Peninsular Thinking

The city of Port Orchard allows residents to have up to three dogs and up to three cats per household. Licensed kennels are excluded from the pet limit.

But what about the family who moves into town with more than the allowed number of dogs or cats? Or the family that inherits a pet from a family member who moves into a nursing home or dies?

For those folks, the city offers a “pet variance.” Up to now, getting a variance has been a simple matter of filling out a form to document “hardship.” The city council recently revising the ordinance to factor in the impact of extra pets on neighbors.

The original proposal, discussed at an April 16 work-study meeting, was to require written permission from neighbors on either side of the residence slated for bonus pets.

The council discussed the issue of barking dogs, the most obvious potential source of annoyance. The city’s nuisance ordinance prohibits, “frequent, repetitive or continuous noise made by any animal which unreasonably disturbs or interferes with peace comfort and repose of property owners or possessors …,” Licensed kennels, shelters, vet clinics, pet shops and service dogs are exempted.

Councilman John Clauson pointed out that the number of dogs is not always the issue, when it comes to noise.

“You got five dogs that are little quiet dogs that live in the house, and you never see ‘em, I don’t care if you have 10 of ‘em,” Clauson said. “But you could have one sitting in your backyard that howls all night long, and I’m going to be unhappy.”

City Clerk Brandy Rinearson said the city’s contract with the Kitsap Humane Society covers barking dogs and yowling cats. Animal control officers from KHS are contracted to enforce this part of the city’s nuisance ordinance.

Public Works Director Mark Dorsey said health and sanitation also were concerns in allowing people to have more than three of any type of pet.

According to Rinearson, three was a somewhat arbitrary number set by the council that established the pet variance ordinance in 1999. Some cities have different limits (up to five dogs in one town she knows of); others have no ordinance limiting the number of pets allowed.

The council, after some discussion, decided it would be adequate to simply notify neighbors on either side if someone applies for a pet variance. The notification would come before the variance is approved. Members of the public can comment on any city council agenda item at the start of each meeting.

“My heartburn was we were constantly granting these with no process, and so the neighbors didn’t know,” said Councilman Rob Putaansuu. “So for me it’s about notifying the neighbors. I think you notice the issue so they know this is coming before us, and if they’ve got heartburn with it, here’s an opportunity to come and testify.”

The council agreed to place the amended ordinance on an upcoming agenda for formal approval.

Another “process” gap in the city’s code is how to handle the occasional request from a business for after-hours music and other goings-on. Such a request came before the council in early April, when Amy Igloi of Amy’s on the Bay sought permission to play music on her deck after 11 p.m. (the city’s noise curfew).

The city’s nuisance ordinance prohibits a host of public disturbances between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., including the sound of machinery and power tools like lawn mowers, blowers, grinders, drills and power saws. The code bans loud vehicles and music from both inside and outside buildings, along with “yelling, shouting, hooting, whistling or singing on or near the public streets” during those hours.

What’s missing, said City Attorney Greg Jacoby, is “a fair and reasonable process that’s applied consistently regardless of who makes the request.”

The city now issues special event permits, reviewed by staff and approved by the council. Jacoby said the council might choose to roll the music-after-hours requests in with special events.

Several people at the meeting raised the concern about “what if” authorized events became a magnet for complaints either because of mismanagement by the business owner or in spite of their best efforts and intentions.

Rinearson said then-Cmdr. Geoffrey Marti, now Port Orchard’s police chief, suggests that such events be allowed on a one-time basis only, not as recurring events.

Marti said his officers get many complaints about noise after 11 p.m., coming from both inside and outside Bay Street establishments.

Two city residents who were at the meeting testified to the remarkable ability of noise to carry up the hill from Bay Street.

“I hear the music all the time. It wakes me up,” said Bek Ashby, who is a member of the Port Orchard Bay Street Association, a business owners group.

The council was in a quandary as to how to proceed on the after-curfew music question. Rinearson offered to see how other cities handle the issue and get back to them at a future meeting.

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Raise your hand if you were in Sekiu this past weekend.

On our annual fill-the-freezer excursion to the little fishing town two miles west of Clallam Bay (19 miles East of Neah Bay), it seemed one in every six people had a Kitsap connection.

Sekiu shrinks and swells on the tides of anglers who come and go with the fish runs. In winter it dwindles to a handful of residents who probably know each other way too well (some escape to the warmth and anonymity of Arizona). During salmon season, though, the hillsides are chock-a-block with RVs perched above the bay, barely tucked in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Canada within spitting distance.

The accommodations are nothing fancy, but the view is spectacular. Bottle green water, sparkling with beds of kelp that sway and twirl in the currents. Mist shrouded forests and strange rock formations, like Mussolini Rock, with the tuft of trees growing on its top looks like the Italian dictator’s military cap. There are seals, sea birds and the occasional porpoise or whale passing through. On this visit we saw a sea elephant about two miles from shore bobbing on the surface long enough to get a gulp of air then sliding down into the water.

At dawn, fishermen (and the occasional woman) lug on their muckboots, fill their thermoses and fire up their motors, lighting out on the heaving waters like a swarm of bees. If the bite is on, they’ll limit out before noon and spend the rest of the day swapping fish stories. Word of how deep to fish and where they’re biting spreads like a virus. If there is a #Sekiu on Twitter, it’s overkill.

A glamorous resort town this is not. The docks are splattered with excrement from great clouds of seagulls that flock like brazen thugs around the fish cleaning stations, mewling for a handout of guts. The smell is distinctly horrific, sometimes tinged with a pleasant waft of salt air from the open water.

The anglers don’t seem to care about the smell. For many the trip to Sekiu is an annual ritual, like summer camp for adults. When they’re not fishing, you might find them tending the smoker or vacuum-sealing their catch. The anglers drop plenty of dough on Sekiu. They eat in the handful of restaurants, buy bait, tackle and ice at the stores, and pay for moorage and RV or tent spaces.

Those who live here year ’round to operate the eateries and rustic resorts make much of their annual income during these few frenzied weeks when the fish are running. The recession hit them hard, but the town had been struggling years before the bottom dropped out of the housing market.

On the west side of town, a decaying dock is all that’s left of a once bustling fish cannery from decades past. Here and there are abandoned, boarded up buildings. The properties that remain open are sagging, a little seedy. The fishermen don’t care, but the symptoms don’t bode well for Sekiu.

Challenges facing resort owners are often invisible to visitors. For example, there was the storm of 2006 that took out the parking lot of Van Riper’s Resort. Repairing the damage took a quarter million dollars worth of fill.

There’s another problem, age, not of the properties but the owners. Barbara, who owns The Breakwater restaurant, is in her mid-60s. She has a 5-year-old granddaughter to raise and a grandson to help through college, so she’s not actively looking for a buyer. But the place has been listed since before her husband died four years ago.

In the old days, The Breakwater had no “off season.” If it wasn’t the fishermen, it was the loggers, who lined up outside the door on payday. Now, what logging goes on, the workers live out of town, she said. These days, the place stays busy enough, but nothing like it used to be.

Barbara and her cohorts are beyond ready for something new. Van Ripers is for sale. So is Olsons, the largest resort in town, as well as many smaller properties.

“We’re all tired,” said Barbara, a warm and friendly woman with a white apron around her waist, who makes homemade pies and cakes, and a mean prime rib.

Barbara would work with any prospective buyer for her place, should one step forward. There’s a lot of memories in the old place. “I just want whoever takes it over to succeed,” she said.

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I’ve made a call to the operators of the new theater in Bremerton to triple check the planned opening of the facility at 4 p.m. Friday.

If you’ve driven by the place you might have noticed the Madagascar 3 and Prometheus posters. There is room for more, last I looked and the signature signage was going up Tuesday morning. That’s what you see here.

This is the latest addition to downtown that has those who champion the city keeping their fingers crossed this will work.

For it to work it means some people will have to change habits. For anything new to work that’s a requirement. For me it would mean going to more movies while they’re in the theaters. I actually think this place might make that happen for me. Particularly if a movie has relevance to the subject matter here or on the Kitsap Caucus blog I will be more likely to go. I will also say that my wife and I will often travel a longer distance to watch a movie in a theater we like rather than going to the most convenient locale. If this theater lives up to its promise it could become our new favorite.

Some of you, I know, don’t like how all this went down. It may be the public investment in the parking garage that gets you. It could be Gary Sexton’s management of the project. Now there are questions about how much workers were paid in building the facility and a spate of documents soon to be released could spark other questions.

All of this may leave just enough of a bad taste in your mouth to make you committed to not go to the movie theater, for fear that doing so only encourages more of the same behavior you don’t like.

Or, even if you don’t like it, you might be like my uncle. He was against the funding mechanism for both of the downtown stadiums in Seattle. Now that they’re done, he has told me, he’s going to enjoy them. I went to a Mariners game with him once, so I know he’s telling the truth.

I mentioned in a Kitsap Caucus blog post I might want to have some friends with me when The Campaign is released. It’s Aug. 10. No takers yet.

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Steven Holl, a West High School grad who hit the big time in the world of architecture, will be honored with the highest praise architects give each other. He will also be praised for his design of a surf museum in France.

Holl will receive the American Institute of Architects 2012 Gold Medal, which to me seems like the architect’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize or Oscar. Only in some ways it’s way bigger than that.

Consider that one of the past winners was Thomas Jefferson, posthumously, and you get the idea that no architect is ever out of the running for the prize. So Holl’s selection is even more impressive.

The award honors a lifetime of work and was announced earlier this month. From the AIA press release:

Holl and his firm, Steven Holl Architects have completed projects that tackle the urban-scale planning and development conundrums that define success in the built environment throughout the world. He’s able to work with diverse clients to get his projects executed, all while being a tenured professor at Columbia University.

Though Holl is a West High grad, he is on tap to be the designer of the Teen Wellness Center the city is planning for the site of the former East High School campus next to Albertson’s. Chris Henry wrote a the first story of Holl’s involvement in 2009, when it was first announced he would donate his work to get the center built in his old home town.

Holl will receive his Gold Medal in May at AIA’s national convention in Washington, D.C. The AIA press release follows, as does the release about his win for the work he did on the French surf museum.

(more…)

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In September, I wrote about Isabel Powell, 11, of Port Orchard, whose lower leg was amputated when she was 2 due to a vascular malformation.

Isabel has worn a prosthesis since then, and very little slows her down. She’s taken up karate and loves to swim.

Through the clinic in Bremerton where she has the prosthesis checked, Isabel met Kevin Carroll the famous prosthetist who designed an artificial tail for Winter the dolphin. Winter got tangled in a fishing net and lost her own tail. She now lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and stars as herself in a recently released movie. That’s Winter on the right being nuzzled by a friend.

Carroll used his connections to send Powell and her mother to Florida for an expense-paid visit to Winter and participation in Camp No Limits, for children with prostheses. Isabel, who got back from the trip last Sunday, felt a “connection” with the dolphin, said her mother. “She was really excited.”

Through the camp, Isabel took part in a range of activities including swimming at the beach, yoga and a high ropes course. But her favorite part of the trip was meeting Winter.

Through no particular plan, I, too, happened to be in Clearwater recently, since my sister lives there. We visited the aquarium, and my sister described how it has blossomed from this quiet and slightly run-down roadside attraction to a bustling tourist destination. We saw a large new wing under construction, thanks no doubt to whatever cut the aquarium gets from the movie, plus revenue from increased traffic and gift shop sales of Winter paraphrenalia.

The aquarium remains focused on its first mission, animal rescue, rehabilitation and (if possible) release. We saw sea turtles, otters and other dolphins who had been found injured and nursed back to health.

The newest addition is Hope, a baby dolphin who was found trying to nurse on her dead mother. Staff members are working with Hope to train and socialize her as they have Winter. Like Winter, Hope would not survive in the wild and so will remain at the aquarium. Here’s Hope during a training session.

Winter’s story of misfortune and inspiring adaptation, and the movie that resulted from it, have been a tremendous boon the the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, according to staff, who have quickly learned how to manage the crowds of curious visitors. Although is seemed a bit hectic, especially in the gift shop, I can testify that nobody is complaining about the extra work.

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One of the things Yogi Berra is credited with saying is, “Nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded.”

On Saturday while gassing up at Costco I got the fool notion to stop by Trader Joe’s, which is described as the Krispy Kreme of grocery stores or the Wal-Mart for yuppies by its detractors and fans. I had only been to the store a couple of times when I was living in Camas and I didn’t really catch the vision of what so many people seem to appreciate, or idolize, or detest.

We had a few calls last week telling us we hadn’t done enough stories on Trader Joe’s leading up to its opening. Based on the crowd I saw on Saturday we did plenty. I managed to find a good enough parking spot. I had planned to go to Costco to get the meat I’d be barbecuing Sunday for Father’s Day, but thought maybe Trader Joe’s would have what I wanted and that maybe the crowd would be manageable to negotiate.

This is the part of the story where I reveal that I am a little claustrophobic. It’s situational. I especially get it when I’m carting around my kids. Put me alone in a crowd of people exiting Safeco Field and I’m fine. Put me in a grocery store with a 4-year-old boy and I’m fidgety like Robin Williams during a moment of silence. I managed to make it back to the meat and browsed enough to see that the store has a lot of things I would like.

No way, though, was I going to stand in line behind 18 people just to get out of there. I stood in a line that long to get out of Mexico once and I’m not eager to repeat it. That experience was tainted by the fact that I had to pull my car into the border patrol station so officers could search for illegal drugs, fireworks or people. At least I was traveling alone.

I’ll actually have to try some of the Trader Joe’s stuff before I render judgment. I want to try those frozen pizzas with the spinach and tomatoes. The prices really were decent. It looks like a place I would have loved when I was single. I wasn’t hauling around kids then. I was probably more patient.

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In case any of you missed the Kitsap Sun’s most recent article on attempt to revive the cinema in downtown Port Orchard, the Dragonfly Cinema — formerly the Orchard Theatre — will open its doors Friday, with the recent Paul Giamatti indie flick “Win Win” and one of the evergreen cult movies, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

New owner Gryphon Schafer credits the relatively swift resuscitation of the theater, which closed five months ago, to a cadre of volunteers/fans who call themselves Reel Friends of the Dragonfly Cinema.

What films would you like to see brought to the Dragonfly?

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In today’s Kitsap Sun, we are launching a series on the post-recession workplace. It’s not only about where people are working — and why — it’s about how each of us feels about the work we do day in day out.

We’re looking for plenty of reader involvement, and we have a few themes in mind:

Kitsap’s Dirtiest Jobs (the portable toilet business is just the beginning — one pest company owner told me he doesn’t do lice anymore)

New on the Job (first “real” jobs and new careers)

Life’s Clones (making a living off those of us too busy to cover the basics)

Feeding Kitsap (food services routinely ranks among the top five of Kitsap industries)

Bean Counters (with the recession we have developed a heightened respect for those adept with numbers)

New Beasts (jobs that didn’t exist before the Internet)

Green Jobs (turning out to be underwhelming according to one local jobs expert)

The Military Connection (no way could we ignore this category)

Even if your job doesn’t fit into a category, tell us about what you do to make a living and why it matters. Find us on Facebook and at the Kitsap Sun’s Peninsular Thinking blog, email chenry@kitsapsun.com or call (360) 792-9219. Remember to leave your contact information.

Thanks, Chris Henry, reporter

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Brynn writes:

It seems Poulsbo is becoming Kitsap’s fastest growing brewery town. I receive a call today from Mark Hood, who is the general manager and one of five partners of Sound Brewery, the latest beer-focused establishment to open in Poulsbo.

It comes four months after Valhöll, another small brewery, opened along Front Street just outside of downtown Poulsbo. According to the story fellow reporter Tristan Baurick wrote at the time, a third brewery — Slippery Pig Brewing — is set to open along Finn Hill soon.

Once Slippery Pig opens, Poulsbo’s brewery total will double the number of breweries in all of Kitsap County. Kitsap’s breweries outside of Poulsbo are Hood Canal Brewery in Kingston, Silver City Brewery in Silverdale and Der Blokken Brewery in Bremerton. (Not to be overlooked is Hale’s Ales in Silverdale; they don’t brew on site, but they are a part of the local brewing community).

The brewery is located at 650 Bovella Lane, off Viking Avenue at the south end of town. The grand opening is a family-friendly event, Hood said, adding children are invited to attend and will be served root-beer if they want it.

The brewery has been brewing for two months and has 24 batches of beer for people to try in nine different styles, Hood said. Already the brewery is selling its draft beers in  Kitsap, Tacoma and Seattle. It is also scheduled to participate in Seattle Beer week, and has four “Cuisine a la bier” dinners planned including its first one at Tizley’s Europub in Poulsbo next Thursday, April 21.

“Our motto is ‘Tradition Liberated’ because we brew traditional beers, with expensive traditional ingredients and try to liberate the styles with our own interpretations,” Hood said in an email.

Sound Brewery is located in a 3,400 square foot building that is equipped to produce 140 barrels a month. The brewery’s “Monk’s Indiscretion” brew just won third place in the People’s Choice award category at Seattle’s Csskfest.

Now that its open, tasting room hours will be Monday through Wednesday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday, 2 to 9 p.m.

Here’s a list of beers and descriptions from Hood: (They also have a Belgian Dubbel, a kristalweizen — heffeweizen that is totally clear, like a pilsner — and a dunkelweizen, but they are not kegged yet.)

Koperen Ketel Belgian Style Pale Ale: Soft Biscuity malt and fruity esters are well balanced with the finest Slovenian Styrian Goldings hops, making for a refreshing, easy drinking copper color ale.

Poundage Porter: Smooth creamy tan head covers a beautiful dark ruby brown beer. Aroma of chocolate, coffee and plums with toasted grains. Totally balanced with bitterness from noble hops and roasted grains. 5.5% ABV

Bevrijder Belgian Style Double IPA: Bevrijder means liberator in Flemish. Crafted from British malt, Belgian yeast and American hops, Bevrijder is dry yet malty with a complex aroma of malt, hops and spicy Belgian yeast. 8% ABV

O’Regan’s Revenge: Made with traditional ingredients, O’Regans Revenge has an outstanding traditional Irish style balance and malty character. Not overly sweet and chewy like most typical Northwest reds. Made from the finest floor malted maris otter and hopped with East Kent Goldings, O’ Regan’s drinks easy and very well balanced, but is extremely complex for a $5.9% ABV Red Ale.

Monk’s Indiscretion: “Monk’s” is balanced like the best Belgian Strong Golden Ales, yet has flavor and aroma hops that are as aromatic… and intense as any Imperial IPA. Double dry hopped, and fermented with our aromatic yeast strain, “Monk’s” has an intensely tropical hoppy nose and yet drinks easy and smooth without the intense bitterness that is normally associated with such a hoppy brew. 10% ABV.

Tripel Entendre: The best Belgian Tripels are made from a simple recipe, the finest ingredients, and the utmost attention to process. At Sound, we use the best Belgian Pilsner malt, Slovenian Styrian Goldings hops and a Trappist Yeast strain to craft a fine Belgian Style Tripel that even the Monks would be proud of. 9.8%ABV.

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Those who don’t live in or around Port Orchard may wonder what’s all the hoofla with the city’s proposed waterfront pedestrian-bike pathway.

The city of Port Orchard and the Port of Bremerton have been negotiating on where and if the proposed path will cut through a waterfront park owned by the port. A compromise suggested by City Councilman Jerry Childs and Port Commissioner Roger Zabinsky appears to be a workable compromise on what has been a prickly issue. Port commissioners and city council members will walk the route at 5 p.m. Feb. 15.

Another issue between the city and the port is downtown parking. An earlier impasse appears to be breached with a proposal now on the table to have the city relinquish 32 spaces it controls near the Port Orchard Marina to the port. In exchange, the port would give up control of 31 spaces next to the park the city wants for paid parking. About 10 spaces along the water next to the park would be city controlled for park users. The time limit there would be two hours.

The discussion of the pathway and parking is part of a larger, comprehensive plan for the waterfront area that the port and the city are working on.

To fully appreciate the history of mild to moderate contention between the city and the port on these and other erstwhile points of contention, one needs to look at a map of the waterfront showing each entity’s interest in the various properties. In short, it’s complicated.

The map, below, was created by the port and shows the patchwork of ownership and interests that forms the basis of the relationship between the city and the port.

As you’ll see, the port owns or leases most of the properties. The city and port recently reached an agreement to have the port lease the Water Street dock — another bone of contention, now calmed.

Kitsap Transit is a third entity that owns and leases properties near the foot ferry dock, and just to further complicate matters, Kitsap Regional Library’s Port Orchard operations are housed in a city-owned building, also near the foot ferry.

Here’s the map:
map.po.waterfront

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