City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. This is our regular Board of County Commissioners evening meeting for Monday, May 11. Marina here will share a little bit about how those can participate online.

For members of the public wishing to comment remotely at the Board of Commissioners' regular Monday business meeting during designated public comment times, the following options are available. For Internet users, please click on the raise hand feature to signal that you would like to comment. The sound will be unmuted and the internet participant is encouraged but not required to identify themselves. The participant will be called upon to speak at the appropriate time. Closed captions have been enabled.

Members of the public can view the link to instructions in the chat. Please note that we will not be able to assist you should you experience technical difficulties. For call in users, please dial 9 on your keypad to signal that you would like to comment. The last four digits of the call in number will be announced and call in participants are encouraged but not required to identify themselves. Thank you. With that, I'll

call our meeting to order. And we will begin with the pledge of allegiance. Stand if you're able, please.

Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Item number 2A, resolution appointing Shanay Skelton to the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board to a three year term ending 05/10/2029.

Madam Chair, I move that we approve the resolution appointing Shanee Skeleton to the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board.

I second. And I have a little discussion here. A little bit about the Developmental Disabilities Board. The board was created pursuant to RCW seventy one point two zero point four zero. The mission of the board is to promote choice, opportunity, and support for people with disabilities in an enhanced community where all people are included, respected, and dignified.

Board responsibilities include reviewing service plans, applications for funding, and expenditure budgets. The board makes recommendations regarding developmental disability services funded through Kitsap County and provides community education on developmental disabilities. And I wanna share a little bit about Shanay. She lives independently with her cat, Precious, and takes pride in managing her responsibilities. She thrives on being part of the community and finding ways to help others.

She particularly loves working at Saint Michael Medical Center in Silverdale where she has served as a department aid for seventeen years. As both an organizer and participant in a special Olympic events, she brings valuable perspective to the advisory board. And having received individual employment and community inclusion services, she understands firsthand the amazing impact these programs have on our community. In her personal time, Shanay enjoys meeting new people and spending time with friends. I don't know, is Shanay here? Is she online? She's not online. We are so looking forward to having her part of this advisory.

Someone raised their hand.

Oh, yay. Shanay, you're welcome to speak.

You hear me?

Yes, we hear you.

This is not Shanay. This is Rae Hill. Hopefully, you recognize my voice. I know this person. I've met her out in the community. She's very dynamic, so I was hoping she would be there, and I wasn't I didn't know if it would be appropriate to give her a token of appreciation. But I have a question.

We're not taking questions right now, but thank you so much for speaking up. Thank you.

So congratulations to her.

So with that, we are going to vote. Okay. All those in favor of appointing Shanay Skelton, a district two to the Developmental Disabilities Advisory Board. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. This will be a wonderful addition. Thank you. Excellent.

Item two b, resolution appointing Colleen Muraglott and Jennifer Morrison to the Suquamish Community Advisory Council to a three year term ending 05/31/2029.

Madam chair, I move adoption of the resolution appointing Colleen Muriglott and Jennifer Morrison to the Suquamish Community Advisory Council to three year terms ending 05/31/2029.

I second. Do you have some discussion?

Yes. And Colleen is here today. So after the vote, if you'd like to say something. The mission of the Squamish Community Advisory Council is to actively facilitate communication among the Squamish community, mutually develop and promote a sense of community vision and pride, communicate to the county and other government entities the desires and concerns of the Squamish community, and bring to the Squamish community issues and projects of the county. So we'll begin.

We have two people, being appointed. We'll begin with Colleen Muraglott. She loves living in the Squamish community and would like to better support and and serve her neighbors and those who visit the area. She thrives on bringing people together through activities like neighborhood mapping, potluck dinners at the park, and maintaining public trails. She is also active in community organizations, including co chairing and serving on several committees for the Bainbridge Island Rotary Club.

She's an active attorney, and her area of practice includes personal injury law, Consumer Protection Act violations, and occasional property issues. And then And then Jennifer Morrison also strongly believes in acting locally to support and enrich the lives of neighbors. She has attended council meetings previously, and is excited to become even more involved in the community. Access to trails, community walkability, and parks are topics she is particularly passionate about. Jennifer works as a mental health counselor and enjoys teaching Pilates. Fun.

Both great additions. We so value the time of our volunteers on our community advisory board. So thank you both to Colleen and Jennifer for stepping up. So let's vote on that. It's been moved and seconded to appoint Colleen Muriglott and Jennifer Morrison to the Suquamish Community Advisory Council. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All right, this is approved. And you said Colleen is here. Colleen, do you want to say a few words?

Yeah, just go up front, and then on the right hand side, push the button, and it'll turn red, and then you can speak.

We you're a trial attorney, so you're ready for this.

Yes. Pretty much. No. I just wanna say thank you. And, and on behalf of Jennifer as well, because she's my very good friend and neighbor, and we hope to make emergency preparedness sort of more present in the Suquamish area. And so we're looking forward to

it. Wonderful. Thank you for your service. My husband grew up in Suquamish, so I have a deep love for your for your neighborhood.

I love it. It's a wonderful place.

Yeah. Thank you. Very much, Jennifer. I mean, Colleen. Is Jennifer online?

No. She's not. Okay. We should clap. Alright. Yes.

I'm waiting for my queue. I I said that I would speak to resolution board appointment two c Okay. Which is a resolution appointing Marina Linville, interim clerk of the board. And I just yeah. That's the item.

Alright. Let's make the motion.

I move to I move to approve the resolution appointing Marina Linville, interim clerk of the board.

I second. Is there any discussion? County administrator, do you wanna mention anything more?

I just deeply appreciate. The clerk is an integral and unreplaceable piece of this team, and so I really appreciate Marina stepping into it for the interim role. Thank you, Marina.

Thank you, Marina. We're very grateful. So let's vote. It's been moved and seconded to appoint Marina Linville, interim clerk of the board. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. And that passes. Yay. You can continue sitting there.

Thank you. Thank you.

Item three a, resolution designating 06/06/2026 as secure your load day.

Good evening, commissioners.

My screen is sharing.

My name is Sarah Champ. I am a program analyst in the Public Works Department in the Solid Waste Division. I am here this evening to ask for your proclamation declaring 06/06/2026 as Secure Load Day here in Kitsap County. Secure Your Load Day is recognized across the nation to honor individuals whose lives were lost or impacted by debris falling from vehicles. It's also a day to encourage and remind drivers of their responsibility to properly secure their vehicle loads every time they drive no matter how short the distance may be.

The Secure Your Load Campaign was started in 2016 by Robin Abel, a Washington state resident whose daughter Maria was severely injured by a piece of particle board that fell off a vehicle and went through her windshield. Robin has been a leading advocate for roadside safety, and her work has led to the passage of laws across the country, increasing fines and penalties for unsecured loads. The impact of unsecured loads is significant. In 2022, there were close to nine hundred deaths nationally, and every year unsecured loads cause over three 100 accidents in Washington state. In 2025, there were over 400 calls to 911 reporting debris on roads in Kitsap County.

Additionally, 40% of roadside litter is due to debris falling off vehicles. Items such as ladders, tires, garbage, plywood, and more, were reported on our roads last year. Even if you're only going a short distance or going slow, it's important to secure your cargo. Folks who properly secure their cargo are following the law, keep our roads safer, and do their part, keeping our state clean and beautiful. So this campaign is an annual outreach campaign the solid waste division has engaged in since 2021.

We've given out over 3,000 piece of pieces of equipment, so free nets, ratchet straps, and tarps to local drivers. And I wanted to call out one of our engagements last year where we attended Whaling Days and talked to over 1,000 different people during that weekend, giving out 400 items. Commissioner Walters joined us on our parade float with Recycle Michael, and so that was very exciting. And we're kicking off our 2026 campaign with this proclamation, a news bulletin announcing more giveaways, and engaging digital media and ads on social media in English and Spanish. We'll also have deputy Sean Montague who will provide outreach at our tire collection event in June.

And Washington State patrol troopers will patrol throughout June to look for unsecured loads. We do have a $10 unsecured load fee at our transfer stations and fees collected go it goes towards cleaning up litter on our county roads. This year in particular, we'll focus on outreach, and engagement efforts by staff who work at the transfer stations during the months of June and July, kind of as a continuous effort as many, so that we can reach as many people as we can this year. And I do wanna highlight two videos. One is a video that was created as a project of leadership kits app illustrating why folks should secure their loads.

And the second video is a new, very short, cute video that the Department of Ecology created to kick off their own statewide, 2026 campaign. Their new ad campaign focuses on the split second decision people make when they're about to litter, especially when no one is around. So their commercial features a marmot puppet that plays the part of our conscious, turning that inner voice into something you can actually see.

Unsecured vehicle loads cause over 300 crashes every year

in

Washington. That's 300 families impacted by a person's decision not to properly secure their load. Washington law requires motorists to cover and secure their loads to prevent cargo from breaking free. Failing to secure your load is a crime in Washington and will result in fines or fees. Law enforcement could issue you a $237 ticket, and you could be liable for fines up to $5,000 and potential jail time if you damage property or injure someone.

First, stock up on straps, tarps, nets, and other tools. Use bungees or rope to secure trash can lids. Use cargo nets or tarps to cover small and light items. Use cargo straps to secure large or heavy items to your vehicle. Make sure the straps are rated for the weight of your cargo. At times, you may need a combination of tools. Unsecured loads aren't just unsafe. They are also responsible for 40% of the litter that you see on our roadways. By securing your load, you can help keep our county clean for all residents. Securing your load, it saves lives.

It prevents litter. It's the law. Avoid fees and potential tickets. Keeping Washington Road safe and litter free is all of our responsibility and the right thing to do to protect our community.

Alright. Let

And this is the Department of Ecology's quick commercial.

All right. Let's roll. Oh, come on. It's it's fine. Okay. Okay. Okay. Let's get to work.

And with that, I would like to ask for your support of the campaign and declare June 6 as Secure Your Load Day. Thank you for your time, and I have the proclamation I would like to read. Whereas National Security Load Day is marked on June 6 in Washington and other states commemorate people whose lives were impacted or taken by unsecured vehicle loads and encourage drivers to properly secure their cargo every time they drive and whereas unsecured vehicle loads cause over 300 crashes in Washington State every year and cause up to 40% of roadside litter and whereas securing vehicle cargo will prevent crashes, injuries, death and roadside litter in Kitsap County and whereas littering and driving with an unsecured vehicle load is against the law in Washington State and whereas Kitsap County wishes to recognize employees of Kitsap County solid waste facilities for their important role in educating others about the importance of load securement and whereas Kitsap County encourages residents and businesses to secure their load every time they drive and talk with family, friends, and coworkers about the importance of load securement. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Board of County Commissioners do hereby recognize 06/06/2026, as secure your load day in Kitsap County.

Okay. Thank you so much, Sarah. Any comments or questions? I during your giveaways, will you be giving away the ratchets and the covers again? What are you giving away?

Yes. The ratchet straps and the cargo nets. So those are the the pretty popular items.

Yeah. They were really I I was at Whaling Days, and I know how popular they were. So thank you. So no is right?

No excuses.

We just we just cleaned up gorse a few weeks ago that and we know most of the trash comes from unsecured loads. So thank you for bringing this forward. Anything else? No. Do you wanna make the motion?

Yep. Alright. I move that we adopt the resolution designating 06/06/2026 as secure your load day.

Alright. It's been moved and seconded to approve the resolution designated 06/06/2026 as secure your load day. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Alright. Motion passes. Thank you so much for bringing that forward.

Alright. June 6 is a Saturday, so you're expecting people coming to the transfer stations.

Yes. Yeah.

Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.

Item three b, resolution proclaiming May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month in Kitsap County.

Good afternoon, commissioners. My name is Doug Washburn. I'm the director of Kitsap County Human Services. As you know, May is Mental Health Awareness Month in Kitsap County, and we are bringing a proclamation before you today. As you often direct directors and all county staff, whenever we can work with people that have lived experience in anything we're doing, please reach out and do that. We're lucky to have Jennifer and Steve Kreifels today to present the resolution for us and the proclamation. If I could introduce Jennifer and Steve.

Hello. Thank you, Director Washburn

and County Commissioners for the opportunity to share our son Benjamin's story because having the support of family and community is critical. Our son Benjamin Lee Kreifels entered and completed our family. He was born 01/01/2001 with a true heart of pure affection. His bright eyes shining smile and constant kisses infused joy in us all. Ben was fiercely loyal to those he loved.

He created a mandate of the group hug to soften family quarrels. Not one of us could resist his little body and big heart as he physically pulled us into an embrace, telling us to be kind to one another. He was so little. Ben loved to climb high up cabinets for a dip in the dish tub or a taste of the gingerbread house, every door jam, any lucky tree on the top of the playground falling more than once. He ascended numerous mountains as a proud boy scout with troop fifteen thirty nine, and he ascended cliffs to then jump off with his oldest trusted brother.

Ben was so smart. Even his preschool teacher would on occasion hand me a list of words witnessed that day. Ben was an artist and a poet of words. He was erudite. I cannot even say the word, but it means expressing great enthusiasm and learning in the pursuit of knowledge. He loved meeting and talking with all people and enjoyed books, classical music, gaming with his friends, anime, three d creation Japan, the country of Japan, his motorcycle, and animals, especially his cats, Fez Nepre, which we had to call Fez because we couldn't say the word. Nicknamed Stardust.

Okay. Of course, I'm Steve. A lot of emotion here. This is a big healing point for us. We don't know what to do. We have three other beautiful boys, three beautiful grandkids and brings us great joy and that's what I look to. I stand here after losing our son. I know we're still blessed. You take it for what it is. There's beauty everywhere.

I'm gonna finish with what my wife had to read and then I'll have a couple comments. He valued and embodied trustworthiness, honesty, friendship and a keen reverence for nature. Ben was an honorable, resilient son, brother and friend to anyone. Ben expressed a patriotic spirit for the world and would salute any flag he passed. Tears streamed down his cheeks when ventures were celebrating a big commemorative thing at Mount Rushmore.

And then after it was done, he made a point of shaking everybody's hand. He he always had that reverence. It was a proud day when he took his oath as a junior ranger at Yellowstone. That was part of the same thing. Benjamin was a proud and faithful servant of God and country. He just finished his patriarchal studies two days before he took his life. He took pride in his service as an E-four Petty Officer and third class Seabees. He was in the reserves. Just as of note, our other son serves too. He's in Air Force number two or number three.

Anyway, brings me great joy here in the same national anthem play every day when I drink my coffee. I still think of him. I'm still proud of him. Me and his mom will forever regard him with unwavering reverence and sense of all. And if I could take just one more minute, we got multi things. Women react differently than men to crisis. We all feel the same things. We come at totally different ends. This is a big one, but you guys can fill in the blanks day to day life. We want to tell our son's story, but we also want to heal with people.

We're looking to make more we did the military stand down last week. Our other son serves. He's a sergeant in the Air Force ten years, great kid and did the stand down with veterans. And we've been to several other meetings. Mental awareness, mental health, I don't know the answer but I think we have the answer right here.

It's right in our hands. The same thing, society that causes these things, everybody's pissed off. But it all starts in the home and the community and there's beautiful people out there. I find most of my help from my friends that I've known for years. It's not my sisters crying or my brother who doesn't know what to say, but there's beautiful people out there. They're right there. They're everywhere. That's where I heal and I encourage anybody to do it. With that said, looking forward, you'll hear our names more. He was devoted in the Boy Scouts.

I think it's a great program. Tom Boghann spoke eloquently. We'll be sponsoring a scholarship and doing whatever we can to get young kids there. And going forward, we're going to tell our story. I'm not going to speculate on all the crisis and everything. I'm just going to tell my story as a loving father. And I'm worried about the living. My son's gone and we still have grandkids and there's a beautiful life out there. And if I could help one person, that's fine. I know she shares the same thing and there's more to come. Don't ever lose faith.

Alright.

So proclaiming the month of May 2026 is Mental Health Awareness Month in Kitsap County, Washington, whereas nearly one in five adults in The United States experience a mental health a mental illness, and nearly half of those adults did not receive treatment in the past year. And whereas one in seven adults in The United States experienced a substance use disorder, ninety five percent of whom did not receive treatment in the last year, and whereas counties are a primary entry point into the criminal justice system, operating 91% of local jails housing a significant portion of jail inmates who have either a substance use disorder, a mental illness, or both, and whereas veterans continue to face disproportionately high rates of suicide driven by a complex combination of physical, psychological, and social stressors with suicide rates more than twice the rate of non veterans, with younger veterans at particularly elevated risk, and whereas mental health impacts a person's emotional, social, environmental, financial, and overall well-being with significant disparities among racial and ethnically diverse communities. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners declare May as Mental Health Awareness Month in Kitsap County, dated this May 2026.

Thank you so much for sharing your story, your advocacy, and to telling us a little bit more about Benjamin. Thank you for your bravery. Thank you. We'll now entertain the motion.

Thank you both. I move to approve the resolution proclaiming May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month in Kitsap County. And second.

Any further discussion?

Oh, I just wanna thank you both for being here tonight and sharing Benjamin with us. And also to thank our staff for their work on mental health treatment and taking care of people and all the work that we do in this county. Thank you.

All right. All those in favor we've moved in second. All those in favor of the resolution proclaiming May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. All right. Motion passes. Thank you again.

Administrators comments?

None tonight. Thank you.

Thank you.

This is the opportunity for the public to address the board on regular business agenda including the consent agenda.

Alright, I have no one here signed up for regular business consent agenda items. Anyone online?

We have two who have raised their hand.

Alright, so this is on the consent agenda for those who'd like to speak on the agenda items. We have several public hearings at the end of the meeting.

IPhone three, you're allowed to speak now?

I'm not sure, if this is appropriate. I wanted to say that I wanted to commend that family who just shared their story as someone who suffered from mental illness, and my birthday is this May. If there's anything I can do to help, that was my first question. My second question, I believe on the consent agenda, you have something regarding housing. I have been unhoused in Kitsap County in October. Other than telling people to go to the Salvation Army and to sign up for housing, are there any other resources for people like me?

Thank you for your comments, Regina. We can connect you with our Department of Human Services. If you want, in your chat, if you can leave your information, we'll we'll be in touch with you.

Thank you, ladies.

The other person lowered their hand. All right.

All right. Thank you. Then I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda.

I move to approve the consent items.

Second. All those in favor of the consent agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Right. The consent agenda passes. Thank you.

Item 15 a, public hearing to take input and approve the 2027 housing and community development policy plan for CS, CDBG and home funds.

Good evening. I'm Bonnie Tufts, program manager for the Kitsap County Block Grant program under the Department of Human Services.

I'm Joel Warren. I run the community investments in affordable housing program, the

SIA program.

We're going to need you to move a little bit closer to the mic.

Gotcha. I'm Joel Warren. I run the SIA program. It's the community investments in affordable housing.

So we're here to present following a public hearing, and we will be requesting board approval of the 2027 policy plan. Each year at the beginning of the grant cycle, we issue policy plans to kick off the grant application process. Typically, have issued two plans, one for CAO, one for CWG and Home. And as we continue to coordinate and streamline our processes and make it simpler for applicants and contracting agencies, we have moved this year to a single policy plan, a 2027 housing and community development plan that will kick off our joint allocation process. The policy plan, it's a joint plan.

It describes the funding priorities for each of the funding sources in the plan. It also describes program policies and guidelines and the regulations for the use of funds. So an overview of block grant program. Block grant program is federal funds that are allocated annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. They're formula based and subject to the federal budget.

So each year at the grant cycle, it's estimated. We don't know what we're going to get till the following year. CDBG has been roughly $1,000,000 annually. Those funds can be used throughout the county, excluding the city of Bremerton, they have their own CDBG funds, and they can be used for housing services and micro enterprise programs. The Home Investment Partnerships Fund, that's about 750,000 annually, and those funds are used throughout the county, but there is a set aside, so the county administers the entire home fund, but a portion is set aside for City Of Bremerton projects, and those funds are primarily for affordable housing.

Just to give you some overview of what we did with the 2026 funds. Housing Kitsap was awarded $350,000 for Southern Cross. That was a construction of four new units on Bainbridge Island. That project is just starting. And then community frameworks, Kitsap Homeownership, down payment assistance, those funds will be used to assist eight households in Kitsap County and Bremerton.

So neither of these contracts have been written. We don't have our funding from HUD yet. And then for services, those are for childcare and after school programs and food banks. Boys and Girls Club, South Kitsap after school program, Helpline House Food Bank operations, South Kitsap Helpline Food Bank Operations, and the YMCA Child Care Scholarships. And then the capital side of CDBG, Housing Kitsap brought forth several projects.

They have their home rehab program, and that will assist homeowners to address health and safety measures in their home. The Park Place Apartments, that is a 55 unit complex, and that will be for new decks. And then, sorry,

looks like we got that

on there twice. So the other one is 140,000 for rhododendron apartments for electrical panels. Don't know what happened there. And then KCR weatherization addresses energy efficient measures for homeowners. So the priorities that are included in our policy plan come from our five year consolidated plan that was approved by the board last fall, and that will drive the priorities for the next five years.

So public services is childcare and after school programs and food assistance. For CDBG capital, those are in priority order, so rehabilitation of housing, both rental and homeownership, preservation of affordable housing, infrastructure related to affordable housing projects, and economic development micro enterprise. And then on the home side, those are equal priorities, so construction or acquisition of new rental housing projects, and then acquisition of homeowner housing through down payment assistance.

Okay.

Moving on to the program. So as I said, Sia is the community investments in affordable housing. It's our local, one tenth of 1% sales tax program. We expect about $5,000,000 annually, but that ebbs and flows based on the sales tax that's accrued. Bainbridge Island and Poulsboe take their own portions. So CIA is really the county then minus Bainbridge and Poulsboe. Overview of last year's investments. Housing Kitsap got a million dollars for Stone Ridge. They'll buy three townhomes. They'll be pairing those with HUD VASH vouchers.

So three veteran families will be in there. Saint Vincent de Paul, Star of Hope. That's kind of a whole redo of their footprint in Bremerton. It's really an expansion of the Stella Maris shelter. This will be more towards the transitional permanent supportive housing. So housing plus supports. Trillium project, it's two here, but ultimately, it's one really big project. It's going for state tax credits. So we'll be leveraging this money. Trillium Meadowdale Trails, the top one of those two, also got, I think, $4,000,000 last year.

So we're leveraging about 6.5 total to Triangle for about 90. That's a lot of units. So we have 260 units in Central Kitsap. See priorities, similar to Bonnie. So we did the data analysis and the community engagement for the five year plan. So he has kinda partnered along with that because we coordinate quite a bit. So those priorities came to be these insane. It'll be, like, a five year window of time. So the the development of new units is where our focus is. Affordable housing, both unsubsidized and subsidized, and supportive transitional and emergency in that order.

Based on the last three years, we haven't really gotten down to priorities three or four. So mostly, it's one, the development of new units and then acquiring land for that same purpose. Purpose of the policy plan, Bonnie kind of went over this already. It's the same for really, our programs are kind of combined from the perspective of applicants and from developers. They don't have to know which which fund they'll go into.

Application time, they can look to that for really clear guide on policies, the priorities. And then it talks about the citizen participation plan, really the times and places people are allowed to get engaged with our programs, either formally through public hearings like this or informally emailing us and calling us. So there's a joint RFP this year for c in home. That's the capital funds, and then there's the NOFA process for the CDBG. In the CDBG capital side is that rehab work, and then there's a public service side of things as well, and they do an auto renewal every two years.

A basic sense of the funds. So this was estimated last time we presented to you at work study. These are more finalized now. So CA will have $6,000,000 this year to put out. Home will be just over 1,000,000. Then there's the breakdown. So about $7.80 will be for the county and $2.25 for the city. And for CDBG capital, we can now rehab work just over $1,000,000 in public services is a percentage. So it's always about 10%. 15. Sorry. 15%

Of two.

The annual award. Yep. And the city of Birmingham gets their own CDBG, so they'll do their own NOFA for capital and services inside the city. Some key dates. So the RFP is posted this Thursday for our funds, and then we'll do a TA session for the capital GRC mid June. Oh, sorry. For the applicants, mid June. Applications open for four weeks, June through July. Then we'll be getting the capital GRC organized, which is the group of community members that will be scoring and recommending funds ultimately. That happens in September, and then we'll be back here in late October with a public hearing on funding recommendations.

And here's links to so all of this information is also on our websites as well as the joint county CCAP website.

Thank you so much for your presentation.

Do you

have any questions or comments for staff?

I do have a do we have anybody signed in to

We don't. So we'll take questions, then we'll open the public hearing.

Okay. Did you I know this has been out for public comment for a few weeks.

Two weeks, yeah.

Two weeks? Have you received any comments?

We have not, no.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other questions?

Well, this is the same plan as last year, right? I mean, it hasn't

Mushed together. I mean, it's we had two plans last year combined into a single document.

But no major policy change or

No, the policies are like we said, they're coming from our five year plan, so the data from last year.

Thank you.

And I appreciated you showing us the past projects because everyone an idea of what the fence go towards, so thank you. Some really great amazing projects that are happening in our community. All right, so with that I will open the public hearing. I don't have anyone signed up on this sheet, but if there's anyone in the room that would like to speak to the policy.

Right. Regina has her hand up.

All right, Regina. Regina, would you like to speak to the the housing and community development policy plan? Yes. Alright. You may speak.

I attended most of those meetings last year. So when I saw the agenda item this evening, my concern or my question is, why are we using the same information from a year ago? That's question number one. Question number two, I thought I got excited. I thought I saw the same item twice, So there's not a second item that was the same thing twice that was a misprint?

Yes. I believe you caught it.

Yes. That project was listed twice. It should have been two different projects.

Wah, wah, wah. So is there anything out there that can benefit from me? Because all I'm told is you register for the CAFE, there's a two way waiting list, and go to the Salvation Army. Where can people like me get some assistance? So thank you for this presentation.

Thank you for your comments, and we'll connect you with our Human Services Department. Thank you.

Thank you.

And she was the only one with her hand raised.

Alright. Anyone else in the room? Alright. With that, I will close the public hearing. And now we need to decide if we want to take action tonight.

It seems to me that we could take action tonight. I don't imagine that there are changes that are gonna be coming forward.

No. And especially since we're already working off the five year plan, so I'm comfortable taking action tonight as well.

Okay. So I will move to approve the 2027 housing and community development HCD policy plan for CS, CDBG, and home funds. There's no fiscal impact. I second that.

Alright. We've already had our discussion. So it's been moved and seconded to approve the 2026 2027 housing and community development correct? In '27?

Yes. Make sure I have

the right date. The 2027 housing and community development policy plan for CS, CBD, BG, and home funds. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. It's approved. Thank you. Thank you.

Now

your real work begins. Well,

just want to say you guys are real pros. Thank you for your work.

Item 15b, public hearing to consider the comprehensive plan remand order amending the comprehensive plan.

Thank you, Doug. Great work today.

Alright.

Good evening, commissioners. Garrett Ballou, long range planner. And this evening, we have the public hearing for the remand order adjustments made to our comprehensive plan. So just to begin, we have a timeline of the events that have led to us proposing these adjustments to the 2024 comprehensive plan. So, winding the clock back to December 2024, we adopted our current 2024 plan.

And then subsequently in January and February 2025, that plan was appealed. Then in August 2025, the state the Washington State Growth Management hearings board issued their decision in order to remand the plan and identified several deficiencies, are being addressed through this update. And also in August of last year, the Puget Sound Regional Council identified several deficiencies for their conditional certification report. They're an organization who certifies our plan, and so there were some additional items to take a look at there as well. In November of last year, the hearings board extended their compliance deadline for us until June of this year, and that's where we are today with a compliance deadline of June.

And so we're taking a look at the proposed adjustments in this update today. So an overview of the issues identified by the growth management hearings board. We have that up on the screen. So a part of our comprehensive plan is the land capacity analysis and that this gives us an idea of the capacity for, for growth and for housing and and employment. And so this was, a really heavy lift for all of our comprehensive plans to dial in these numbers and get that land capacity analysis to where we want to for a comprehensive plan.

And so, the growth management hearings board identified that there was not sufficient land capacity analysis shown within the '24 plan, excuse me, particularly for those, within zero to 80% of the area median income. They had also identified a couple of items within our land use element that could be improved specifically related to multimodal emergency and evacuation routes and wildfire risks and tools to reduce those risks. And the p excuse me. PSRC, the Puget Sound Regional Council identified several issues as well. First and foremost, the hearings board issues need to be resolved, but they also pointed out that the land capacity analysis, again, did not demonstrate adequate employment capacity for all of our UGA's.

And so this was another piece that has been addressed with this update. Additionally, there was some change to the transportation element to include policy for air quality standards and emission reduction. While there was language here in our climate change chapter, this there's been additional language, and that's been bolstered within the transportation element itself. Alright. So to address that housing issue, the land capacity analysis for all of those income groups, we are proposing a reduction within our land capacity analysis for those for roads and rights of ways on underutilized parcels that are up for redevelopment from 20% to 5%.

And so this is really the driving change to our land capacity analysis is this reduction here. So in the previous comprehensive plan, our assumption was that for redevelopable lots that have already been developed, we were assuming that 20% of those lots would be used for future roads and rights of ways, which doesn't entirely make sense. It's not a it's a very high number considering that these lots, these parcels are already served by established road networks and rights of ways. So we proposed a reduction there within our analysis from 20% down to 5%. And that adjustment revealed capacity for three fifty four single family units and ten fifty two multifamily units exceeding those targets for each group.

And I won't go into too much detail on this slide, but off to the left, we have these table that represents the land capacity analysis for housing. And so you'll see there's some numbers that are in red, and those are below our targets. While we were showing growth towards those targets, the growth management hearings board wants to see that we are at or above those targets. And so the table off to the right shows those changes having been made with this proposed adjustment. The other issue identified, this one by the PSRC, was the employment capacity.

And so, again, that initial adjustment of 20% down to 5% for that roads and rights of way calculation was was proposed. And a series of UGA specific adjustments to the Kingston, Port Orchard, and Paulsbo UGA's are also included as part of this update. And so when all of these adjustments are taken together, we it results in a surplus employment capacity for each of those respective UGA's. And these are the tables side by side. We have the comparison of the employment growth targets that is in the current comp plan off to the left.

And then after adjustments, you can see that on the right hand side. I'd also mentioned multimodal emergency and evacuation routes, and then this is this is a important topic here. And and specifically, we wanted to address this within our land use element. And so we've additional we've, excuse me, added additional goals, policies, and strategies specific to this issue of of emergency and evacuation routes to the comprehensive plan within that land use chapter to address the concerns of the growth management hearings board and PSRC here. The transportation element has also been adjusted similarly with additional goals, policies and strategies to specifically target emissions, greenhouse gases from vehicular usage.

And so that has been altered or proposed change within the transportation element of the comprehensive plan. So to summarize, we've addressed housing capacity issues using adjustments to our land capacity analysis, specifically targeting the roads and rights of ways. We've also addressed those multimodal emergency and evacuation routes through additional goals, policies, and strategies to the land use chapter. We're taking a look at employment as well with adjustments to land capacity analysis, again, to rows and rights of ways along with a series of those UGA specifics adjustments to Paulsbo, Port Orchard, and Kingston. And also, we have revised our language or excuse me, added language to the transportation chapter regarding the emissions reduction in greenhouse gases from vehicle use.

Alright. So there's a quick update on on the changes made with the remand. And this is our next steps that we have laid out in front of us between now and June 30, which is when the adoption needs to occur for the state. And so we have adoption scheduled for 06/22/2026, and that's to meet, a requirement from commerce, a sixty day notice of adoption. So we couldn't, necessarily adopt today, but we need to on June 22 for that regular meeting.

And then after adoption, we will be sending our compliance report to the hearings board, PSRC, and the Department of Commerce will also be issuing issuing a notice of adoption. And then these changes will actually show up within our current comprehensive plan sometime between July and August once we get those incorporated, and they'll actually be available within the plan online. Okay. And and we also have we've set aside a separate meeting for deliberations on this topic. Next week, if if necessary, the board may also choose to to hold deliberations during that same, excuse me, June 22 meeting for adoption.

But we we have set aside additional deliberations if if necessary, but the board can decide on those next steps, whether it's next deliberations or the adoption.

Do you have a date for that, Karen?

Yes. So it's scheduled for the eighteenth, so a week from today.

Okay. Do you have any questions for staff? I know you've been doing the Garrett show. I know you were at Central Kitsap Community Council as well with the Yeah. As well as our work study.

We were.

Did you present this to other advisory councils?

Yes. So we presented at the Central Kitsap Advisory Council. We also presented at Kingston Advisory Council the following week. And we've given a presentation to our tribal coordination meeting as well. And we to KBA as well.

Thank you.

So in this case, what you need us to adopt is an ordinance, but you have a plan for the ordinance. So tonight is not you're not expecting us to approve. You this is purely a public hearing, and then there's time for deliberation over the next few weeks.

That yes. That is correct. So we have to wait until June 22 to actually adopt the ordinance to comply with the commerce's timeline for their sixty day notice of adoption.

Alright, so that's great. So what we'll do is we're going to open the public hearing so that we can hear from the public. We'll close the public hearing and then we'll take that into consideration. So, alright, so with that I'm going to right now open the public hearing. I do have a couple people signed up. First up, Jack Sanfield. And if you can press the button to the right, it'll turn the red light on. There you go and you'll have three minutes.

I'm afraid of red light. I said, good evening commissioners.

Red light means go.

I appreciate the opportunity to add an addendum to the notebook that I supplied to you folks last July, I believe it was. And so that has two eighty three pages in it and it also was referenced in the case I just got kicked out of the door by the Growth Management Act. But it was index number 10. And so there's also mistakes in what was just put out that said there was no comment after a couple of dates there in '25, and I had supplied over a thousand pages. And I had made sure that everyone had received a copy of the letter I sent back east, including Mr.

Denier's office. So there are some mistakes there and I'd love to help you with those, okay? That needs to be taken care of. Anyway, so now you have my addendum to it and I want to give you one good reason why I bought this at this time. It's proven here.

I have the proof right here that Kitsap County accepted the Yulin Tree Farm package permit requirement, whatever they do there. And they did not include the MRO in the package. And so that had to be dealt with during the hearing that we paid for. I like to see Mr. Jones says, before I even do an opening remark to address these zoning issues with you, the hearing examiner says, sure, Mr.

Jones. There are two ways to go under Kitsap County zoning ordinance. One is an MRO and the second is through the cut process. Okay? They didn't have an MRO.

They didn't have any right to go up there and say we're going to dig gravel there because they didn't have an MRO, okay? And the same people who are beaten, who are proving this stuff is up across the road at Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club, beating them up over some 10¢ issue. I don't know, I'm not a member of the Rifle and Revolver Club, but I know this is the same crew of county staff before you both got here, by the way. And we need to address it and if you want to, I will address it. And as far as I'm taking a lot of

time. You're at time. Thank you so much, Mr. Stanfield. We appreciate your comments and thank you. For the record, received a

copy of the Well, there's a lot more Ron with this announcement.

Thank you. All right. Next I have Jamie from the KBA, Kitsap Builders Association. Thank you.

All right.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Jamie Clough, and I am here speaking on behalf of the Kitsap Building Association. First off, we would like to thank county staff for all the work that the extensive amount of work that has gone into updating the comprehensive plan and the land capacity analysis. We appreciate the county recognizing the need for additional housing and employment capacity and taking steps to ensure Kitsap County is adequately planning for the expected future growth. We particularly appreciate the focus on step housing, the needs for those making below 80% of the area median income, and the unique challenges in providing subsidized housing.

At the same time, we want to encourage the county to view these growth targets as the minimum growth to expect, not the maximum growth to allow. Remember that the reason we have a housing affordability crisis is that housing production has not kept up with demand for the last twenty years. Over the long term, housing becomes more affordable when housing production exceeds projected demand, not merely keeping pace with it. If the goal is more affordable housing for owners and renters, then housing production needs to exceed the demand. Lastly, we want to stress that capacity does not equate affordability or viability.

We still need to adjust design, zoning, and financing regulations to enable construction of housing units that people can afford. The KBA stands ready to participate in any discussions on what makes housing projects viable and how we're going to reach our housing goals for 2044. Thank you very much for your time and for the chance to comment.

Thank you so much for your comments. Is there anyone else in the room who'd like to comment? All go ahead.

Is it on? Do I question?

Yes, is on. State your name for the

My name is Pete, Pete Brady from Bainbridge Island. And I just I'm I think I heard the gentleman over here say that Kitsap County either has to or reports to Puget Sound Regional Council on this particular matter. And I'm a little fuzzy as to the relationship there because I don't know how I hold Puget Sound Regional Council accountable. I know that it's composed of a number of people from various municipalities, but none of us elect those people to that thing, and we're having people who we elect report to an unelected body. That's at least the picture I'm getting from this.

Is that correct? I'd just like to know.

We don't typically take questions.

Okay. Well, that's fine. I'm just gonna make it as a comment.

But we can connect you with our Department of Community Development to share a little bit more about the Puget Sound Regional Coordinating Council. But it's all elected that serve on the council.

I know what they're elected. Okay, thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone online?

Robin Salthouse has her hand raised.

All right. Robin, you have three minutes. Thank you.

First of all,

I'd also like to thank the county staff for all the work they've had to do at all stages of putting together the comp plan. As stated in comp plan remand information, future housing will focus on the group group sorry, urban growth areas and for job creation. I fully support that and think that is a a great way to go forward, especially because info road infrastructure and public transport portation systems already exist in these areas. And it makes sense to improve these systems to effectively serve the UGA residents. However, I have been studying water issues affecting our water quality, quantity, storm water, and wastewater treatment.

Water is no longer an endless resource. Aquifers are being built on, causing some of our water our water purveyor to issue, water moratoriums for water permits. Our Central Kitsap Wastewater Treatment plant is under a lot of strain and polluting waterways. So going forward with all these mandates that you have, many of them unfunded, I urge the board of county commissioners to pay attention to the water issues, to work with staff, to find ways to create the correct safe infrastructure areas in the UGA's So as we grow, it's done safely and sustainably. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

She was the only one online.

Right. Alright. With that then, we will close the public hearing. And it looks like what we want to do then is

Do we continue the public hearing until June 22?

You could choose to continue deliberations to May 18 or June 22. You have extra time if you want it on the eighteenth.

Why don't we continue it till May 18 when commissioner Root will be here? Mhmm. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Do you want

Do we need to make that motion, or is it enough to just say that?

Can you please state it in the record? Okay.

I move that we continue the public hearing until May 18.

Second. For deliberation. For the purpose of deliberation. So we're it's been moved and seconded to say that again.

Continue Continue. Public hearing till May 18 for the purpose of deliberation only. Okay.

All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Alright. We'll move that on. Thank you. You'll have to present one more time, Garrett. But that's good that we can continue getting this feedback. Alright.

Item 15 C public hearing to consider an ordinance imposing in one hundred and eighty day extension to the three sixty five day moratorium imposed by ordinance six thirty nine dash twenty twenty five on the acceptance of new applications for battery energy storage systems and declaring a continued emergency.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm here to talk to you tonight about battery energy storage system facilities or what we'll call BEST facilities. My name is Scott Diener. I'm the planning manager for Kitsap County DCD, Department of Community Development. I'm going to tell you a little bit about why we're here, where we are, what we plan on doing and next steps.

And so bear with me, I have a short slide show to go through. So a project called Agate, Agate Bess, vested in October 2024. That venture would propose 170 megawatts of power to Kitsap County through trickle charge lithium ion battery system, a series of battery cabinets that are trickle charged through PSCs, Puget Sound Energy's energy grid. This is a new use to Kitsap County, and we needed a moratorium, nearly a year ago to understand what we don't know and how to best condition these and address key life safety and environmental concerns. The county imposed a moratorium to do just that in June 2025, and that is set to expire June 10.

And that is unless an extension is granted by the Board for an additional one hundred and eighty days. That would end on 12/07/2026, if that were granted. DCD feels that an extension is really important. We have a lot of new information that we're learning, but we're not complete in our analysis of the issues. And certainly need to understand better what permit conditions we would want to impose to manage these BEST facilities because they are coming.

They're certainly in other parts of the state, the country and the world. So we need to consider where we want to allow future best developments as well, and that's a big part of the planning exercise that we're under

right now.

This slide shows our work plan and our identified issues, which we'll talk about a little bit more in a slide after this. However, the attachment to the BEST agenda summary talks about our work plan items and the status of where we are. Some tasks were further ahead than others. To inform DCD on its concerns and solutions and permit conditions, staff has met with other jurisdictions to understand their planning efforts and their concerns, and many have adopted the same approach as Kitsap County, and others are just a little ahead of us. Again, this is relatively new on our landscape.

We have met with PSC. We've met with consultants, including Sandia National Labs, the Electric Power Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, and of particular import is Chris Green, who works for PSC. He's a retired firefighter captain from the city of Seattle who's well recognized as one of the leading experts in emergency response plans and training for those emergency responders. And he's been very helpful in his guidance for Kitsap County. This slide shows some of the efforts we're working with in a little more detail.

The key issues are life safety in the event of a fire and an appropriate response health of the neighbors and the environment, including during both normal operation and emergency response and where should these be cited. Should they be cited by zone? Should there be an overlay or a combination thereof? And what does compatibility buffers and screening look like for the neighbors and for the project itself? And what new emerging guidance will come from the legislature or the state?

It's noteworthy that the Agate BEST applications help to test requirements by being an active application with Kitsap County. And the applicant is very helpful and receptive in guiding DCD towards what we believe to be good conditioning. So we still have several questions that remain unanswered, and this slide shows some of those. But many of them are difficult, such as how many best facilities are needed in Kitsap County. This may depend on whether the end user is a PSC customer or whether it's a commercial customer or an industrial customer of some sort.

What further environmental guidance will the Department of Ecology provide to Kitsap County and to other jurisdictions within the state? What are the financial and tax implications of a best facility sited in Kitsap County? And how do we ensure a complete demobilization and restoration of the site once the tech becomes obsolete and the site is no longer needed? Or will there be new technology that will come onto the site such as alternative battery types, which may keep these sites active in the future? So you can see we're at the far right of the time line at the top of the page, top of the slide.

The remaining time for the ordinance development will include continued meeting with industry experts, looking at new emerging code and creating the best of the best code. So taking a look at other jurisdictions code and pulling from those ordinances what we think is best, following emerging state guidance and conducting public outreach. With all of this, we're asking the board to extend the current best moratorium another hundred and eighty days to 12/07/2026. I've received two comments by email on this. One is from David Peterson, who I believe is here tonight, and another is from Lisa Peterson.

The email from Dave Peterson, and I believe Lisa too, was also provided to the Board today. And David essentially agrees with the one hundred and eighty day moratorium expressing concerns however about environmental and safety impacts and is concerned about the economic advantages and cost effectiveness that is often promoted with these. Lisa's concerns or comments were also supportive of Dave's comments and in particular, I had concerns about the agate project that we're seeing. So in summary, I've talked about how we got here, what we're doing in the meantime, and what we need to have to occur next to have responsible development of best facilities in Kitsap County. I'd also like to just point out that one of our subject matter experts learning more and more about this was Jenny Kryfels, who was here earlier tonight speaking.

She's becoming one of our experts on how to condition permits with the kinds of things that are needed to ensure responsible development. Do you have any questions for me?

Great. Thank you.

Scott, you please are you allowed to share with us the location of the application, the Agate application?

Yes, it's Corner Of Streebles And 104 in that area, I believe.

That right? Think it's Gunderson.

Foskorn? Foskorn. Foskorn. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Somebody said it. Could you say it into the microphone?

Oh, sorry. Foskorn.

With Staudelmeyer?

Yeah. Staudelmeyer and one zero four.

Okay. Because a a question that I specifically have is, are you allowed to be talking about zoning? Like where this where it is allowed under our zoning? Or is it because it's an energy facility, it needs to be allowed in any kind of zoning?

It does not need to be allowed in any kind of zoning. That's one of the things that we'll be talking about is where should these be allowed? Should they be allowed by an overlay? What we would see is sort of spot zones that you know ordinarily you would consider not necessarily the best zoning practice, but these might be spot zones around existing utility substations. So that your proximity from the BES system to the substation is real close.

It's about a million bucks a mile to transmit a line from a BESS facility to a substation, power degrades and then you have more these are wires that are hung too, so you have more wires that you have to be sensitive about. So the ideal location for these is next to a substation. So that's something that we might look at is where are the substations if we can get that information from PSC. They don't necessarily like to share that information for good reason, but we know where these are. Or do we want to look at it from a zoning perspective?

The city of Sumner, for example, allows their allowed their best facility in an industrial zone. That seems like the most appropriate zone. So could it be a hybrid of those two approaches? And the answer to your question is yes, this is the time to discuss about appropriate zoning code alongside.

Because the current zoning where this project is proposed is rural resource land.

Yeah, rural residential. They are vested to that specific location, which is circling back why we needed that moratorium so we wouldn't see that coming again.

Right. One more question. Do you have aquifer recharge as part of your analysis in Yes. The critical Because I'm also wondering, I don't know where the aquifer is in relation to this particular proposal off Staudelmeyer, but it feels like Polsbo might need to be notified that this work is being done.

Okay. I'm supportive of continuing to work through this. I know I'm on the community economic development and workforce advisory council at the National Association of Counties, that's a mouthful. But this is not unique to Kitsap County. This is something that all counties across The United States are balancing right now.

The economic impact and the need for energy, but then the safety and the environmental. And I think Washington is actually ahead of the curve on bringing up environmental concerns. So I'm glad we're continuing to work this as well as bringing it more of a public process and letting the public have the input as well. Those are my comments before we go for public comment. All right. Do have anything else?

Well, yeah. Thank you for asking because this has been vexing me for Yeah. Two years. The other part of this is compatibility with the neighborhood. And I don't know if that if like that I'm not sure if we're allowed to consider that under state law, but it it should be something we're looking at. So is that on your list?

Absolutely. It's on our list. One one of the important things to take to take note of is we're looking at second generation best. So whereas before you would see these warehouses, multi storey warehouses, now we're looking at cabinets that are not quite as tall. I don't even think they're a full single storey in height. And so those can be screened a lot better. So but compatibility is absolutely something that's critical to making these successful in many ways. We know what they do, but we also want to kind of minimize the impact to the environment and the neighbors and people who are driving by these.

And I also want to encourage you to work with Kitsap Transit, they're also exploring buses, they're electrifying the fleet of buses, but also future fleet of ferries. And I know they're exploring that right now and how other transit systems are using Bess. I know they're not thinking of fields of you know warehouses of that but how something might be on a pier or in a transit center so those are the other areas that we also need to look at. Alright we could go on. So I'm going to open the public hearing. And I do have a couple of people signed up on this. So first I have Charlie Eli.

Thank you, Commissioners. Good evening. And it's Charlie Eli, by the way. And I'm a resident of Central Kitsap. I'm here to speak in favor of continuing the battery energy storage system moratorium.

However, I am a little bit concerned that six months may be too short of a period of time for DCD to actually evaluate all of the conditions that might be necessary to safely place one of these units in Kitsap County. Commissioners, you have to realize we have some unique geographic features in Kitsap County that make some of these facilities a little bit nerve racking, including the fact that trying to evacuate an area should there be a catastrophic fire, could be next to impossible, depending on where they're seated. I do know Scott did mention these are second generation systems, but we also have to be aware of the fact that this is extremely immature technology. The first generation system led us to the Moss Landing fires in California, which required the evacuation of over 1,200 people. Air quality was degraded.

The soil was contaminated. We need to be very, very careful moving forward in all these things. And also, we need to consider the fact that this is a sizably active area. It's not an if, but a when the Cascade Fault is going to rupture. What's going to happen with these facilities?

They require continuous cooling and or heating to function properly. If that goes offline, these are not long term power solutions. These are short term to help supplement the grid should there be a power shortage. If there's something catastrophic happens, are we going to be adding to the disaster by having these things situated in Kitsap County? Lithium ion battery fires, the thermal runaway effect is not something to be messed with, particularly in a large facility.

So I would urge you again to think seriously about extending the moratorium beyond one hundred and eighty days. And I'd also encourage DCT staff to look at other states' regulations. I know the state of New York has some extraordinarily strong regulations in regards to battery energy storage facilities. So I do applaud county staff for coming up with these issues and for going, hey, wait a minute, we don't know. And these are the things that we need to resolve before we move ahead with anything at all.

Certainly, these facilities are not going to be conducive to rural residential areas. I don't I can't foresee any rural residential area in Kitsap County that could withstand one of these things. We're extraordinarily loud. And again, the danger factor is not insignificant. So thank you for your time, Commissioners. Appreciate it.

Thank you for your comments. Next up, I have Jack Stanfill.

Good evening again. I support the holding off on these bad replaces for another six years or six months or whatever. And safety is a real main problem as mister gentleman here said. How would emergency vehicles get to where it might be? If it's down around Kitsap Lake, the The Kitsap Quarry and the Eulen Tray Farm have not added a penny to the construction of Highway 3 interchanges because their trucks have never been included in any traffic count.

I've got three traffic counts. Once again, I'd be happy to show you. Other than that, if you're going to talk safety, then do safety. And if you're not, don't talk about it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. And we have David Peterson. I know David, you submitted written comment. Oh, good. See you. Like, are you there? Hiding behind the podium. I know I saw you come in.

Traffic was a little tough.

It was a one. It was a three day trip. I got three different

things. And

Scott has these with Justin. Should we because because just get the word that's the same that was in our Is this what was in our email?

Yeah.

Yeah. My

I'm sorry. Alright. Great. Thank you.

My wife sent, like, Scott

sent it.

Okay. Yep. Because I saw it. Alright. You have three minutes.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is David Peterson, and I concur with the needed one hundred and eighty day moratorium extension. In reviewing DCD's nine page work plan, I am disturbed that DCD would even consider allowing a best project to be developed in a wetland area because of all the risks involved, including the danger of forever chemicals. Being released into the air or water from lithium ion batteries that rely on PFEs. If a battery thermal runaway occurs resulting in a fire explosion

Dave, we want to hear what you're saying. Can you move the microphone closer to you?

Yes. Is this better? Okay. If a battery thermal runaway occurs resulting in a fire explosion, the PFAs will create toxic air and water pollution and will permanently contaminate the environment. From DCD's own Critical Area Handout, I quote, A key goal of the wetland regulation is to achieve no net loss, which means making sure a project does not reduce the overall ecological function of wetlands, either by avoiding impacts or by fully replacing any impacts through appropriate mitigation.

The contamination may not show up in first in test at first. For example, on 05/15/2024, a fire broke out at the Gateway Energy Storage Facility in San Diego. While firefighters quickly responded, the fire flared up multiple times through May 31. California fire officials estimated that crews sprayed 8,000,000 gallons of water onto the site. The San Diego Union Tribune reported the county's hazmat team tested water runoff with no toxic levels were found.

Yet on 06/06/2024, the EPA became involved after being informed of a release of threatened release of hazardous substances, pollutants or contaminants into the environment. It is essential for DCD to adopt a holistic perspective when considering approving a BEST project. They must balance between allowing a BEST facility in a wetland critical area versus the long term effects the community will suffer if a thermal runaway occurs. In an article about toxic metals raining down and wetlands capturing the fallout from the Vistra Best fire, Professor Ivan Alio writes, When best facilities burn, these batteries contain metals that are toxic to humans and wildlife. The batteries' metal fragments, often too tiny to see with the naked eye, didn't disappear.

They continue to remobilize in the environment today. If a best catastrophe happens, it will be impossible to achieve a no net loss due to forever chemicals contaminating the environment. In conclusion, I am in agreement for 180 extension to the BEST moratorium. But based on my research, I feel DCD should not allow BEST facilities to be developed in a critical area as defined in their handout. I referred above since once PFAs contaminate a critical area, it will be impossible to achieve a no net loss and it will be the citizens and wildlife that will suffer.

Also, very quickly, I believe that land that is now the cat's out of the bag is also protected land. So it's rural residential protected land that's being used under the ACIP.

Thank you. Thank your comments. You

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you. Do we have anyone else in the room that would like to speak to the ordinance imposing the one hundred and eighty day extension to the three sixty five day moratorium? Do we have anyone online? Yes. We do.

Irene, you can now speak. You're still muted.

Okay. Do you hear me?

Yes.

Okay. Great. Sorry. My name is Irene Bowie, and I'm a North Kitsap resident. I'm speaking today in support of extending the moratorium on the Agate Best project.

While the applicant state that a fire at the Bess facility is unlikely, I'd like to note that there have been 22 fires at Bess facilities in The United States since 2019. As noted, a battery fire occurred at the Best facility at Moss Landing in California in January 2025. Approximately 1,500 nearby residents were evacuated for twenty four hours due to the threat of toxic fumes released. 55,000 pounds of toxic metal were released from the Moss Landing fire, extending contamination far beyond the best footprint, moving through the wetlands of the surrounding environment long after the fire was extinguished and the negative impacts from this are still being studied. The International Association of Fire and Rescue Services states that community preparedness is essential.

The evacuation of residents at Moss Landing highlights the importance of having clear emergency response plans in place. Communities near such facilities should be educated on potential risks and the appropriate actions to take place during emergencies. With that in mind, I ask this Board to not only extend the moratorium for further study, but also to hold a community meeting in North Kitsap in the coming months to educate and inform residents on all aspects of the Agate Best project before it moves forward. I fully support renewable energy and understand the role that battery storage plays, but the safety of our community and environment must be foremost. Thank you.

Thank you, Irene. No No one else. Alright. So that that's the last comment. So I will close the public hearing. And Scott, will you please address why the moratorium is not for longer?

Yeah. Under Thank you. Under state law, you're allowed to grant the initial one year moratorium and then six year or sorry, one hundred and eighty day extensions thereafter. And after about two extensions, then you start to open up a little bit of a risk factor if you're not making progress. So that's one of the issues that RCW speaks about is you got to have a work plan, public hearing and you got to show progress. So you can't have essentially a rolling moratorium. But to address an earlier comment, we can only get these in one hundred and eighty day bites after the first one year.

Thank you. I know I'd asked that of you at our work study, but I wanted to make sure everyone else heard.

Yeah, and we realize it's a tight timeframe. Absolutely realize that.

Thank you. Alright.

I would like to propose that we pass the ordinance this evening. Would that be okay, Scott? Or does it have to wait?

That would be fine.

The ordinance itself, the existing moratorium expires June 10. And our next meeting, if we don't do it tonight, our next meeting is June 8. And it doesn't feel like we need to prolong the agony. We can just finish this tonight.

I agree. And I think and from what we've heard from the community, people are overwhelmingly supportive of us extending.

Yeah. I will make a motion that we approve the ordinance opposing imposing a one eighty day extension to the three hundred and sixty five day moratorium imposed by ordinance six three nine dash twenty twenty five on the acceptance of new applications for battery energy storage systems and declaring a continued emergency. Second.

I don't think we need any further discussion, so let's vote all in favor of imposing a one hundred and eighty day extension to the current moratorium signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. That passes. Thank you. Scott?

I did want to mention that there will be outreach. I know that that's important to the commissioners and to the public, and so there will be. We're just not quite there yet.

Scott, do you know the math? Does the one hundred eighty day extension, is it the same whether we approve it today or June 10? It's extending it?

From June 10.

Okay. Thank you.

It would be to December 7.

December 7?

Pearl Harbor. Okay. You.

Is the opportunity for the public to address the board on general interests.

Alright. And I do have several people signed up. And I'm not sure if I can let's see.

Oh, boy. Steak? Steve? Steve?

Bremerton to speak about mental health?

Oh, that's Steve Kipples. So he already did.

Okay. Alright. He's already thank you. Yep. Alright. The next we have thank you. The next we have signed up is Pete Brady. Bode, I'm sorry.

Brady.

Brady.

Brady. Like Tom Brady. Good evening. Pete Brady again, Bainbridge Island. With the exception of the Doge effort ongoing at the federal level, I don't really see government at any level anywhere undertaking actions to reduce government.

What I do see is I think that they prefer to entrench those programs that they already have and to find new new ones to burden the taxpayer with. I don't know how this how much this applies to Kitsap County. So I'm going go with a big number approach. Dollars $650,000,000. That's The budget for 2026 for Kitsap County.

And then I'm going to go with another big number. And that is $350,000,000 That's the Washington State ferries budget. I do know some A good deal about that. And I've looked at it a lot, and I've discovered quite a number of holes in its operating and maintenance programs to the point that it looks like Swiss cheese. So as I look at the Kitsap County, I I have to ask myself if there is not a lick of improvement that can be done with the $650,000,000 in your budget or that there are maybe programs that have run their course and that should be done away with.

When it comes to money that is oh, I see I'm running out of time. I'm just getting by saying, I would like to say leave with you with one word. No. I do not wanna see new spending, new taxes without the county proving that what it's currently doing is worth the money we expend on it. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. I'm David Peterson. We have you up again.

Can you

hear me okay now?

Yes.

Okay.

I'd like to reiterate what mentioned about working with the community and keeping the community informed. I think that he's doing a very good job as best as he can for that, but there are many variables. I sent this in yesterday, comments for the record on the moratorium. But I want to talk about I've been talking with the Utilities Commission, Washington State and PSC. In that letter email I sent the commissioners and Scott, utilities commission and I listed the docket numbers.

Basically, it starts off by saying the PSC and this is their words. PSC's capital spending plan for all new generation resources being built to meet customer demand and comply with clean energy target amounts to more than $3,600,000,000 The recovery of those costs will be spread over decades up to 2,033. I don't know about you, but that's only seven years in my book. Utilities Commission docket numbers are listed in front of you now. I highlighted what they will be.

In 2027, the residential increase will be 16.75%, 'twenty eight will be three point seven six percent and 2029 will be 8.1%. That's almost 29% increase in our electric rates. AI overview based on 2026 data, a typical house in Kitsap County uses fifteen oh six kilowatts per month that creates an average cost per house of $269 I question now what happens after 2029. I saw several $100,000,000 requested by PSC and partners from the Utility Commission hearings still leaving a $2,500,000,000 deficit. In summary, any best project facility in Kitsap County is not cost effective and DCD needs to adopt a holistic perspective.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. All right. Next, I have Robert Larson.

How do you do, commissioners? My name is Robert Larson. I got the craziest story on the planet. This gentleman, a citizen by the name of David Johnson, had a piece of property, and he pulled a demolition permit on a manufactured home. Great. When he did that, he thought he was gonna replace the manufactured home maybe a week later, a month later, years later, five years later. He he left the sewer intact to the main. The billing was intact for twenty plus years. He paid the bill. He had no intentions of it being disconnected.

Kitsap County Public Works went down in front of his home and put a new sewer main in. K. That's fine. They neglected, I believe, by accident, but it happened. Kitsap County Public Works neglected to reconnect his property that had an active sewer line being paid on. Okay. So and nine years, you know, years, he paid on it. Okay. So I bought the property. Being a good conscientious developer, I videoed the wire or videoed the line, found out it was broken in the county easement called Kitsap Public Works.

They come out and they looked at it and they go, we'll get back to you. Comes back, the management at Kitsap County Public Works is not being very honest. First response was, it was disconnected when we put the line in. And I said very easily, who said that? Who laid eyes on that line being disconnected when you put the main do?

Second response was, well, it would have been, you would have had to have changed it out anyway. Well, no, it's not because I got my permit in February and that new ordinance went in October. So I beg of the county to do the right thing and get to Kitsap County Public Works and correct their, you know, ingenuous comments they're making. So thank you. I have more to say, but I'm out of time. We'll see you soon. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Alright. Do we have anyone else in the room that would like to make public comment? Online? No one online.

Board comments. We'll move on

to board comments. Do you have anything?

Katie, were you gonna talk about this? I am. Okay. I'm gonna pass it to you.

Alright. Do you have anything else first? Alright. This. What I would like to talk about if you turn to our moments that made us display is part of our celebration of America's semi quintanal and I have been appointed by the board to help coordinate.

I'm coordinating our our community celebration along with the Kitsap History Museum, and we are hosting a portion, just a portion of the moments that made us display. And it's a collaborative effort through several states, including the state of Washington, to share the wonderful story of America. And it also is woven into the display some key moments, not only in American history, but also in Washington State history. So we will have this display up through the end of the year, and as well as the room open an hour before commission meetings if you want to go into a little bit deeper dive into our history. And then we'll include more in July as we celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

And so including with that, we're going to have a display by the Daughters of American Revolution. They've been doing some amazing work at the Seabeck Cemetery. And we'll also have we have a student from Central Kitsap High School, Madeline, that won America's field trip. She was a second place winner. We'll have her artwork display in July as well.

And some other fun things that will be happening where our big celebration is going to be the Bremerton Bridge Blast the weekend before July 4 in Bremerton. And then at this the fair, our county fairs theme will also be in celebration of America's two fifty including a pie an apple pie contest for the best apple pie, of course, made with Washington apples. So there's all kinds of fun things that we'll be celebrating through the course of the summer and of course the rest of the year, but we welcome you all to take a moment before you leave this evening to check out our display. It's pretty exciting. And then the additional moments that made us display will also be at the Kitsap History Museum downtown in Quincy Square.

So there's also I wanted to mention there's also the one of the larger boards has a QR code where you can also share your story. So the story that the stories that made you. We're very excited to put that up. Yeah. That's all I

have. Okay.

All right. With that, I adjourn our meeting. Thank you so much for being here.