I got a call this afternoon from South Kitsap real estate broker Fred Depee, who said market conditions in the auto industry have forced his partners Mist Ventures LLC of Nevada to rethink their plans for an auto mall on a nearly six-acre site on Sidney Road.

Instead of three dealerships on the highly visible site zoned “highway tourist commercial,” Mist has plans for one. The partners have put three acres of the site up for sale.

Back in December, 2008, when the property was annexed into the city of Port Orchard, the partners expected to be able to open the auto mall as early as spring, 2009.

Depee remains undaunted. The partners have ducks in a row, he said, and they’re ready to move forward with the dealership when the economy — and the auto industry in particular — pick up. Depee says the dealership is a sure bet “within five years.”

Depee has had some nibbles on the three acres for sale, including from a landscape company that would use the highway visibility to showcase their work in waterfalls.

In other news from Fred, the Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority is still looking for families for their self-help housing program. Earlier this year in a Harris Street development, 18 families completed construction on homes they helped build for themselves. The housing authority recruited 34 more families for homes now under construction, Depee said. A dozen more will start construction after the first of the year.

The self-help housing program is funded through a U.S. Department of Agriculture program. Families who earn up to 80 percent of the Kitsap County median income are eligible to participate. No down payment is required, but would-be homeowners must provide sweat equity on their own home and those of others in the tract.

Depee, who got his first home through a similar program takes any opportunity he can to give self-help housing a plug.

To find out more about the housing authority’s affordable housing programs, call (360) 535-6139.