Written testimony on the draft Manchester Community Plan will be taken until 4:30 p.m. Dec. 13 via e-mail to Katrina Knutson, kknutson@co.kitsap.wa.us. The Board of Commissioners will deliberate on the proposed plan at its meeting Dec. 17.
By Chris Henry
chenry@kitsapsun.com
PORT ORCHARD
Kitsap County Board of Commissioners on Monday heard more than an
hour of public testimony on a proposed revision of the Manchester
Community Plan.
Building heights and noncomforming lots were hot topics, as they
have been throughout the vetting process for the plan, which began
in January. Many who testified recalled past history, when in 2002
community members drafted a plan that “encouraged” a maximum
building height of 28 feet and no more than two stories within
Manchester’s commercial core.
Language in the 2002 plan proved sufficiently vague, however, to
allow four projects at 35 feet and three stories to enter the
permit approval process. Of those projects, one has been approved
and is under construction, one is under appeal and two are in the
preliminary stages of application.
The update of the Manchester Plan and its related design standards,
also under review by the board, more clearly specify the 28-foot,
two-story limits. Approval of the plan would set those limits into
Kitsap County’s code and impose them on the more than 30 other
buildable lots in the Manchester Village Commercial Zone.
These lots — and what they might look like in the future — were the
subject of much impassioned testimony at Monday’s meeting.
Stu Lombard was one of several Manchester residents who supported
revised plan. Lombard said he worries about what the town would
look like if all eligible lots were developed on the scale of The
Anchors at Manchester, the three-story project now taking shape
near the Manchester waterfront.
“It looks like a giant index finger in the face of Manchester,”
Lombard said.
Lyle Burbidge also spoke in favor of the new plan’s language,
saying that it would promote “reasonable and responsible
development.”
But William Palmer, a land use consultant who represents several
developers with property in Manchester, said the proposed plan is
prohibitive. Palmer has submitted a lengthy critique of the
proposed design standards, which limit height and density, and call
for numerous amenities to be provided by developers.
“You probably won’t have to worry about other development happening
on other lots, because provisions of the design guidelines
absolutely preclude it,” said Palmer.
Katrina Knutson, associate planner with the Department of Community
Development, spoke on the issue of non-conforming lots, which are
properties purchased legally in the past but which, because of
their size, do not meet current standards for development and so
are subject to different rules.
Some citizens have complained that the language in the draft plan
does not treat owners of all such lots equally. Under the proposed
plan, owners of contiguous lots would be required to combine their
lots before developing, while others owning separate lots would be
allowed to develop on less space.
Knutson said the county’s planning commission had recommended
replacing language in the proposed plan with language from the 2002
plan, which was deemed less confusing. County planning staff,
however, recommended language from the county’s 2006 Comprehensive
Plan update instead.
The planning commission also recommended a change in language
regarding how building height is established under the proposed
plan. But because the issue affects property owners throughout the
county, the commission will likely amend its recommendation to
table discussion of the issue to 2008, during the county’s overall
look at updating its development codes.
