Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. We will go ahead and call this meeting to order. I'll use Recording in progress. Now that we're recording, we'll go ahead and call this meeting of the July 1 Planning Commission meeting to order. We'll go ahead and start with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you please join me. Alrighty. Thank you, everybody. We will go on to the welcome and introduction. I am Tyler McCloskey, the chair of the Planning Commission, and we'll start it all the way on my right.

Joe? Joe Morrison, planning commissioner. Tiffany Mitchell, planning commissioner.

Stephanie Bailey, planning commissioner. Paul Fontenot, planning commissioner.

Jim Fisk, principal planner.

Fitzsche Bethea, planning intern.

Connor Delquist, associate planner.

And we'll go online to Nick.

Nick Bond, community development director.

Alright. And I think that's everybody. Moving on to item number three, audience comments. We don't have anybody in the room with us. If we have anybody online who would like to say something not listed on tonight's agenda, please raise your hand.

There are no audience members online.

Alright. We'll go ahead and move on to the approval of the minutes from May 6 and June 3. Has everybody had a chance to read minutes? Are there any corrections to the minutes? Hearing no corrections, I will entertain a motion.

Minutes. Second. Aye. Favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Have the minutes for May 6 and June 3 approved. I know. I'm not doing it. Moving on to business item five a, a discussion about critical areas ordinance, Port Orchard Municipal Code 20 dot one six two. Jim?

Tonight, we'd like to provide an update on the city's efforts to revise our critical areas ordinance, Port Orchard Municipal Code chapter 20.162. This is part of the 2024 comprehensive plan implementation. These updates are intended to ensure compliance with the Growth Management Act and reflect best available science in our approach to protecting critical areas. You may recall that we began discussing the draft ordinance earlier this year with the presentations at the December, January, and February meetings. At the February meeting, staff shared a comment matrix summarizing the public and agency feedback received to date.

That matrix has been refreshed with some additional staff input, but the substance is largely the same. It's included in your packet this evening with comments color coded for clarity. Since the last time you saw the draft, the most significant changes appear in the sections establishing a process for critical areas review and approval. Currently, the city lacks a way to verify critical areas outside of an active development activity application. This has created challenges for property owners and consultants trying to assess feasibility.

The new language proposes a formal verification process, not a service where the city prepares reports, but rather a mechanism for the city to confirm the presence or absence of critical areas ahead of development. Other updates in the draft ordinance include a reorganization of code sections for improved clarity and usability, updated wetland buffer standards consistent with the Department of Ecology guidance, a modernized wetland mitigation hierarchy that encourages programmatic tools like mitigation banking, replacing stream buffer with riparian management zone, aligning with the Fish and Wildlife terminology and standards, and updated RMZ provisions, the riparian management zone that meet or exceed fish and wildlife minimums, improving protection for riparian habitats. These changes are consistent with the GMA and help implement goals and policies of the comprehensive plan related to environmental protection and public safety. As a reminder, critical areas defined under state law include wetlands, aquifer recharge areas, fish and wildlife habitat areas, frequently flooded areas, and geologically hazardous areas. Looking ahead ahead, staff intends to present a final draft ordinance at your August meeting.

At that time, we'll be seeking your recommendation to schedule a formal formal public hearing likely for the October. At this point, we anticipate canceling the September meeting unless other business arises, and we need to identify an alternative September date. We're asking the commissioners provide any additional feedback, and some of you already have, on the draft by mid July. This will give us enough time to incorporate changes into the final version you'll see in August. Thank you and I'm happy to answer any questions and take any feedback on the current draft.

Jim, any questions or feedback on the right?

Can you describe the current approach to identifying critical areas and how the new process will be utilized?

Currently, and for the most part it'll remain the same as how we identify them. As staff we have some critical area mapping that's published by the county that takes data from all sorts of sources, fish and wildlife, ecology, etcetera. And we look at this map and we determine if there's the potential for these critical areas. If somebody has a development activity application and one of these areas is within 300 feet of the proposal, then we request the reports whether that be a wetland report, a geotechnical report, whatever the case may be with that corresponding identifier. The applicant then prepares that report and then we have our third party consultant to verify that.

They do field visits etcetera. But we can only do that right now when we have a development activity application. So these changes really are intended to kind of front load things so that we can do that review ahead of time to give some people some sort of certainty when they do when they're ready to submit a development activity application that they've already gone through that analysis and the city concurs with whatever their consultant is proposing.

Thank you. Just for my information, out of 10 permits, how many of those typically involve a critical area?

That'd be hard to quantify that way. I'd say that and it depends on the type of permit too. Subdivision, Right? It's gonna cover a much broader area. But I'd say probably 30% maybe.

Yeah. That's what I'm after is like how much of Kitsap Countythe business is impacted by this.

Yeah, okay. Thank you. Questions or feedback on my left? No? Alright. So feedback to you by mid July. We'll see this in August?

Yes, sir.

Alright. And let me pull back up my agenda. I apologize. A different tab. Alright. So the oh, that's the wrong one. I guess the director's report is the next thing.

Are you ready for the director's report? I think that's what I heard.

Yes, we are.

All right. Real quickly, I just wanted to follow-up and let the Planning Commission know that the City Council did adopt the middle housing ordinances. So those were adopted at the I believe it was June 17 city council meeting. And so those take effect those took effect, I guess, today, the July 1. And, of course, the comprehensive plan amendments, you also made a recommendation on the city council acted on those on the June 10.

So everything the planning commission has sent to the city council at this point for the year has now been adopted. There was one minor change in the middle housing ordinance. We were made aware of a code issue rather late. And so there was a change in the McCormick Village Overlay District regarding the minimum first floor story height, so how high the buildings have to be from floor to ceiling. And so that standard was reduced from the 12 foot standard that was written into the code, and it was made 10 feet but just in the McCormick Village Overlay District.

And that is to allow for wood frame construction buildings using prescriptive methods in the IBC. The 12 foot ceiling heights would have required steel and concrete frame buildings, which downtown, that's we want multistory buildings, and so that's not an issue. But in McCormick, with the low rise stuff that they're trying to do there, it was going to make them have to redesign buildings and both to add height to the ceiling but also changing construction methods and adding costs. So council made a last minute change to that ordinance. The comp plan was adopted as recommended by the Planning Commission. And that's all for tonight.

Perfect. Thank you, Nick. Does anybody else have anything for the good of the order tonight? Nine minutes, ten minutes. It's a record compared to our last couple meetings, which ran long and not painless. Alright. If there's no other business, we'll go ahead and adjourn the meeting tonight, and we'll see everybody on August 5.

Oh, I won't be here.

Well, I won't see everybody on August 5.

I'm out of the country. Go on. You can't I wouldn't even be able to zoom

in. England.

That'll be fine. Yeah. That'll be great.

Well, you will be missed.

Aw. Thanks.

Alright. Good night, everybody.

Recording stopped.