Bremerton holds public hearing on 2024 comprehensive plan update and implementing development regulations

Bremerton Planning Manager Garrett Jackson told the City Council at a public hearing that the city is starting the formal process to adopt its updated comprehensive plan and associated development regulations, with additional hearings and study sessions scheduled in May and an anticipated adoption hearing on June 4. The hearing was for public comment only; the council took no action.

Jackson said the comprehensive plan update began in 2022 and incorporated more than 100 outreach events, a planning commission recommendation given April 21 and materials posted at Bremerton2044.com. He told the council the plan must conform with the Washington State Growth Management Act, the Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2050 and Kitsap County's countywide planning policies, and that the city must demonstrate capacity for projected growth through 2044: "we're slated to grow to just under 64,000 people and just over 58,000 jobs by 2044."

The proposed changes Jackson summarized would alter heights, densities and use rules in several subarea plans and zones. Key changes include an 80-foot maximum height with no maximum density for a larger downtown regional center zone; a Puget Sound Industrial Center that retains job-only industrial restrictions; new mixed-use allowances in Bay Vista with a proposed 15-to-65 dwelling units-per-acre range on the remaining vacant lots; and mapping updates to reflect recent plats and projects in East Park and Madrona Forest areas.

Zoning code amendments described by Jackson include a unit-lot subdivision process for small infill projects (nine or fewer lots), a state-mandated "middle housing" implementation allowing up to four dwelling units on qualifying lots if one unit is kept affordable for 50 years with a title notice, and removal of minimum and maximum lot sizes in low-density residential zones to accommodate a broader range of housing types. Jackson said density minimums of 15 dwelling units per acre are proposed in several commercial and mixed-use zones to support transit-oriented development and a district center core minimum of 30 dwelling units per acre.

Other regulatory proposals include updated open-space and design standards for multifamily development, a suggested maximum height of 45 feet in medium-density residential zones, a 65-foot maximum in high-density zones to enable podium construction methods, and repeal of downtown minimum parking requirements in favor of market-driven parking. Jackson also described forthcoming work: a second phase of implementing regulations that would consider transitional and permanent supportive housing, indoor emergency shelter rules per RCW 35.21.683, updated landscaping to improve urban tree canopy, a revised critical areas ordinance with increased tribal notification and cultural-resource protections, and a shoreline master program update.

Jackson emphasized that this meeting was to gather public comment only and that the council and staff will use those comments in upcoming study sessions and in preparation for the June adoption hearing. The planning commission will continue to consider related code items in May and later in 2025.