Kitsap commissioners approve amended Arborwood development agreement after months of public negotiation

Kitsap County commissioners on May 12 approved a resolution extending and modifying the 2010 Arborwood development agreement with Pulte Homes of Washington Inc. and Taylor Morrison Northwest LLC, after a public process that included staff negotiations, applicant presentations and eight public commenters.

The agreement updates stormwater requirements to current county standards, requires arborist risk assessments and buffer protections for perimeter areas, establishes new sewer maintenance bonding and reimbursement terms related to Lift Station 82, increases the number of homes eligible for automatic sprinklers before a fire-apparatus road is required, and sets a five-year baseline extension with phased "tripwires" that can unlock further extensions as work proceeds.

The development agreement (DA) governs how the Arborwood project — a multi-phase residential development southwest of Kingston — will proceed. Department of Community Development director Ray Fleisham told the commission the board directed staff in February to negotiate changes that would bring stormwater facilities up to current standards, tighten phasing and clearing/grading language, address fire-safety options, and clarify time-frame extensions and monitoring. After several months of negotiation between county staff and the applicants, county staff recommended the amended and restated DA.

"Approve the proposed resolution allowing an extension to a modification of the 2010 development agreement," Fleisham summarized as the staff recommendation. Fleisham said the amended DA requires arborist risk assessment reports for any State Development Activity Permits (SDAP) that involve tree removal within the 50-foot perimeter buffer and describes specific areas where the applicants will conduct mitigation and enhancement work outside those buffers.

On sewer issues, the DA releases existing sewer maintenance bonds and requires Pulte to post a replacement bond for phases 1–3; that bond becomes eligible for inspection after three years or 210 connected residences. Pulte also agreed to reimburse up to $5,000 per year for general service and maintenance costs associated with Lift Station 82. The DA also requires the remainder of the project to meet current stormwater standards.

Fleisham described how the DA treats the county's Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO): the project remains vested to the 2007 CAO for identified wetland and buffer provisions that would otherwise require major plat amendments; in exchange the applicants agreed to targeted mitigation and enhancement in five mapped areas adjacent to roads, abandoned logging roads and stormwater facilities.

The agreement increases the number of houses that may be built with internal fire sprinklers before an improved fire-apparatus road must be installed: the DA allows up to 163 homes to be sprinkled under that condition and requires the owner to provide buyers written materials describing sprinklers and an option to purchase them.

The approved term is a five-year baseline extension with a phase-by-phase mechanism: for each phase, two years of extension are unlocked when 75% of dwellings in that phase are completed or have issued building permits; the structure can allow up to a 10-year total extension across remaining phases, with additional short extensions if the county misses review deadlines or when permits are under appeal (excluding appeals initiated by the owner). The DA also removes an administrative appeal process for implementing approvals, leaving judicial review as the avenue for appeals.

Applicants' counsel Andrew Lewis and Taylor Morrison president Pete Lemberis told the commission the amended DA delivers public benefits including upgraded stormwater systems for remaining phases, substantial critical-area remediation in targeted sites, expanded provision of automatic sprinklers and conveyance of a 104-acre greenway to the county as part of Heritage Park enhancements. Lewis said the agreement "confers a greater public benefit and takes into consideration a lot of the changes that the county has experienced" since the original DA.

Public commenters raised concerns about transportation impacts on South Kingston Road and the single narrow bridge that funnels traffic to ferries and services, the adequacy and execution of the 50-foot buffer and potential vegetation removal, whether mitigation areas were sufficiently detailed in the DA, and the hybrid application of older and newer CAO standards. Department staff and counsel responded in part by pointing to the DA's maps and to the limited list of CAO provisions that remain vested to 2007, explaining where upgraded measures will apply and where selected vesting remains to avoid major plat amendments.

Commissioners praised staff for the public, in-session negotiation and said the transparency helped improve the outcome. The board passed the resolution to approve the amended and restated DA; the motion carried and the commission directed that the executed agreement be returned for signature and implementation steps.

The board postponed neither further environmental review nor implementation tasks required under the DA; instead, the agreement creates new procedural timelines and reporting steps for both the county and the developer to follow as phases proceed.