Another Delay on PO Downtown Plan

Another Delay on PO Downtown Plan
The Port Orchard City Council on Monday deferred a discussion of its proposed downtown plan to 7 p.m. April 2, citing a packed agenda.
The council was to discuss the “Downtown Overlay District” plan at its regular meeting but council members decided they needed a session devoted exclusively to the plan to do it justice.
The much anticipated discussion of the plan — and its controversial building height provision — drew a crowd that dispersed shortly after the announcement.
“I was very disappointed in how the council is approaching this thing,” said Rudy Swensen, owner of Rings & Things jewelers, who was at the meeting. “It was supposed to be done in September, and here we are six to eight months later and it still isn’t done.”
Swensen said he is eager for the council to set ground rules that will advance economic revitalization of the downtown area, which has languished for two-plus decades, after business was drawn to malls.
Many local residents have expressed concern about the building height provision, which would allow up to 55-foot structures in the commercial core, saying it will block their views and depreciate their property values.