really be a big sign about how much people seem to loathe and hate the homeless. That these stores will not allow them places to even use the restroom. And so what do we do with them? What is the solution if it's not housing?

evening my name is brian watson i live just off of perry avenue a short walk from the proposed site and i'm here to speak in favor of the bremerton housing authorities request for a zoning change i want to speak to the criteria for your decision which is that it's consistent with the comprehensive plan what i heard about the harrison heights plan i think could be used as an excuse to deny this request. But I want you to think about it more deeply. A mixed use neighborhood includes poor people. It includes people who are experiencing homelessness and who are trying to exit homelessness. This parcel of land is huge by an urban standard. And like an earlier speaker said, only a small portion of it, 20% of it is slated for the intended use for these tiny homes. What I want to ask people who are concerned about this or opposed to this idea is what is your solution instead? Is it going to be to wait another five years for some more permanent housing to come along? Really? Is that going to somehow make homelessness disappear from the Sheridan neighborhood that I go through every day? Folks, the homelessness problem is there. The idea of bringing some shelter to the Sheridan Road parcel is a solution that can be implemented very soon, not something that can be done down the road. So please, as you're deliberating this, don't use the cover of the comprehensive plan and the bureaucratic language to obscure your moral responsibility to do for others as you would have done to you. Please approve this amendment. Please do something that can have an impact on people's lives in the short term, not wait and delay and put off and shove aside. These are our neighbors. They are our family members. They deserve respect. They have inherent worth and dignity. Thank you so much.

Hey, a lot of you might know, my name is Tommy. I own the local special needs get-together in Bremerton called Tommy's Story Hour. And I'm here tonight, for those who don't know, my brother was homeless most of his adult life and he passed away two years ago in Seattle due to having some friends over who were in addiction. He was taken way too soon of being murdered by someone but the thing is the reason why I'm here tonight is I'm here to speak for for those who are homeless and let you know there are people there who are wanting help and There are people here tonight like Shannon Turner a good friend of mine from the school board Jocelyn Joe and kimmy and all them are watching on the zoom and i just want to say we need to step up and we need to bring this shelter together as soon as possible because we may be in houses but there's kids out there too and i know they would want um a place to live not just be on the streets um as owner of a special needs get together in this town i call home um we do have special needs on those streets who come to my monthly gatherings every month i've been doing this for eight years and they come my events get hot meals and they ask me when is the city council when is the state are going to help them to get houses where they don't have to be on the streets and suffer like all the others it's time us for a step up there's people here who are katie cornell's here who's a state representative elect who's running my friend shannon turner from the school board and he just got elected on the bermerton housing he's here to step up jocelyn joe um kimmy um all of them are here to help and i'm here to help let's do this together instead of turning away let's let's go for it let's get the finish line before the end of this year thank you

Hi, I'm Jocelyn. I do a prayer walk in Bremerton. and i kind of just came here because this is one of many things that we need to do we are not in a position or a luxury right now to boycott any kind of project at this point in time we need so many of this i understand the fear that's that that is out there because the worst of the worst is what we're sometimes remembered for and i've got to tell you of the hope that i see down on the streets and it's pretty ridiculous i mean it's pretty incredible And I would really encourage Bremerton to lean into that hope because I am a product of that hope here that I found in Bremerton. And it's pretty spectacular. It's pretty spectacular what we're able to do and kind of why there are so many people that are coming here, not necessarily that are homeless. There's lots of people that are coming here because we are a very hopeful community. The shelter here, the temporary part, is only for a bigger project. It's only for a bigger. I understand the fear. But the people that are going to be residing in this facility is nobody you should be afraid of at all. They are individuals. There's going to be criteria. Of course, I've looked at the criteria. I've looked at the plan. When I came here, I have a son and he was 10 years old when we found ourselves in a shelter. We had some medical issues and it was just a minute before we could get everything in order. Without the community that rallied behind me, the community that we're now able to rally behind, we've got some ridiculous stories coming out of Hope. We just celebrated this second annual family reunion yesterday for people on the streets because it was a blast, like probably the best time. Heaven coming to earth, so much hope. and we had people that we had been serving on the streets that are now in positions where they're putting in spheres of influence and i mean the hope that is coming out of these streets is is amazing and i just really would encourage us to lean into that hope i would just really and we got a really great opportunity here and like one of the things that's really important to know is it's not we're just looking for you guys not to hinder there's some great organizations like this whole side of and we all work together there were eight different non-profits down on down there yesterday and everyone was doing something different and collectively it worked so cohesively it was pretty spectacular so We're not, there's already the infrastructure. We've already got the relationships. We've got the people ready to go. It's gonna be a beautiful project. It's gonna be a beautiful opportunity for Bremerton. So thank you.

Hi, my name's Adam Tucker. I've lived in Bremerton for a bit more than 12 years and I got stationed up here and I decided to stay at the beautiful town. Don't sleep much and I don't have a night go by where I live on Callahan which is about two blocks from the site that I don't see SWAT cars screaming by or when I do night walks. And I've cleaned up drug paraphernalia off Callahan maybe every three months I'm picking up a needle, a crack pipe, and you want to put a, you called it a pallet shelter, a shanty town two blocks from my house. It's only supposed to take up one acre of a five acre. Nothing's going to stop people from just moving in. It's no different than Oakland, Tacoma. Are we going to get SWAT cars? Cause I shop at SARS all the time and We can barely get in and out of the store without somebody mean-mugging us or asking for money. I just want to know if there's going to be something more done for that, because yes, people need homes, but my wife and I live there, and I've had stuff walk. I don't want my stuff disappearing because people are getting shoved into the middle of town and just concentrated. So I'd like to see more on that. If you all have a good day, thank you.

Hi, my name is Aubrey Jones and I live on Sylvan Way. My name is Aubrey Jones, and I live on Sylvan Way. I moved here to Kitsap in 2001 with a very small child. And when I got here, I had nothing but some clothes and some diapers and a car, and I slept on a friend's carpet for a while. And then I got a house, and I got a job, and I did all the stuff that you're supposed to do, and I pulled myself up. And two months after that, I stood up from buckling a car seat, and I blew out three discs in my back, and I lost everything. And then I got to go out of the country 10 years later and I got to work and I started working again. I got to work for 10 years and I pulled myself up again and I did the exact same thing and I was off the system and I did everything I possibly could. And then I had to have an operation during COVID and it was considered non-essential and that meant I couldn't walk anymore. And I was back in the same boat and then some other things happened with my neck. So here I'm gonna tell you that I went from making $5,000 a month down to 197 because that's what they give people who don't have young children, who are not addicted to drugs, and who get suddenly disabled. That's what you're looking at. And then you have to fight for everything else. And I'm currently here, and I get to live with some friends of mine, and that takes all of my income except for $300 every single month to rent a room. And the way we write policy is how we value the people in our lives. I don't have an apartment today because one word, and that word is may. I want people to understand that it's not, EVERYBODY THAT YOU THINK OUT THERE THAT IS HOMELESS THAT ARE CAUSING PROBLEMS. SOME PEOPLE, MOST OF THEM, HAD A JOB AND SOMETHING HAPPENED. WE JUST HAD A MAJOR WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC AND SO MANY PEOPLE LOST THEIR HOMES. AND WE'RE SITTING HERE ARGUING OVER WHETHER OUR THINGS ARE GOING TO GO MISSING. I lost everything over and over and I'm still here and I still have a great attitude and I serve on volunteer committees for the state for lived experience and I'm educated and I can't work. I can barely stand. It's not okay to not give dignity to people. They're human beings. And if you're going to write a policy, please look at what your policies are going to affect on the ground. How are they going to affect the people that you're either helping or not helping? Otherwise, what are you doing here? I mean, really, what are you doing here? Figure out what's going on. Learn some lived experience or go try it for yourself. None of us ever wanted to do this. I didn't get an education so I could live this way. Not today.

Hi, my name is Teresa and I actually live right across the street from the zoning area. I have two children of my own. There's children that walk back and forth from the store to the schools. I've talked to quite a few of them. They're afraid of that zoning area because of sex offenders, drug addicts. What are we going to do to protect our kids? Our community do not have the resources to hire more officers. Those officers are already out dealing with other critical things. I've seen people, I work at McDonald's, constantly see people overdosing because they don't want to get a job. They would rather do drugs and do what they can do. Why should we provide them housing if they're not going to better their lives in ways that they can? There's a work source. There's other jobs or volunteer stuff that they could do to get into that position of getting themselves out of being homeless. Yes, mothers, children, veterans, they deserve houses. what about the people that live in that area who have children who have worked their lives to protect that community you guys allowing this to happen is putting those children that walk past there to go to school to go to the store to go to the park my children who live across the street at risk and feeling unsafe of wanting to go outside in their own yards Does anybody think about the children that work in the stores? And the reason SARS is closed for the bathrooms is because of COVID. You have to ask them to have a code six so somebody can open the bathroom. It has nothing to do with addicts, homelessness. It was because of COVID. All restaurants are like that too. You wanna use the bathroom, you ask them to open the door and they open it for you. It has nothing to do with people being homeless. You ask, they open it. Yes, people get bombarded coming out of the stores because people are hungry. My husband and I, we feed a guy who has a cat. We buy them cat food. But people are not looking at the bigger point of the children that are by there, the schools. There's two schools. There's View Ridge and there's also Almond Jar right now, who is temporary there, but who knows how long they're gonna be there. There's little children, there's preschools. about the families who walk by with their little children nobody is talking about that they're just caring about the homeless and making sure they have housing but what about the families around there please take that in consideration because there's other families that have little children nieces nephews grandchildren who walk by there and who will feel unsafe like i do and my children thank you

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Janice Allison, and I live one block from the proposed Sheridan site. I'll stop. Good evening commissioners. My name is Denise Allison and I live one block from the proposed site. The role of the Planning Commission is to ensure that zoning protects the public interest, is consistent with the city's adopted plans, and promotes compatible land uses. Zoning should guide development, not be changed to make one fit the project. Before you make your recommendation on the zoning text amendment, I have one request that you visit both sites. Walk the Hunter Oyster Bay site and surrounding neighborhood. Walk the 1231 Sheridan Road. Stand where each shelter was proposed. Look at the surrounding land uses and compare them using the same planning criteria. The differences are significant. The oyster bait site met nearly every planning factor for an emergency shelter. It was publicly owned. It was surrounded by municipal and industrial uses. It had minimal impact on surrounding residential neighborhoods. Medical services were only one half mile away. The nearest school was over a mile away. And importantly, It did not require a zoning text amendment. Now compare that to the Sheridan site. This property directly abets residential homes. School property is across the street. An elementary school is 1,400 feet away. Three senior living communities are within 1,500 feet. Major medical facilities are more than two miles away. These are not minor differences. They're fundamental planning differences. When Oyster Bay was proposed, nearby residents were notified, engaged, and given the opportunity to participate in the process. Our neighborhood did not have the same opportunity before this proposal moved forward. Some dismissed the Oyster Bay concern as not in my backyard. Well, Sheridan is different. It's in plain sight. next to homes across from school property in the center of a neighborhood that the city has identified already for revitalization. Today, instead of asking whether this proposal complies with the existing zoning, the BHA is asking you to change the zoning to fit one property or the entire Harrison Heights sub area. The city selected Oyster Bay because it was compatible with the surrounding land uses. If land use compatibility mattered then, it should matter now. If Oyster Bay was evaluated using objective planning standards, Sheridan deserves the exact same evaluation. Compare surrounding land uses, neighborhood impacts, proximity to homes, schools, senior living communities, and medical services. When you do, these two sites are simply not comparable.

Good evening. My name is Sarah Dickmeyer. I live in District 3. I moved to Bremerton a few months ago. I support increasing the availability of permanent and temporary shelter and encourage the Planning Commission to recommend the appropriate code change, one or two, to enable the Bremerton Housing Authority Pallet Shelter to proceed. Right now, there are not enough places for people who've lost their housing to go, not in Bremerton or the whole of Kitsap. In my day job, I work for a step housing provider, engaging with four different cities and distinct neighborhood and community dynamics. These issues are hard. The site, the discourse, the process. I understand that none of this has been ideal, but neither is the public crisis of homelessness. Today, there is one proposal with resources on the table. One. Without it, our practical shelter capacity in Bremerton would remain unchanged and insufficient. The questions in front of you are whether this change is consistent with the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan, and if it does not conflict with other codes, regulations, and ordinances. This change meets those standards. Throughout the Com Plan, there are commitments to addressing homelessness, promoting community health, and responding to the changing needs of Bremerton residents. That's one. And as this commission has pointed out, and as staff has pointed out, there seem to be no clear codes, regulations, or ordinances explicitly allowing or prohibiting this development type, just interpretive agency guidance on whether certain state laws apply to this situation. It appears to the likely dissatisfaction of everyone in this room to be a gray area lacking clear definitions, but a gray area does not constitute conflict of otherwise clear city, state, and federal codes. We rarely have enough choices in front of us to say whether one place or project is the best we can do but that's not what we're here to consider tonight. We're here to assess whether this rezone is appropriate within the bounds of Bremerton process. It seems to be and it certainly should be. Thank you.

GOOD EVENING. GOOD EVENING. GOOD EVENING. GOOD EVENING. GOOD EVENING. MY GOOD EVENING. MY NAME GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS DAWN GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I AM MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I AM A MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I AM A RESIDENT MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I AM A RESIDENT OF MY NAME IS DAWN MICHELLE WILSON. I AM A RESIDENT OF BRUMERTON. I AM A RESIDENT OF BRUMERTON. I AM A RESIDENT OF BRUMERTON LET THAT SINK IN. 21 YEARS I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE 21 YEARS I'VE BEEN HAVING THESE SAME CONVERSATIONS. SAME CONVERSATIONS. I'VE WORN MANY HATS IN THIS I'VE WORN MANY HATS IN THIS COMMUNITY. COMMUNITY. I WAS THE SOCIAL SERVICES I WAS THE SOCIAL SERVICES DIRECTOR AT THE SALVATION ARMY. DIRECTOR AT THE SALVATION ARMY. I WAS THERE WHEN THE MAJOR I WAS THERE WHEN THE MAJOR STEPPED UP AND SAID, HEY, STEPPED UP AND SAID, HEY, BRUMPTON FOOD LINE CAN'T RUN THE BRUMPTON FOOD LINE CAN'T RUN THE EMERGENCY SHELTER ANYMORE. EMERGENCY SHELTER ANYMORE. THEY CAN ONLY SLEEP EIGHT AND WE THEY CAN ONLY SLEEP I was also there when COVID hit, and I had to implement the 24-hour shelter. So I've been in a lot of places with a lot of people doing a lot of things. And I could come up here and talk about the same thing over and over and over that all these people have talked about. But that's not what I want to talk about tonight. I have two minutes to tell you who I am and why I'm here. I was born and raised right here in Bremerton. and I was born at Harrison Hospital. My dad was the sergeant of the Bremerton Police Department. I became a drug addict at 17 years old. I went to private Catholic school, by the way, star of the sea. Yeah. I tell you all that because I want you to hear me say that addiction and mental health does not discriminate. They don't care who you are, who your daddy is, how much money you have, what your religious background is, none of that. I was not immune to that. And I led a very tumultuous life for many years, and it was hard and rough, and I slept on these streets out here. There was no shelter. There was no shelter. Salvation Army had breakfast at Sally's back then. They used to eat there. And the irony of it is, is 22 years ago, I got clean through the help of the agencies that are all wanting to build this shelter right now. Kitsap Mental Health, Kitsap KCR, Kitsap Community Resource Center, St. Vincent de Paul, all of those people helped me along my journey. And I'm getting ready to celebrate 22 years of recovery. And you'd be hard-stretched to find somebody who will tell you that my life wasn't worth it. My life wasn't worth saving. And when I say that I was addicted to drugs, I couldn't put a sentence together for the first year that I was clean. And ironically, today I'm a peer outreach navigator for the very agency that sold them the land at such a great deal.

Mary Lou Long. I've been here in Bremerton since 1972, and I've seen a lot of things happen. One of the things that bothers me is that you call the root cause of homelessness is there's not enough housing. I don't know that that's exactly the root cause. I think the root cause may be more that there's problems with our youth. Like she just said, she went into a drug world. And her father was a police officer. She went to a Catholic school. So what happened there, I don't know. But drugs is a really big part of homelessness. And I was really adamant about making drug use, breaking the law, and putting people that sell it, use it in jail to keep the streets from festering with more and more of this. If you build it, they will come. You build houses, pallet houses, everybody will find out that there's a soft spot in Bremerton's heart And I do believe that we have soft hearts. We saw the emotion that was displayed here this evening. And I want to ask you to work more from a logical point of view rather than a strictly emotional point of view. Even though we are human and we have that, I sincerely think we need to take a bigger look at changing the codes and making it easier for people to live on the streets. We have a breakdown of families. Families years ago used to pull together and take care of people that were having problems. We have a lack of religious kind of commitment now. We don't even salute the flag at the Bremerton City Councils anymore because we don't seem to value the same things that brought our city and our country to a level of quite good living. We have the shipyard. We have a lot of jobs. And we have now a new school, the technical center, that can train kids to do plumbing, electricians, automobile repair, houses, building houses. There's resources for people to improve their lives. We need to focus on those things, not make it easier for people to flop out. And the other thing is, if you have these plat, what do you call it, the tent cities on platforms, whatever, There's still going to be a lot of people that aren't going to go there, and we're still going to have the problems in the city streets. And we're going to have crime, and we're going to have death from overdoses. The police department is constantly distributing Narcan, trying to save lives. If these people were put in jail to clean them up, they might stand a chance. I've heard more and more stories where people that actually got a chance at living life were picked up and put in jail.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm Sally Haas, and I'm at ground zero to the proposed site. The latest proposal has significant gaps, everything from the environmental review to direct conflicts with the Harrison Heights Comprehensive Plan, Puffley's safety risk, and a sloppy application riddled with errors. Individually, any one of these points should stop this proposal. Together, they demand it. But let's talk about who's making this request. We are watching a constantly changing narrative from BHA. First, they tried to shut down public comment entirely. Now seeing the community's response, they are shifting their language, hiding under technicalities, and offering last minute concessions, and changing the proposal on a Friday afternoon. giving the community very little time here to respond. Frankly, this community does not trust BHA to keep their word. This latest proposal doesn't just impact THE SHERIDAN NEIGHBORHOOD. IT SETS A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT. IT SINGLES THAT RULES CAN BE WRITTEN ON A WHIM FOR AN APPLICANT THAT REFUSES TO BE TRANSPARENT. Planning isn't just about lines on a map. It is about people, the residents, and the property owners who have invested their lives, their capital, their futures into a community based on a promise, the promise of our comprehensive plan. Even our mayor and city council leadership have had to step in and ask BHA to stop their disrespectful behavior around this proposal. I ask each of you to look at the totality of how this has been handled. And I ask you honestly, if you wouldn't welcome this right next to you, next to your house, next to your neighbors, do not do it to us. I ask also that you protect the integrity of the Bremerton's planning process by changing the August 17th meeting to a workshop and respect the rights of the public and the public comment process. Thank you.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE TIME TO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE TIME TO THANK YOU ALL FOR THE TIME TO SPEAK. SPEAK. SPEAK. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME THIS THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME THIS THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME THIS EVENING. EVENING. EVENING. MY NAME IS BREE MUDLEY. MY NAME IS BREE MUDLEY. MY NAME IS BREE MUDLEY. I AM A CITIZEN RESIDENT HERE IN I AM A CITIZEN RESIDENT HERE IN I AM A CITIZEN RESIDENT HERE IN BRUMERTON. BRUMERTON. BRUMERTON. I'M ALSO ASSISTING BRUMERTON I'M ALSO ASSISTING BRUMERTON I'M ALSO ASSISTING BRUMERTON HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THE BRUMERTON HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THE BRUMERTON HOUSING AUTHORITY AND THE COMMUNITY PARTNERS IN THE CITY COUNCIL AND THIS PLANNING COMMISSION HAVE ALREADY AGREED THAT THIS TYPE OF EXTENDED STAY ENCAMPMENT SHOULD BE, CAN BE, AND IS ALLOWED WITHIN THE CITY LIMITS. THE ZONES THAT ARE INCLUDED WITHIN THE AREAS THAT ALLOW THIS INCLUDE THE DCC AND THE GENERAL COMMERCIAL. AREAS. BOTH OF THOSE INCLUDE BOTH OF THOSE INCLUDE BOTH OF THOSE INCLUDE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENTS WITHIN THEM AND ARE ALSO FLANKED BY THEM. THEM AND ARE ALSO FLANKED BY THEM. THEM AND ARE ALSO FLANKED BY THEM. THEY ALSO INCLUDE SCHOOLS, THEY ALSO INCLUDE SCHOOLS, THEY ALSO INCLUDE SCHOOLS, DAY CARES, CHURCHES, SENIOR DAY CARES, CHURCHES, SENIOR DAY CARES, CHURCHES, SENIOR COMMUNITIES AS WELL. COMMUNITIES AS WELL. HEIGHTS WAS SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED HEIGHTS WAS SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDED IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE IN ORDER TO PRESERVE THE ABILITY TO PROMOTE MAXIMUM FUTURE ABILITY TO PROMOTE MAXIMUM FUTURE ABILITY TO PROMOTE MAXIMUM FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDENTIAL DENSITY. DENSITY. DENSITY. THAT SAID, HARRISON HEIGHTS THAT SAID, HARRISON HEIGHTS THAT SAID, HARRISON HEIGHTS CURRENTLY IS ZONED AND CURRENTLY IS ZONED AND CURRENTLY IS ZONED AND PREVIOUSLY WAS ZONED FOR PREVIOUSLY WAS ZONED FOR PREVIOUSLY WAS ZONED FOR A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT THINGS. A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT THINGS. A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT THINGS. ALL THAT BEING SAID, THE ALL THAT BEING SAID, THE ALL THAT BEING SAID, THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN HAS MADE IT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN HAS MADE IT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN HAS MADE IT SO THAT MANY THINGS CAN BE SO THAT MANY THINGS CAN BE SO THAT MANY THINGS CAN BE DEVELOPED THERE, INCLUDING DEVELOPED THERE, INCLUDING DEVELOPED THERE, INCLUDING RESIDENTIAL. RESIDENTIAL. RESIDENTIAL. AND SO I WILL RESPECTFULLY AND SO I WILL RESPECTFULLY AND SO I WILL RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE THAT THIS PROPOSAL TO DISAGREE THAT THIS PROPOSAL TO DISAGREE THAT THIS CONSISTENT WITH A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN BECAUSE WHAT IT DOES DO IS PLAN BECAUSE WHAT IT DOES DO IS PROVIDE HOUSING, DENSE HOUSING PROVIDE HOUSING, DENSE HOUSING PROVIDE HOUSING, DENSE HOUSING IN THAT AREA. IN THAT AREA. IN THAT AREA. WHILE IT MAY NOT QUALIFY UNDER WHILE IT MAY NOT QUALIFY UNDER WHILE IT MAY NOT QUALIFY UNDER THE STEP HOUSING THAT IS REQUIRED THE STEP HOUSING THAT IS REQUIRED THE STEP HOUSING THAT IS REQUIRED FOR COUNTS FOR PROPOSING ADDITIONAL FOR COUNTS FOR PROPOSING ADDITIONAL FOR COUNTS FOR PROPOSING ADDITIONAL HOUSING, IT DOES PROVIDE AS AN HOUSING, IT DOES PROVIDE AS AN HOUSING, IT DOES PROVIDE I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF CONCERNS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY. GARRETT SPOKE TO THIS EARLIER. THE TEMPORARY ENCAMPMENT PERMIT REQUIRES COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND THERE WILL BE PLENTY OF THAT. THERE WILL BE DISCUSSIONS WITH ALL OF THE NEIGHBORS, ALL OF THE SCHOOLS, DAY CARES, SCHOOL DISTRICT, WE'VE ALREADY BEEN DISCUSSING THIS WITH THEM, FIRE DEPARTMENT, POLICE DEPARTMENT. EVERYBODY IS GOING TO BE CRITICAL IN THIS DISCUSSION. AND AROUND THAT YOU WILL UNDERSTAND AND HEAR THAT THESE ARE 30 INDIVIDUALIZED UNITS WITH KITCHENS, WITH LAUNDRY FACILITIES, WITH BATHING FACILITIES THAT IS FENCED, THAT HAS THE ABILITY TO SCREEN FROM THE SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES AND ADDITIONALLY HAS ON-SITE 24-7 SECURITY. ALL OF THIS WILL BE PRESENTED ALL OF THIS WILL BE PRESENTED ALL OF THIS WILL BE PRESENTED DURING THE TEMPORARY DURING THE TEMPORARY DURING THE TEMPORARY ENCAMPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION. ENCAMPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION. ENCAMPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION.

THAT IS NOT WHAT WE'RE HERE TO THAT IS NOT WHAT WE'RE HERE TO THAT IS NOT WHAT WE'RE HERE TO DISCUSS TODAY. DISCUSS TODAY. DISCUSS TODAY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH. GOOD EVENING, PLANNING GOOD EVENING, PLANNING Okay, I'm 76 years old and I lived on Hemlock Street since Bremerton, before Bremerton even had zip codes. My father purchased our family home in 54 when I was a young child and I bought it from him in 1975. I believe I'm the oldest, longest lived current resident living closest to this proposed site, just a stone's throw away in my younger years. OLYMPIC VIEW SCHOOL WHERE I SPENT THE FIRST SIX GRADES OF MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. I'M HERE TONIGHT BECAUSE I CARE DEEPLY ABOUT THIS NEIGHBORHOOD and the people who live here. I also care about unfortunate homeless people. I pray they get help out of their miserable lifestyle. And I also do a lot of Googling. I recommend to everybody, Google Ginny Burton. She has an answer for homeless people to get them back on their feet, not give them a home or a site or an encampment. That doesn't get them anything except back homeless. I ask you this simple question. IS IT FAIR TO BRING THE CRIME, DISORDER AND SAFETY CONCERNS THAT TYPICALLY FOLLOW THESE TYPES OF ENCAMPMENTS DIRECTLY INTO THE MIDDLE OF AN ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORHOOD, SCHOOLS, SENIOR HOUSING, BUSINESSES AND FAMILY HOMES? DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM THIS PROPOSED SITE IS VIEW RIDGE ARTS ACADEMY WITH MORE THAN 400 STUDENTS ATTENDING DAILY. ARMAJAR SCHOOL WHICH OVER 400 STUDENTS IS LESS THAN 1,000 FEET AWAY. Legion Field School District baseball field is 100 foot away. These fields are used actively by schools, youth sports teams, and local families. The Boys and Girls Club in East Bremerton Gym is only 1,000 feet away and serves children, teens, and community members every single day. Less than a half a mile are multiple senior living facilities including Canterbury Manor, Ridgeview Senior Care, and Vineyard Park Senior Living. These are elderly residents who deserve peace and security in their later years. THERE'S ALSO AT LEAST 14 SINGLE FAMILY HOMES AND DUPLEXES DIRECTLY BOARDING THESE SITES. THEY'RE NOT EMPTY LOTS. THESE ARE FAMILIES. THESE ARE TAXPAYERS. THESE ARE LONGTIME RESIDENTS WHO INVESTED THEIR LIVES INTO THIS COMMUNITY WITHIN A FEW BLOCKS OF RESTAURANTS, BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITY SERVICE THAT DEPEND ON CUSTOMERS FEELING SAFE. This is not an isolated industrial area. This is a center of an active residential community in mind for over 70 years. I respectfully ask the Planning Commission to seriously consider the long-term impact this proposal may have on neighborhood safety, quality of life, property values, children, seniors, and the future of East Bremerton. Thank you for your time.

I'm going to make a statement I think we can all agree on is that our first concern and our first priority has to be the safety for all. If we're not safe, we're not free. We can't walk to the store. We can't trust our children to be outside. Safety is our first concern and it can only be provided by the government. Five acres is not Five acres will be a concentration, a dense concentration, and it will not be a mixed use. Think of five acres. We've watched Seattle from tent cities grow and it was allowed until it grew out of control. They took over parks with drugs, needles, indecent behavior. This site is about 10 minutes away from a jewel, Lion Park. It's always a happy place. Families walk. There's celebrations. I've seen weddings. I've seen memorials in the water. There's so much joy in that park, and I picture it turning into Seattle. They say 20% won't be for the homeless, the tent encampments. That's one acre. How many people eventually can you put on one acre? They say it's temporary. What do you know that's been temporary and has disappeared? It grows. people trust the city to build their homes their families and their communities if we build it they will come we've already been told we've got 46 percent of the homeless in kitsap county right here people trust you the city to keep them safe at the end of the day we each want to believe that we are good people i also want to help my neighbors Five acres in the middle of a community? Your job and your responsibility is to do the greatest good. Simple. Boil it down. The greatest good to the greatest number of people in our community. I don't think this is the answer for the community. Five acres is much, much too big and can house too many people.

Hi there. So I am a resident of Bremerton. I am a resident of Bremerton. I've been a resident of Bremerton and in this neighborhood since I was literally four years old. So I've seen a lot of change over the years. I HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THIS LOCATION KNOWING THAT MY, BECAUSE IT'S A LOW BARRIER, CONCERNS ABOUT BACKGROUND CHECKS, JUST ALL THE THAT ARE POTENTIALLY AN ISSUE FOR SAFETY. WE ALL SUPPORT HELPING THE HOMELESS AND HELPING PEOPLE EXPERIENCING DIFFICULTIES. BUT PUBLIC SAFETY MUST COME FIRST. THE BURMERTON HOUSING AUTHORITY HAS DESCRIBED THIS, AGAIN, AS A LOW BARRIER SHELTER WITH NO BACKGROUND CHECKS. A 24-HOUR HIGH INTENSITY FACILITY LIKE THIS BRINGS VERY REAL RISKS, INCREASED CRIME, OPEN DRUG USE AND MENTAL HEALTH CRISISES THAT HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED IN SIMILAR SITUATIONS LIKE THIS IN COMMUNITIES AND EMERGENCY SHELTERS LIKE THIS. After all these years here, I won't say how many because I don't want to tell you how old I really am, I have never been more concerned for safety for our children and families. Parents should not have to worry when their kids walk to school or play outside, and seniors deserve peace near their care facilities. Beyond safety, this proposal would significantly devalue surrounding homes and fundamentally change the character of our neighborhood. IT DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THE VISION OF THIS HARRISON HEIGHTS PLAN, WHICH WAS CREATED THROUGH EXTENSIVE PUBLIC INPUT TO PROMOTE STABLE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AND LONG-TERM REINVESTMENT. I AM ALSO DEEPLY TROUBLED BY THE LACK OF PROPER NOTIFICATION TO NEIGHBORS, MANY OF US WHO ONLY LEARNED OF THIS THROUGH COMMUNITY FLYERS RATHER THAN OFFICIAL CHANNELS. I RESPECTFULLY URGE THE PLANNING COMMISSION TO RECOMMEND DENIAL OF THIS ZONING AMENDMENT AND THE CITY COUNCIL TO REJECT IT. OUR COMPREHENSIVE PLAN ALREADY GIVES US CLEAR DIRECTION, ONE THAT PRIORITIZES SAFETY AND STABILITY OF LONG TIME RESIDENTS AND FAMILIES LIKE MINE. Thank you for your time and listening to the voices of those who have called this neighborhood home for decades. I

Good afternoon. My name is Tony Ives. I'm the Executive Director of Kitsap Community Resources, KCR. I didn't intend to speak at all, but here I am. We're a community action agency, so there's 30 of us, including Centro de la Raza and folks out of Pierce County, Olicap, Coastal Cap, we're all over the state. And we work hard and collaborate. But what we also do here in Kitsap County is collaborate together. We all work together. We don't do it alone. We've been working a long time on this idea, this concept of trying to solve this problem. I'd say over three years, four years. Salvation Army has been right in this, and I see Eric back there. So we all know what we've been doing. Honestly, sometimes we think about giving up. Like even last week, it was like, should we just stop? We've talked about this amongst ourselves. But in the end, we get together, we pray, we think about it, and we said, we can't do this. We've toured so many sites around the states. We've worked with other organizations to collaborate, to share operational plans, to understand safety and how everybody else is doing it. We're not doing this on a whim. We plan this. Solving this problem isn't easy. And we all have to work together. We all understand the humanity behind this. I know we do. And honestly, my team works on the front line, just like many of the folks here in this room. We see everybody's one paycheck away. The husband dies and the wife doesn't know how to get benefits. We all see it. Last week, we were doing our community needs assessment. Last week, we had our first focus group with unhoused population. There's a father with his 11-year-old son there. And it's heartbreaking. But we all talked about how to solve this problem. Each municipality has a different way of solving this. And we all try to solve it together. we appreciate you guys we appreciate the planning commission and the city councils the the the the county i've got to share something when i was a kid i was homeless with my parents and i still have pictures of it i thought it was camping for god's sakes right this problem hasn't gone away, it's still here and it's worse now than ever. So what I'd like you to do as a representative of KCR is share, go onto our website, look at the needs assessment because that's what we're in right now, trying to figure out the impacts and try to figure out how to solve this problem. Okay, thank you.

GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME TONIGHT LISTENING TO ALL OF TIME TONIGHT LISTENING TO ALL OF TIME TONIGHT LISTENING TO ALL OF US. US. US. MY NAME IS MARIE WEICHMAN AND I MY NAME IS MARIE WEICHMAN AND I I'M HERE BECAUSE I'M CONCERNED ABOUT THE PLAN. I FEEL THERE'S A LOT OF HOLES IN IT AS SOMEBODY WHO LIVES ON CALLAHAN RIGHT UP THE STREET. BECAUSE THE CITY PROVIDES VOUCHERS, SEVERAL VOUCHERS THROUGH THE BHA FOR PEOPLE WHO QUALIFY, I'M LEFT TO ASSUME THAT THIS PLAN IS TO HOUSE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT QUALIFY. AND THOSE PEOPLE USUALLY DON'T QUALIFY BECAUSE OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ABUSE HISTORIES. sex offenses, prior evictions, charges of distributing narcotics on federal property, severe mental illness that is not managed, and uncontrolled behavior. These are why people might not be eligible for vouchers, vouchers which the city has a lot of and intends to put people in homes with those vouchers. In addition, pallet shelters are considered private. It's my understanding, and I would love clarification on this in a public mention, and cannot be legally entered without residential approval or a warrant. That is a reality that only increases the security risk, including the safety of those in that shelter. So the risks of this location that puts on children especially, which is my concern, and I'm not even a parent, ATTENDING TEMPORARY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LESS THAN 200 YARDS AWAY. A PERMANENT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 400 YARDS AWAY. A BALLPARK APPROXIMATELY 100 FEET AWAY WHERE FAMILIES ARE HAVING FUN, WALKED TO IT PROBABLY. IN 2024, THE MADRONA POINT NEIGHBORHOOD OBJECTED TO THE HOMELESS SHELTER BEING LOCATED OFF KITSAP WAY FOR LESS URGENT REASONS THAN THOSE OF THE SHERATON HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD. WE ARE ASKING THAT THE PLANNING COMMISSION PUT THE CHILDREN FIRST AND REJECT THE REQUEST FOR A ZONING CODE LANGUAGE AMENDMENT. THANK YOU.

My name is Mark Crickmore and I've been a Bremerton resident for 14 years. A low barrier hybrid shelter by definition means that potential occupants do not have to provide their name and there are no checks for sobriety. Of course not all homeless or abusers addicts are mentally ill but the potential for an unsafe environment within and near the proposed shelter would certainly exist. By not providing their name No one would know that a shelter resident might have a warrant, a restraining order, or be a registered sex offender. The inability to screen for certain background elements directly undermines the shelter's ability to promise a secure, predictable environment for its most vulnerable residents. THERE'S A TEMPORARY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL APPROXIMATELY 200 YARDS FROM THIS PROPERTY, A BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB 300 YARDS AWAY, A PERMANENT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ROUGHLY 400 YARDS AWAY AND A BASEBALL FIELD RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET. KIDS SHOULD BE ABLE TO WALK TO AND FROM SCHOOL WITHOUT HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT ENCOUNTERING UNPREDICTABLE INDIVIDUALS. Likewise, neighboring homeowners and residents of assisted living apartments should be able to walk their neighborhood without concern. This is a bad location for a low barrier shelter, modified pallet only homes, or whatever similar option the BHA might propose. THE BHA BOUGHT THIS PROPERTY THE BHA BOUGHT THIS PROPERTY KNOWING THAT IT DID NOT CONFORM KNOWING THAT IT DID NOT CONFORM TO THE CURRENT MUNICIPAL CODE, TO THE CURRENT MUNICIPAL CODE, BUT EXPECTING THAT VARIANCES OR BUT EXPECTING THAT VARIANCES OR AMENDMENTS WOULD BE A MERE AMENDMENTS WOULD BE A MERE FORMALITY. FORMALITY. PLEASE ADHERE TO THE EXISTING PLEASE ADHERE TO THE EXISTING BRUMERTON MUNICIPAL CODE AND BRUMERTON MUNICIPAL CODE AND DENY THE BHA'S PROPOSED DENY THE BHA'S PROPOSED AMENDMENT OF BMC 2046090. AMENDMENT OF BMC 2046090. THANK YOU.

Hi, my name is Dan. I live in the area and this just seems not very transparent to me as we discussed earlier. They seem to have come to you saying we're going to develop one acre of this property. We don't know we're going to do it the other, the rest of the property. The lady that came up here earlier today said, don't talk to us about security and other things. This isn't the time or place to talk about that, but we want you to make the change to the code. What we really want to do is we want to put this homeless shelter there temporarily, but we're asking if you'll let us do it for three years so we can figure out what we're going to do and hopefully get some more financing for the federal government or others to expand this to a much bigger project. But they haven't planned it all out. And for those of us who live in the neighborhood, that's a little scary, not having a good plan, not understanding what's going on because you don't know who it's going to draw. It might draw great people, may not draw great people. It's been a mixed bag all the time, but it seems like they should really come up with a better plan before asking for this extension. on how long the temporary shelters can be there and figure out what they can do with this it doesn't for us that live in the neighborhood or a lot of us at least it doesn't seem like a really good fit and we're not we're a little worried of what it may draw just because we don't know and they haven't told us specifically what they're doing it doesn't sound like they told you what they're going to do with the whole site yet either so that's a four more acres that they could do almost anything with And it has, but already we have things going on there. Someone mentioned about SARS and stuff. They did have a lot of damages to their bathrooms and other things. So they did have to close that down. And there have been more police in the area and more problems just in general. So... Looking around at places in Tacoma and Portland and other places that have done this, I haven't seen anyone from those neighborhoods saying that a homeless shelter has been a boon to our neighborhood. It's really helped. It's cut down on the crime. It's increased business. I've never seen anyone pop up and say it has. So I don't think it will be a benefit for the neighborhood. I don't think it will be great for safety and other things because I haven't seen other places say that it has. And we're trying to keep a consistent neighborhood within the code. THIS SEEMS LIKE IT'S OUTSIDE OF THIS SEEMS LIKE IT'S OUTSIDE OF IT AND JUST ILL PLANNED. IT AND JUST ILL PLANNED. SO THEY SHOULD COME OUT, GET SO THEY SHOULD COME OUT, GET THEIR PLAN TOGETHER AND THEN THEIR PLAN TOGETHER AND THEN REPROPOSE IT MAYBE OR REPROPOSE IT MAYBE OR SOMETHING. SOMETHING. THAT WAS IT. THAT WAS IT.

HELLO, COMMISSIONERS AND HELLO, COMMISSIONERS AND STAFF AND THANK YOU FOR THIS STAFF AND THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY.

Hello commissioners and staff and thank you for this opportunity. My name is Helen havens I live in Bremerton in West Bremerton and I'm going to read mostly because I'm usually terrified to talk in front of people so I live in West Bremerton I've only been here for about 7 years and I love the city very very much. I like the variety of people and I like walking my neighborhood. I live near Calo. I live near St. Vincent de Paul about two blocks away and I'm looking forward to the plans that they have to expand their shelter, to put supportive housing and social services on one side of the block and all the way along the block have services for people and then eight stories of affordable housing in my neighborhood because I know that it will make everyone safer. because I've worked with people who are homeless, and I've worked with low-income populations all my life in social services, and I worked at the end of my career with mentally ill and chemically dependent adults, and I saw what stability did for them and what housing over their heads and getting food and clothing and so forth, all the things that they needed, did. Okay. I live within a couple of miles of Pendleton Place, and that, I think, has improved that neighborhood. So walking about, I see people in need of more services every single day. There are at least five people who sleep in the Safeway parking lot part of the time. I've spoken to three of them at some length and more than once. THEY'RE NOT SCARY BUT THEY'RE IN SCARY CIRCUMSTANCES. YESTERDAY I MET A YOUNG VISIBLY PREGNANT WOMAN BEGGING AT WILCO AND SHE SAID SHE'S HOOKED UP WITH KCR SO THAT'S GOOD. I think that this particular kind of pallet shelter is a step in the continuum of the kinds of services that we need to have in Bremerton. I know we need to have more of them. I trust Bremerton Housing Authority and the other partners that are already working with this population and with our community to move forward in a proper way with this project. I think that having people living away from their communities is segregation rather than community life. And I think that fear is a good part of the opposition to this. And I am not afraid in my community. I'm afraid when I pass bars in downtown Bremerton, but I'm not afraid of the people that I've gotten to know in my neighborhood. So we'll only learn by getting to know each other and we'll only change for the better by caring for each other. Thank you.

Hi, commissioners. I'm really grateful that you are listening to all of us. My name is Rima Schult. I think the reason there's so many people here this month, even compared to last month, is because we love living in Bremerton. And I love living in Bremerton. I've been here since 2018. I own a small business in Charleston. And I own a rental home, as well as the home I live in. And that rental is a Section 8 home because I believe in affordable housing. and the importance of making sure that all of our neighbors feel belonging and feel safe and that they have a home here in Bremerton where I want my home to be. I think that the pallet shelter is a first and necessary step. We eat an elephant one bite at a time and the homelessness in Bremerton and across Kitsap is only growing and we're already way behind. So any steps that we can move forward are valuable And it seems like the opposition either doesn't like the details or they don't know enough of the details. Those are the two main points that I'm hearing. And for the people that are for it, it seems like we're hinged on a technicality. ACROSS THE STREET IS ZONED FOR ACROSS THE STREET IS ZONED FOR THIS TEMPORARY ENCAMPMENT FOR THIS TEMPORARY ENCAMPMENT FOR THE DURATION THAT THE COMMUNITY THE DURATION THAT THE COMMUNITY PARTNERS ARE LOOKING FOR. PARTNERS ARE LOOKING FOR. AND ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF if this is the lot that our best and brightest in bremerton the people that work with this population say is the best lot then that is a bet that i think bremerton should move on and i think we should support them in however way we can as quick as we can so please move up your decision if you have that flexibility because we do not have time to waste thank you

Hello, my name is Robin Weldon. I sent in an email today, probably a little bit late. I might be the hard copy. The Bremerton Housing Authority wraparound service hybrid shelter and transitional housing, the original one that was voted on by the council in the beginning of 2024, and then out of all these other options, including Oyster Bay, and the people that came here The community wanted that shelter, that project, and it is a great project. Since then, through the last year, BHA has had to jump through hoops. They are confused about what their partner, the city who said they wanted it, want. and so they keep kind of whittling it down okay well now they're down to what where they're going to start out with the with some pallet housing on an acre and you need to approve that as soon as possible so that they can have access to the arpa funds that the city council also obligated obligated to that shelter and that means it's obligated only to that shelter it can't be given to anything else. It doesn't matter what people say about that. It is not allowed to be given to someone else. It will be lost. Please get it started. Get it moving. Don't delay. Start the first step so they can start at least getting people so that people don't die this winter as they have been. As far as the shelter, the full shelter, I mean, first of all, there is security. There are background checks. And the full shelter was wonderful. It had a Quonset hut. It had a dog run. It had... pilot shelters. It was a village. And what it mostly had was a wraparound services so the people don't have to get on buses and spend all their time going to get various services. Everything would be there. something that a neighborhood should be proud of. I would be proud of it to going in where the EP is going because they would probably follow Washington State shoreline law and only build at 35 feet. Another thing, I was a teacher for 17 years. I had the Young Artist Studio. I saw one of my parents here tonight and it really warmed my heart. They were supporting the Seljo.

Good afternoon. My name is Bob. I want to thank the council and their supporting staff for hanging out for us. Thanks, everybody. The hospital's gone. The support services that went along with the hospital is all gone. All the employees, they're gone too. PROPERTY VALUES ARE DROPPING, AND NOW WE PROPOSE, BPA PROPOSES THIS 30-BED PALLET SHELTER. I BELIEVE THEY'RE TENTS. OF COURSE, THEY'LL SAY OTHERWISE TONIGHT. THERE'S NO WAY THAT THIS PROPOSAL CAN FALL IN LINE WITH YOUR REVITALIZATION PLANS. IT JUST DOESN'T. WE REALLY, REALLY NEED TO STICK TO THAT PLAN FOR THAT AREA. IT'S THE ONLY WAY OUR PROPERTY VALUES ARE GOING TO COME UP. Let's not let the homeless population in that small area more than triple because that's what we will have. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Dan Heron. I live in Bremerton. I'm here to express my support for the proposed zoning text amendments needed for the shelter. Now, when communities oppose a shelter, their concerns are usually understandable and predictable. People worry about public safety. pressure on police and emergency services, and the impact on neighborhood character. Those concerns deserve to be addressed. And I believe the zoning amendment does exactly that by replacing an unmanaged street crisis with a regulated, accountable system. FIRST, MANY NEIGHBORS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE SHELTER'S PROXIMITY TO SCHOOL AND CHILD CARE ROUTES. I UNDERSTAND THAT CONCERN. BUT THE REALITY IS THAT AN UNSHELTERED POPULATION LIVING IN PARKS, GREEN SPACES AND ALONG SIDEWALKS PRESENTS A FAR MORE DANGEROUS AND UNPREDICTABLE SITUATION THAN A PROFESSIONAL MANAGED FACILITY. This shelter uses a referral-only model with background checks, so residents entering the program are identified and screened. It also focuses on serving vulnerable members of our own community, including local seniors, veterans, and families with children. Bringing people into a structured, staffed environment improves safety for both shelter residents and the surrounding neighborhood. Some worry that the shelter will place additional demands on police and emergency medical services. In practice, the opposite is more likely. Right now, first responders spend significant time responding to scattered crisis across the city. A tiny home village with 24-hour staffing, case managers, and access to mental health services can resolve many issues before they become emergencies. Instead of creating more calls for service, it has the potential to reduce them by providing consistent support in one location. THIRD, RESIDENTS ARE UNDERSTANDABLY CONCERNED ABOUT PROPERTY VALUES AND NEIGHBORHOOD CHARACTERS. THESE CONCERNS CAN BE ADDRESSED THROUGH THOUGHTFUL ZONING CONDITIONS. THIS IS NOT A TENT ENCAMPMENT. THESE ARE ORGANIZED, PROFESSIONALLY MANAGED MICROHOUSING UNITS. By requiring strong design standards, landscaping, ongoing maintenance, and accountability from the operators, we can ensure the site remains an asset rather than becoming a source of blight. Finally, I'd like to encourage the Bremerton Housing Authority and its nonprofit partners to engage directly with the nearby residents. Approving this zoning amendment should be paired with regular community meetings where neighborhoods can ask questions, raise concerns, and receive updates. Transparency and ongoing communication are essential. Thank you.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Diane Manning, and I want to speak about the five-acre proposal and the need for a full environmental impact statement. BHA's June 20 workshop materials include concept drawings for the 30-palette shelter village, but they also state that the site could accommodate the congregate shelter, tiny homes, and senior housing. That written statement establishes reasonably foreseeable future phases, which triggers maximum potential development, segmentation prohibitions, and cumulative impact review under SEPA. Those cumulative impacts include transportation, utilities, emergency services, environmental health, neighborhood compatibility, and long-term land use implications. These impacts cannot be deferred to later phases or segmented into separate reviews. Some have said that the state laws override some of these things, but it does not override HB 2266 and Senate Bill 6069 in particular. They limit the reasons a city may use to deny a shelter, but it does not override SEPA, the Growth Management Act, or Bremerton Municipal Code. Environmental review, comprehensive plan consistency, and public participation remain mandatory. As for the December 31, 2026 funding deadline, Washington courts have been clear that grant timelines, political urgency, or agency preferences cannot shorten or bypass SEPA review. CEPA requires review of the project as proposed, not the project as accelerated. That is, not a downsized or first phase only version that ignores reasonably foreseeable future phases. Issuing a DNS to meet a funding deadline would be considered improper motive and legally reversible. And I also want to acknowledge an unfortunate reality. If an EIS had been triggered for the Oyster Bay location when it was being considered in 2023, we likely would have identified and mitigated their issues early, and the community might already have a shelter in place today. SEPA is not a barrier to shelter. It's the tool that prevents delays by resolving impacts up front. A full EIS is the only process that guarantees public scoping, public comment on the draft EIS, public review of the final EIS, and formal responses to neighborhood concerns. It's also the only process that ensures the city is protected from legal exposure. FOR THESE REASONS, I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT THE CITY INITIATE A FULL EIS AND THAT THE CITY COUNCIL PROVIDE DIRECTION PRIOR TO THE PUBLIC HEARING TO ENSURE WHOLE PROJECT COMPLIANCE, PREVENT SEGMENTATION AND AVOID PROCEDURAL ERRORS THAT CANNOT BE CORRECTED ONCE THE HEARING RECORD CLOSES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Good evening. My name is Debbie Smith. And first, I'm just going to say I'm disappointed that BHA did not take the opportunity to present what everything they were supposed to present. Last July, we said, why don't you come here today and talk to us about what it is you're going to do and be transparent. But they're not speaking today. OK. So I'm not sure when BHA submitted its materials to the DCD, but we didn't get our packet of information until after 4 p.m. on Friday, 375 pages. As a result, the public was not provided with an opportunity to review the newly submitted information, analyze it, prepare questions or submit informal informed written comments before the deadline. MEANINGFUL PUBLIC PARTICIPATION MEANINGFUL PUBLIC PARTICIPATION REQUIRES THAT COMMUNITY MEMBERS REQUIRES THAT COMMUNITY MEMBERS HAVE ADEQUATE TIME TO REVIEW THE HAVE ADEQUATE TIME TO REVIEW THE MATERIALS UNDER CONSIDERATION MATERIALS UNDER CONSIDERATION BEFORE PROVIDING INPUT. BEFORE PROVIDING INPUT. FOR THESE REASONS I RESPECTFULLY FOR THESE REASONS I RESPECTFULLY REQUEST THAT THE AUGUST 17TH REQUEST THAT THE AUGUST 17TH HEARING BE HELD AS A WORKSHOP. HEARING BE HELD AS A WORKSHOP. SO THE PUBLIC HAS SUFFICIENT TIME SO THE PUBLIC HAS SUFFICIENT TIME TO REVIEW THE NEW INFORMATION AND TO REVIEW THE and transparent process. If the Planning Commission elects to proceed with the hearing despite these procedural concerns, I respectfully urge you to recommend that the City Council rejects BHA's proposed zoning text amendment and instead adopt option three, no change. based on the information presented today i do not believe the proposed amendment has demonstrated this that changing the city's zoning code is necessary or in the best interest of the community thank you for your consideration on this

GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. GOOD EVENING, COMMISSIONERS. MY NAME IS RICHARD. MY NAME IS RICHARD. MY NAME IS RICHARD. MY OBJECT IS NOT BASED ON THE MY OBJECT IS NOT BASED ON THE MY OBJECT IS NOT BASED ON THE GENERAL SETTLEMENT. GENERAL SETTLEMENT. GENERAL SETTLEMENT. IT'S A MATTER OF STRICT IT'S A MATTER OF STRICT IT'S A MATTER OF STRICT REGULATORY COMPLIANCE. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE. AS WRITTEN, THIS PROPOSAL AS WRITTEN, THIS PROPOSAL AS WRITTEN, THIS PROPOSAL DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THE DIRECTLY CONTRADICTS THE DIRECTLY First the city's recent comprehensive plan. Updates explicitly establish the center strategy to focus population growth and long-term capital investment into designated urban centers under ordinance 5, 4, 0, 1, and 5, 4, 0, 2. This council designated Harrison Heights as a priority district center and enacted a planned action ordinance. The entire purpose of that front-loaded environment and SEPA review was to streamline high-density, mixed-use commercial space and permanent housing to revitalize a specific 80-acre district. Introducing a high-intensity, a 24-hour temporary emergency unbonded pallet village directly fractures this designated economic zone. and subverts the multi-million dollar long-term investment that property owners have been relying on in the city's 20-year commitment. Second, the Harrison Heights Suburban Plan mandates highly rigid pedestrian-friendly design and streetscape standards. the site in question sits continuous to active neighborhood walkways place an emergency high turnover temporary facility directly on this corridor completely lacks the permanent architectural street fronting integration required by the district design guidelines creates immediate unmitigated operational friction with our stated goals for cohesive walkable neighborhoods THIRD, TO FORCE THIS PROJECT INTO THE SHERATON LOCATION, THE CITY WOULD HAVE TO AGGRESSIVELY ADMIT ITS OWN TEMPORARY ENCAMPMENT PERMIT. GUIDELINES TO STRETCH A TEMPORARY USE INTO MULTIYEAR PERMANENT FICTURE USING ROLLING TEMPORARY PERMIT EXTENSIONS. TO ENTIRELY BYPASS THE RIGOROUS BUILDING CODES. BUILDING CODES. INFRASTRUCTURE OBLIGATIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE OBLIGATIONS AND SITE-SPECIFIC REVIEWS REQUIRE OF SITE-SPECIFIC REVIEWS REQUIRE OF EVERY OTHER MULTI-FAMILY AND EVERY OTHER MULTI-FAMILY AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE HARRISON HEIGHTS.

THANK YOU. OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. YOU GUYS READY?

YOU GUYS READY? YOU GUYS READY? OKAY. OKAY. OKAY. HI. HI.

HI. MY NAME IS JESSICA AND I'M HERE MY NAME IS JESSICA AND I'M HERE MY NAME IS JESSICA AND I'M HERE TO ASK YOU TO APPROVE OPTION ONE OR TO ASK YOU TO APPROVE OPTION ONE OR TO ASK YOU TO APPROVE OPTION ONE OR TWO FOR THE PLANNED PROPOSAL. TWO FOR THE PLANNED PROPOSAL. TWO FOR THE PLANNED PROPOSAL. I VOLUNTEER MY TIME WITH UNHOUSE I VOLUNTEER MY TIME WITH UNHOUSE I VOLUNTEER MY TIME WITH UNHOUSE COMMUNITY IN BRAMERTON THROUGH A COMMUNITY IN BRAMERTON THROUGH A COMMUNITY IN BRAMERTON THROUGH A MEAL TRAIN and I've got to meet so many people, and I get to see who these human beings truly are, not just what fear paints them in people's nightmares, as some of the derogatory signs and comments the inflammatory letters you all received have shown. this plan will give these human beings a door that locks and an address that they can put on a job application these two things change everything you cannot rebuild a life out of a car or on constantly moving streets THE VOTE IS ONLY EXTENDING A TIMELINE. IT'S NOT APPROVING SOMETHING THAT ISN'T ALREADY ALLOWED. A SHELTER IS ALLOWED HERE. THE BHA IS ONLY ASKING FOR MORE TIME SO THEY CAN HAVE A MEANINGFUL IMPACT ON PEOPLE'S LIVES WITH THEIR LONG-TERM PLAN. BUT THIS IS A BRIDGE FOR NOW. SO WE WOULD BE DISMISSING THE OPTION FOR A BRIDGE TO HELP PEOPLE NOW BECAUSE LIKE ANOTHER PERSON SAID, A TECHNICALITY IN THE WORDING. right now the code already allows for the 183 days six months but that's barely enough time to get an id to get on wait list or to start showing up somewhere on time for work then the permit expires and everybody's back outside that's the word emergency it's for emergencies but this plan is for long-term help but let's do something right now let's use the bridge that we have by changing words I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY ANYBODY WOULD BE OKAY WITH NOT DOING THIS OR WHY WE'RE OKAY WITH GIVING PEOPLE ONLY SIX MONTHS TO CHANGE THEIR ENTIRE LIFE. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT THESE OPTIONS DO FIT INTO THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, ESPECIALLY WHEN CONSIDERING THE LONG-TERM PLANS, WHICH I DO BELIEVE WOULD COUNT AS PERMANENT HOUSING DESCRIBED IN THE PRESENTATION TODAY. THAT'S THE GOAL. THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE AFTER. SO PLEASE APPROVE OPTION ONE OR OPTION TWO SO THAT OUR NEIGHBORS CAN HAVE A PLACE TO SHELTER.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Joseph Crane. I'm the executive director at St. Vincent de Paul. I'm also the co-author of this program, this project, this plan that's been established now for over two years. It hasn't changed from its original intent. The entire scope of the project is still in the works. We are navigating bureaucracy, folks. That's all that's changed. The full presentation of this has been given to now 14 times across this entire city, except the one district, of course, Murphy's Law, that is here tonight. As many people have come up to the microphone of express tonight, I think many of them have actually unwittingly encouraged the planning commission and the city council and the mayor to continue to consider this very thoughtful, comprehensive plan because we have the plan. We're the ones that actually have the plan and we have gone over looking for land. So now this is a land use issue. When we purchase this land, it's within a certain Harrison Heights subarea plan. It happens to be on the border of such plan. There's other options, maybe for rezoning, just carving it out of Harrison Heights because then it'll be the same as what's right across the street. Also, the costs and the hasty implementation, hence the Quonset huts and the tiny homes that were intentionally part of this plan initially. It was for hasty implementation so we don't lose people when we have inclement weather. That ship has now sailed. And we can maybe just build a shelter there, a comprehensive one, a structured one. okay and so for these people that are here i i wonder you know what you can't play whack-a-mole around this entire city i'm not worried about 15 or 20 people that are operating a fear and uncertainty and are la or have some lack of disingenuousness to not go look at what was in the proposal THE PROPOSALS IN FULL DRAFT. THEY CAN GO BACK AND WATCH THE VIDEOS. THEY CAN WATCH ME PRESENT WHAT THE WHOLE PLAN IS AND THE PROGRAM IS FOR, FOR THE CITY. If you haven't noticed, the city of Bremerton is already a homeless encampment right down here. Either you want it controlled or you don't want it controlled. That's the question. We take the entire housing continuum in mind when we designed this program. You are missing the entrance to your local housing continuum. We have the design plans to build that for you.

Hi, my name is Chris Kennedy. I've lived here for 27 years, and I work in the shipyard. I've seen the homeless there. I want them to get help, but I've heard both sides. I haven't said a word to anybody. haven't clapped either way, but you got families on both sides, I understand it, but you also have people like that guy that was just here that's a bureaucrat that he's already made his mind up. HE'S NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANY HE'S NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANY HE'S NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANY OF THE DECISIONS THAT THE OF THE DECISIONS THAT THE OF THE DECISIONS THAT THE PEOPLE WANT. PEOPLE WANT. PEOPLE WANT. YES, I SEE BOTH SIDES OF IT.

YES, I SEE BOTH SIDES OF IT. YES, I SEE BOTH SIDES OF IT. AND I'M NOT. AND I'M NOT. AND I'M NOT.

SIR, CAN YOU ADDRESS THE SIR, CAN YOU ADDRESS THE SIR, CAN YOU ADDRESS THE PLANNING COMMISSION, PLEASE? PLANNING COMMISSION, PLEASE? PLANNING COMMISSION, PLEASE? WHO IS THIS ABOUT? WHO IS THIS ABOUT? WHO IS THIS ABOUT? IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE, RIGHT? IT'S ABOUT THE PEOPLE, RIGHT? on the political side has already made their decision. They're going to move forward with this. They're not going to listen to the people. It's a lot more than just 15 to 20 people that are opposing this. There's also a lot of people that want it. I understand all that, but you got to look at the whole ramification and not just look at the bureaucrats that, because you got the right and you got the left, they're going to fight just like this going on in the federal government right now. All right, you're going to get the people that are going to push it on the majority and they're going to get what they want. They're not listening to the people. You got many buildings in the in Bremerton area that are abandoned. Why can't we convert those into shelters? You got a bank that the homeless are sleeping under. They fenced it off so they couldn't do it. And how long has that been empty? How long has the Western Sizzling been empty? I just kind of got into this because I live on Sheridan. I knew nothing about this until my neighbor said something to me about it. All right, so it's not transparent. I might not be in the know. I'm not into politics. But on something like this, I've sat here since 530 and listened to both sides. And personally, I don't think you're hitting anywhere. I did like the fact that the person said, why don't we get everything in order first before we actually propose this stuff? Because I'm hearing, well, we got these encampments. You got these houses that are going to be here for three years, but it's going to take five years to build the step. But what about the other two years? WE CAN BUILD A FREAKING APARTMENT WE CAN BUILD A FREAKING APARTMENT COMPLEX BUT WE CAN'T BE AT THIS COMPLEX BUT WE CAN'T BE AT THIS IN FIVE YEARS. IN FIVE YEARS. COME ON.

COME ON.

JUST A QUICK QUESTION OR JUST A QUICK QUESTION OR CLARIFICATION. CLARIFICATION. I HEARD THE GUY UP HERE. I HEARD THE GUY UP HERE.

YOU ALREADY HAD YOUR THREE YOU ALREADY HAD YOUR THREE MINUTES.

MINUTES. HE SEEMED TO IMPLY THERE WAS A HE SEEMED TO IMPLY THERE WAS A PLAN FOR THE FIVE ACRES. PLAN FOR THE FIVE ACRES.

YOU ALREADY HAD YOUR THREE YOU ALREADY HAD YOUR THREE MINUTES, SIR. MINUTES, SIR.

I'M SORRY.

hey excuse me excuse me can we respect the woman speaking please thank you the short one

Anyway, I live on Sheridan. I live on 1541 Sheridan. You're gonna be right in my backyard. And I'm a Christian, and I love people, and I go out and I help people. I serve people free meals. I do all kinds of things. But I have concerns as a public, you know, as a resident. I have concerns. No one gave me anything until this week. And I was just shocked because I asked my realtor if I'm going to sell my house, my condo unit, what am I looking at? And they said, right now you're valued at about $240,000 for it. BUT IT'S COMING DOWN. IT IS NOT GOING TO INCREASE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO INCREASE MY PROPERTY AT ALL. I HAVE SO MANY CONDOMINIUM MEMBERS WHO COULDN'T COME And they're very concerned about this situation. There's a lot of holes in it. And I think we need to discuss more before we sit there and put something like this out here. Because you're talking low barrier walls. Where's our protection? I have gone down to SARS. I have gone to the gas station. And I have gotten things at night. You know, I've just walked down there and I've been almost attacked. My daughter used to work at SARS and she was followed home. I've had gentlemen hide in my bushes and it's very concerning. You're talking about maybe no background checks or you go through vouchers or something like that. I'M FOR HELPING THE HOMELESS SITUATION. BUT YOU'RE RIGHT OUT MY BACKYARD AND YOU'RE NOT GIVING ME ANY INFORMATION IS VERY, VERY CONCERNING. AND I'VE SEEN, I HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH OF FRIENDS WHO HAVE KIDS THAT THEY WALK DOWN TO SCHOOLS. THERE'S ARM AND JAR. THERE'S VIEW CREFTS. THERE'S OTHERS. I've had to walk over someone. TO GET TO THE STORE. AND SO IT'S VERY, VERY CONCERNING. AND I JUST HOPE YOU REALLY, REALLY THINK ABOUT THIS, ABOUT THE SITUATION WE'RE GOING TO GO THROUGH. SOME OF YOU AREN'T AROUND SHERIDAN. SOME OF YOU AREN'T GOING TO BE CLOSE BY IT. BUT I'M GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THIS FOR YEARS TO COME. AND I TELL YOU WHAT, IN SILVERDALE, I NEVER LOCKED MY DOORS.

EXCUSE ME, MA'AM. YOUR THREE MINUTES.

I NEVER LOCKED MY DOORS. Now I have to.

Hey, how you doing?

Can you all hear me okay? So I'm worried that my voice doesn't travel very well. So I'm Everett Allison, I'm out of District 2. I wasn't gonna speak and then once again, my buddy Joe Crane got up here and talked. And so I look at this and I think, okay, so this time, what was it Joe, you talked 14 times? The last time it was 12, the time before that it was 15, and then the time before that it was ad nauseum. But what we get is we haven't been talked to. And that's what people are talking about when they talk about transparency. So let me just go over a couple things here. So Katie Sharp, spokesman for BHA, said that the Sheridan Road location was the only one that met all the criteria. Well, we wouldn't be here if it met all the criteria, right? Obviously it doesn't. so and then we did some searching and tried to find the right property that would fit the need of this shelter well i'm confused because i don't know what the criteria is i don't know if anybody else does so it hasn't been shared and the only thing i was able to pull up is from city council study session 1023. And the city, the city council developed some criteria that obviously BHA isn't using because when you go down this list, it says zoning must allow the use. So it doesn't. So I'm not sure why we're going down this path. I think that... There's a lot of concern about transparency. There's a lot of concern about, well, what is the criteria? It means all. BHA will tell you it means everything. Well, what is everything? So we missed out on the Oyster Bay property. And so I went up there Saturday and I walked the property to see what it looked like. Now, I don't know if anybody else has done that. I THINK THAT IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY THAT WE OBVIOUSLY MISSED. BUT I THINK WHAT OUGHT TO HAPPEN IS WE NEED TO ASK FOR THE PROPERTY COMPARISON. I MEAN, THIS IS HOW WE RAN BUSINESS WHEN I WAS WORKING IS THAT YOU GOT TWO THINGS, TWO CANDIDATES, LIST THEM, LIST A LINE FOR LINE ITEM DOES IT MEET THE CRITERIA? FIRST YOU HAVE TO COME UP WITH THE CRITERIA AND THEN YOU GO LIST ONE FOR ONE. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE CITY PUSH FOR THAT SO WE CAN RELOOK AT OYSTER BAY BECAUSE I THINK THAT'S AN IMPORTANT PIECE. I WOULDN'T HAVE BELIEVED IT UNTIL I WENT UP THERE. IT'S A NICE JUNK OF PROPERTY AND I THINK IT HAS SOME MERIT. ANYWAY, I THINK THAT'S WHAT WE SHOULD DO. JUST REMEMBER, JILL STANTON RAN SEATTLE HOUSING AUTHORITY AND LOOK WHERE THEIR HOME IS.

My name is Scott Stile.

I've been here for 20 years.

Yeah, my name is Scott. I've been here for 20 years in the city of Bremerton. I came here to work for the Navy and retired about five years ago. I've seen a lot of change in this city and a lot of positive change. The tunnel system, the Manette Bridge, all the condos along the waterfront, expanded the marina, a lot of positive growth here. I think if the city really wants to help these grandparents and moms and dads and children that are homeless, I don't think the people would have any problems with building them facilities and helping them out. I think what they're struggling with is the addicts, the drug addicts, the people that are mentally ill. When they closed all the mental institutions and they dumped these people on the streets, they don't have any place to go. Countries like Holland have struggled with this in the 70s, and they cured the problem. They gave them two choices. sobriety or prison, and they clean their country up. Michael Schellenberger wrote a book, San Francisco. Take a read on that, and you'll learn a lot about these people need help. They're not going to just one day say, I'm going to stop doing fentanyl. They need help to get off these drugs. And if we're not going to put the money and the resources into helping these people with their drug drug addictions, they're just going to die. I talked to a musician who plays in the park over in Seattle University, and he said he watches him. He gets the city pays him to go out and play his instrument to entertain the people. And he said, it's sad to see the body bags every day when he comes out to the park and these people are ODing and dying. These are people's kids. They were mothers or fathers at one time, and they just got on bad times, got on drugs for whatever reason. But there's a way to help those people and get them off those drugs. But we have to commit to that. And we have to say, we want to help these people. When I drive down on 6th Street and I see these people laying in their defecation and I'll never forget, I was at AutoZone one night and there was a gal in there getting some parts to fix her car. And I went outside and I could see she was living out of her car. And I said, you can go to the Salvation Army. They have cots down there. She goes, I've been sober for six months. I'm not going anywhere near that place. And when you drive by there and you see the people that are hanging out there, we're supporting the addiction instead of helping these people. If you really want to do something, help these people get off their drug addictions before they end up in a body bag. That's what the people are concerned about. That's why they're worried about their kids and their wives and the schools. The people that are addicted to these drugs, they can't get off those drugs. Anyway, that's my two cents.

I'M MIKE SIMPSON.

I'M MIKE SIMPSON. I LIVE IN DISTRICT 6. I LIVE IN DISTRICT 6. AND I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU TAKE AND I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU TAKE OPTION 3. you know indifference to all of our public servants that are here with us um thank you for staying here and uh you know having to put up with this stuff because this is a pretty charged item okay there there's a dedicated group of folks who will benefit from uh from you know option one and option two that are here they're vocal about it and um they're they're they're there to tell you hey i'm from advocacy group whatever i'm just a concerned citizen I DON'T EVEN LIVE IN THE DISTRICT WHERE THIS THING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. I'M GOING TO TELL YOU IT SHOULDN'T BE THERE. BECAUSE WHEN WE MOVED OUR HOMELESS POPULATION IN OUR ZERO BARRIER, REMEMBER, THIS JUST HAPPENED A FEW YEARS AGO. WHEN WE MOVED IT FROM THE MIDWAY IN THAT THEY BURNED DOWN AND DESTROYED, WE MOVED IT OVER TO THE QUALITY IN OVER ON KITZAP WAY. GUESS WHAT HAPPENED ON KITZAP WAY? OH, MY GOSH. SURPRISE, SURPRISE. COLOR ME SHOCKED. Crime rates went through the freaking roof. Businesses were broken into. Things were stolen. Drug use went rampant. Because all we did was we herded the homeless. If we're going to propose a site for our next homeless shelter, I'd say Bainbridge Island or maybe Seattle would be better. Now. anybody that for the rest of you and thank you for the four of you for showing up because you're bearing the brunt of this that your your three compatriots you should lambast them you know once once you get done with the meeting and tell them how badly it was for you to sit up here and listen to the people tell you that this homeless shelter is a bad idea because it makes it makes people feel bad But that's your suicidal empathy. And we need to move away from that. That suicidal empathy that says, oh, we have to do something to house these people. We have to do something to take care of them. They're not even willing to take care of themselves. We used to call them bums, tramps, and hobos, not homeless. But we prettied it up so that we could make something better out of it. It's still a bad thing. We shouldn't allow these folks to live. It's not compassionate for us to allow these folks to exist on our streets in the state that they're in. You know, this 1.3 million dollars that we got from the city, That would be better used to lobby our state to change the intake standards for our mentally ill and our drug addicted so that we could get them into an institution that will help them long term. So that will give them the care that they need. This nonsense we did on Pendleton Place, as soon as we put it up, we got more homeless. Weird, huh?

Commissioners Roy Runyon City of Bremerton. I wasn't really planning on speaking and I don't have a clear position either way on the decision You've been asked to make But I'm concerned about the process I'm concerned that we have senior staff of the Bremerton Housing Authority including the executive director and the director of business operations sitting in the audience refusing to make a presentation and Public taxpayer money, paying people to not do their jobs. Taxpayer money paying an agency to not do the outreach to the community. I don't live in that neighborhood. But a lot of this is about process, proper process. That's what you guys are here for, to ensure. And I appreciate DCD in a very comprehensive packet. Reading it, I see contradictions, I see omissions. I see the Bremerton Housing Authority constantly mixing the application for the rezone with the specifics of their project. And then they'll say in the same packet, oh, this has nothing to do, the rezone request has nothing to do with a specific project. Well, which is it, Bremerton Housing Authority? but they're not going to speak tonight I wonder why so very thoughtful I was on the city council when we actually passed the temporary encampment ordinance that allowed for religious institutions churches to actually sponsor these encampments and we had two pastors of two different denominations have they stepped up to provide a temporary encampment Nobody has stepped up. None of our faith community have stepped up and applied for these permits. Why? Why? Thank you.

Jose Camacho, Friends of Smith's Cove, Rock the Block. Don't want to be here. Yep, Jose Camacho, Friends of Smith's Cove, Rock the Block. I do not want to be here. Never wanted to be here. The reason why I started speaking up in council for the first time in my life, even though I have a professional background as a paralegal, I was very content writing legal briefs, doing FOIA requests, When I got here, I realized, because of the rigged Evergreen Point project, that there was an endemic, a massive problem of officials, city officials, including planners, simply erasing and misrepresenting law. Because I know how to read law and write arguments in the context of law it was discernible it's an objective fact the shoreline management act is how it all started with us at smith's cove we live a block from evergreen park so at the same time i've experienced homelessness a number of times in my life I have a family. I'm Puerto Rican. So we understand gentrification and we understand that when law is ephemeral, when there is no real equal protection, we're in danger. So I came here in December 2024 and I said that if we have corrupt officials, I am not safe as a Puerto Rican. And I mentioned I was homeless. I've had to tell the Parks Commission that I survived a winter with a group of homeless people at the Amtrak station, hoping they might understand that when you say homeless, it doesn't mean we're vagrants, it doesn't mean we're criminals, it doesn't mean we're drug addicts. I've never been a drug addict. In fact, I wasn't a drug addict because I observed people and I did not want to be that. It didn't stop me from being homeless. I represented disabled people and tenants. I was at the SSI project, so I understand disability. I understand low income. Those are the only people we accepted. Some of them were living out of their cars on transplant lists, and we had to find a way to make it happen for them based on evidence and based on law and based on legal arguments. HB 2266. The intent is not to have pre-decision hearings such as this. This itself is a delay. And with a time limit on the ARPA funding for the shelter, simply having this hearing or multiple hearings with a massive amount of disinformation is a kill switch for the shelter. So when Jill Stanton was here, and actually the other BHA guys, they were exhausted. They've never gotten anything but antagonism from the city, from the planners, and deception. This is your duty. Do not deceive the public.

Is there anybody else for a public comment? Anybody online?

We do have a couple of people online. I would like to remind anyone online, if you would like to speak, please raise your hand. I will allow the first person to request, Jeff Coughlin, to speak.

Hello, commissioners. Can you hear me? Thank you. I'm Jeff Coughlin. I've lived in Bremerton for 15 years. Thank you, commissioners, for your volunteer service to our city and for looking carefully at the zoning code amendment over a long evening now. And after last month's planning commission meeting on this exact same topic with presentations by both the city and the community partners. Thanks also to everyone who's made their voice heard tonight. I'll focus my comments very specifically on the proposed code amendment before you. I have to say this is a very minor code change to extend from six months to three years. This parcel is literally across the street from land that's already zoned for the same three-year designation being requested here. Land that's actually closer to areas that folks have expressed concern about. This was shown on the map in the presentation. This parcel would only ever so slightly extend the reach of the existing three-year zoned areas. Per the Harrison Heights Sub-Area Plan, this parcel has the lowest assessed value per square foot. To the best of my knowledge, it has never had a serious offer for high density housing development. There will be an enormous amount of high density housing and businesses going into the former site of Harrison Hospital, surrounding areas in Harrison Heights and other places in the city that will meet and exceed our city's housing goals. This code change is also very well aligned with the housing element of the current comprehensive plan. I want to share a few direct quotes of housing goals from the current comprehensive plan that I did not hear mentioned earlier in the presentation. Quote, Support efforts to provide for a variety of housing options, such as emergency group housing, homeless shelters, and short-term housing to meet the needs of those in lower income categories. Quote, encourage and support the development of emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing with appropriate onsite services for persons with special needs and vulnerable populations. End quote. Support agency and nonprofit organizations in the creation of housing opportunities for homeless, elderly, physically or mentally challenged, and other segments of the population who have special needs. My ask is that you please share your thoughts and all your valuable input tonight, but please pass this on to council with option one or two. I think that matters, especially tonight with multiple commissioners absent. This is ultimately something that needs to be reviewed, discussed, and voted on by all of our elected representatives and city council. So again, please pass on the option one or two so our elected representatives can make this decision. Thank you again.

It appears we do have one more speaker, Kimmy Siebens. I apologize if I misspoke that. I am now allowing you to speak.

KIMMY SIEBENS Hey, everybody. This is Kimmy Siebens. I'm a registered nurse of 20 years, and I live just like right down the street from the Sheridan site where I care for my elderly mom. And I've spent the last decade of my life studying and working with the homeless in our community right here on the front lines, and my mom too. And the fact that we're having this meeting is really strange because of that newly enacted House Bill 2266, which eliminates these types of pre-decision hearings for shelter and instead requires that the planning agency of our city processes this like administratively. So this is because of these hearings are being exploited like we're doing today and we're just killing time. The Department of Commerce, they already sent the DCD an email encouraging that they allow this shelter and the pallet houses to. The governor's office, they've also been encouraging these projects move forward. I met with one of his reps last week on site. It's also really important to note that People who oppose the shelter, they have a lot of really, really understandable fear and confusion. You know, they've never seen a true shelter with onsite supportive services. They like see a bandaid being placed on a severed artery and there's like mats on the ground only at nighttime in a cafeteria. But that's not a shelter, you guys. But they're also partly confused, in my opinion, because they haven't engaged with us over the past decade, not even once. And I'm kind of out there. People can tell you I'm on the news. I've been on Q 13 on Cairo, my one USA Today Woman of the Year. So I've been out there really trying to get people involved with this, but they've never reached out to learn about the crisis or understand its depth. And so here we are. And suddenly people are scared and coming out of nowhere with really horrific viewpoints that can make our community incredibly uh, more unsafe and harm more lives, including the many children and women and elders that I assist who are homeless. Um, and these fear-based narratives and outdated ideas, they've been debunked for years, you guys. Um, and you know, only a few people here today truly understand what this is all really about. You know, there's this gold mine, uh, up on Sheridan Road, that Opportunity Zone or Oz 2.0. But don't be short-sighted. You guys, your land of Oz, it will look so much better without all of our blight, without all of our hobos. You know, crime rates will decrease. The city even presented that at a meeting when shelters are erected. EMS and jail costs, they decrease. It's a win-win. Just think how nice it would be to walk into those high-rise luxury condos that they're planning over there and not have to step over some old guy who's urinating on himself. Maybe he just had a surgery and he's bleeding too, but he has nowhere to go and he's like sleeping in your fancy alcove of your home, your new luxury condo that we're building for people who aren't moved in yet. So we should talk to the people in this room about what's going to really happen to their neighborhood. about how we are building for people who aren't here yet. And that will affect them negatively. But a shelter, it can help remove that blight for the rich people too. So you guys reach out to the Bremerton Homeless Community Coalition. We have a hard time getting the word out because these people at these meetings silence us. They no longer allow us to give general comments at these meetings. And the city did that for six months as well.

Can you maybe cut her off? Thank you. Is there anybody else for public comment?

There is no one else online who has raised their hand.

Anybody in here? Okay, I now close public testimony. I'll now open the floor for Planning Commissioners for deliberation on the proposed zoning code amendments, including any clarifying questions on the material from staff or the applicant. No formal decisions are made tonight as we prepare for a formal recommendation to the City Council made at the conclusion of our August 17th Planning Commission public hearing.

well i really appreciate everyone coming in and providing their opinions and their public comment i think public comment is a really important part of the civil process so thank you i also appreciate the city staff for the incredibly informative packet and i think it really shows how much work has gone into this i did have a follow-up question based on mr coughlin's uh comment um it seemed to suggest that if we if only option one or two would go to the city council and i believe that it's ever either any of those options are recommendation to the city council which then makes its final decision can you clarify that for us that's correct should the planning commission select option three that would also go to the city council as a recommendation for them to consider that was my only question thank you

I also want to thank everybody for coming tonight. Appreciate your comments. And I would really like you all to go home and vote. This is kind of off topic, but this primary is what selects what's going to be in the final. So if you don't vote, you're stuck with whatever comes out. So keep those comments coming. Appreciate them. Thank you.

I had a question. Are we too far along in this process to consider other types of amendments to what we're considering? It seems like there's quite a lot of misunderstanding about what would be allowed. And quite early in Mr. Jackson's presentation, we did go over some of the base rules for what would and would not be allowed in the eventual project if this were to be passed. it might it might be good for us to all review that stuff and um and i'm i'm wondering if we can make tweaks to that at this point in the process or or the city council it might it might help address some of the concerns that the neighborhood has it might strengthen the the proposal i also wonder whether the indefinite future renewals are something that we can revisit. Yeah, are we too far along in the process or can we make other types of amendments to this amendment?

So I think that in part is a question for the applicant. Any additional coordination on changing the code may lead to future workshops and put off a public hearing. And we still circle back to the criteria, however. Whereas you might tweak the criteria in 2046-090, this planning commission still needs to answer if those criteria meet the comprehensive planning goals. So whereas there may be tweaks to the code, is allowing an extended temporary encampment in Harrison Heights, does that in itself meet the goals of the sub-area plan, housing goals of the comprehensive plan? So is that a sufficient answer?

perhaps this is maybe a rhetorical question but questions of whether this meets supports or perhaps doesn't support our comprehensive plan and the Harrison Heights sub area plan. I think the future renewals, if this was just three years, I think without indefinite future renewals, that might go a long ways to addressing some concerns. And it might it might help either way at the argument that it doesn't support the comprehensive plan. So that's just something that's another thing to consider. It seems like we we should be looking for compromises that perhaps move us forward in a positive direction. So that's just a potential amendment that I was wondering about.

He has some comment. No, Garrett was going to talk.

If you wanted a response to that, you could ask the applicant if they would be interested in a single three-year term and codifying that.

I mean, we are meeting again in one month. So I mean, I don't want to put anybody on the spot. So I think things like this are maybe better done with time to think about it. So that's just perhaps a rhetorical question, something we might all consider.

Thank you. I did think of another question brought on by that. So the three-year permit, is that renewable and is the 183-day permit renewable?

The three-year permit, you can apply for it consecutively. So you can keep applying for a three-year permit at the same site without any kind of sunset at this point in time. The 183-day permit, you do need to cease activity on the site and clear the site. I think I can provide you with the specific code time duration before starting it again at the same site. But there's a break in that 183-day permit.

Okay, that's a helpful distinction.

Does anybody from BHA have anything they want to say in response to these rhetorical questions that we just brought up? yeah that it's putting on the spot i i get it i get it i i'm i'm more i was more um i meant that i met those questions for my fellow commissioners and staff more than anybody If there's nothing that any of my fellow commissioners want to ask at this point, what was that?

Oh, sorry. I don't mean to interrupt. But the point of this meeting is for the planning commission to provide some direction on the options that are available, both to give staff, the public, and the applicant some idea on the direction the planning commission is considering.

uh commissioner bernie so the next meeting it was a lot was said tonight a lot was said previous meeting what is the purpose of the next meeting are we moving forward with making a decision or are we yeah is that it or are we going to talk about this in additional meetings or as we see fit as a commission

So it is at the discretion of the Planning Commission. That being said, the applicant has noted that they are on a timeline. We have had public notice for the June and now July workshops with the same three options. So they're not different as far as what's being proposed. So it makes sense to staff to proceed to a public hearing in August where you'd make a final formal recommendation to the city council. We haven't heard anything that would be different from those three options as presented by staff, but it would be helpful to hear from the commission on direction on those three options.

Okay. Mr. Gert, what we're really here for is a zoning code. And if that is passed and the BHA wants to go to three year, they have to go through another series of applications, etc. Is that correct?

THAT'S CORRECT. EVERY THREE-YEAR TERM WOULD REQUIRE A SEPARATE PERMIT.

AND THAT WOULD REQUIRE SOME TYPE OF PUBLIC HEARING, ET CETERA, BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL?

IT'S AN ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION FOR A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. IT DOES NOT GO TOWARD THE CITY COUNCIL OR THE PLANNING COMMISSION. IT'S ADMINISTRATIVE FROM DCD STAFF.

SO THE FIRST APPLICATION IS STRICTLY STAFF?

That's correct. The zoning code amendment is reviewed by the Planning Commission and the City Council, but afterwards permitting would be reviewed by DCD staff should the zoning code be adopted.

Okay, thank you.

One additional question. I feel like that could be legally challenged. Like if that zoning code amendment does take place or there might be challenges in rebuttal to that decision that we make or the city. I mean, we're not making a decision. The city council makes that decision. I'm thinking that there might be challenges that would push this forward even farther and I it's a it's a interesting situation I that's all I want to say about it, but it's very interesting.

And I just suggested the potential appeal period is outside of the scope of the planning Commission's consideration so the orders of the day or should this should the zoning code amendment be recommended for approval or or denial to City Council and that's really the limited scope that we're here for today, thank you.

To my fellow commissioners, I'm thinking back to near the beginning of tonight's meeting. We were presented with a couple options, and I remember BHA weighing in on option two perhaps being the best of their preferred option. I do think that option two would be better than option one. I don't know if you all agree with that, but that does seem to get around some of the spot zoning arguments. If we were to move ahead and approve this, I would want to do so under number two. I'm not saying that I do, but I prefer option two to option one.

So I think that the scope of the decision here is something that's very important for us to consider. I think that it's very important for us to understand more about how it complies or does not comply with the comprehensive plan I think we've heard arguments both ways the moral imperative I think is very clear but I think that we need to think about what is within the scope of this decision which is is it aligned with the comprehensive plan so I think if I were to direct staff and I think others can sort of chime in is. The next packet, if it included more clear information on, and I think you had a whole list, so I appreciated that. How does it comply, or what are the components of the comprehensive plan that apply to this decision?

Yeah, and I believe that that's included in the existing packet. But if the Planning Commission is asking for potentially a staff report that's very limited in scope to just applicability to the comprehensive plan, then we could try to provide a more limited packet. That being said, I think it's already been clearly stated that per the Department of Commerce, temporary encampments are not housing. They do not count toward the housing goals of the city of Bremerton and the housing that we've planned for. Temporary encampments are not mentioned once in the comprehensive plan. And since the last time the planning commission reviewed the temporary encampment code in May of 2024, the Department of Commerce published this guidance in July of 2024. really letting jurisdictions know that this isn't housing and it doesn't count toward the housing goals allocated in your comprehensive plan. So when the word housing is used in comprehensive planning, in our comprehensive plan, it does not apply to temporary encampments. That being said, the Department of Commerce does encourage jurisdictions to consider allowing temporary structures. But even if we do, it is not counted toward housing. It's in excess of that. It's in temporary encampments. provisions. So there are policies from the Harrison Heights sub area plan and the comprehensive plan found in the packet and the presentation about how this may not meet the goals of the comprehensive plan or sub area plan. But if the planning commission is asking for maybe a more limited in scope staff report for the hearing, then we can try to produce that.

I think that we have to limit the scope of this decision to the key parameters that are shaping it.

And that is the criteria of a text amendment's approval. One, does it meet the comprehensive plan? And two, does it meet other state and other regulatory criteria? So we're happy to provide a simplified report.

so yeah hb house bill 2266 was brought up and that was passed in june 2026 uh require cities and counties to allow permanent support of housing transitional housing and indoor emergency shelters end zones or residential units or hotels already permitted and it also prevents local governments from enforcing stricter permitting standards on those these facilities uh than on regular apartments so i'm kind of wondering which takes precedence. Does that House bill take precedence, or does a comprehensive plan take precedence?

Absolutely, and there's been some misinformation on HB 2266, even included in the applicant's initial may submittal linking HB 2266 to temporary encampments. And it's not appropriate. HB 2266 is not applicable to temporary encampments. It's applicable to step housing, which are permanent supportive housing types.

I also have a question about the timeline. You showed a slide, and I am not sure I remember it correctly. Between now and the hearing, does it go through? I believe there was an additional review by outside agencies. Is that correct?

That's correct. There's a SEPA review for a non-project action and that's different than a project action as we've heard some concerns about through SEPA. Non-project actions are a phased review and SEPA might be considered later again when an actual project is proposed. for a legislative amendment like this this is considered a non-project action and it has phased review so we would do that sepa notification and also notice to the department of commerce on potential code changes

All right. The public portion of this meeting is now closed. Now on to the business meeting. Chair report? I don't have a report today. Other commissioners' reports? Nope. Director's report? Andrea Spencer is not here. No report, thank you. Okay. Anybody for old business? Anybody with new business and the only new business item being deep.

Public hearing in August. OK section.

Alright, the next regular meeting of the Planning Commission will be held on August 17th, 2026. Thank you. This meeting is adjourned.