Staff recommends shoreline variance for Beckley property in Burke Bay; Port of Brownsville raises feeder‑bluff, erosion concerns

Kitsap County planners presented and recommended approval of a shoreline variance and a concurrent conditional waiver of view‑blockage requirements for a new two‑story, 1,200‑square‑foot single‑family residence at 9828 Ogle Road NE (parcel 13250140142007) in the Burke Bay area of Puget Sound. Jennifer Kreifels, planner with Kitsap County Department of Community Development, told the hearing examiner the site is a triangular 0.3‑acre lot set atop a high bluff; the proposed house would sit about 15 feet from the bluff edge and roughly 50 feet from the ordinary high water mark. Because the project lies within the shoreline buffer, staff required a mitigation plan and said the applicant has submitted geotechnical reports and a habitat mitigation plan.

Staff said utilities (North Perry Avenue Water District and Kitsap County Sewer) are available and that existing buried service lines from a prior house remain and will need to be brought up to current code. The applicant submitted a view study and other materials; staff concluded the proposed structure’s view impacts to immediate neighbors are limited and that mitigation measures and the geotechnical recommendations address stability and other shoreline concerns. Staff recommended approval of the shoreline variance (application referenced in the hearing as 2343403) and conditional waiver (2401108), and noted the decision criteria in Kitsap County shoreline and land‑use code sections were met in staff’s analysis.

Several members of the public and stakeholders spoke. Ken McEwan, a Port of Brownsville commissioner, and Robin Dalley, the port manager, opposed the proposed construction and raised concerns about existing sloughing along the shared feeder bluff and potential impacts from stormwater and sediment on the port’s marina operations and nearshore habitat. The Port of Brownsville submitted a written comment that the hearing examiner entered as Exhibit 46 during the hearing; the port’s letter asked the county to consider impacts to feeder‑bluff dynamics, surf‑smelt and eelgrass habitat, and operations at nearby boat ramps.

Applicant representatives, including civil engineer Blake Lord (KPFF) and environmental consultant Alex Callender, told the examiner the project included engineered stormwater controls that route runoff in a pipe, with energy dissipation above the ordinary high water mark, and that geotechnical reports and an addendum support safe placement of the house and required mitigation. An environmental witness with wetland/shoreline experience testified that proposed native plantings to replace invasive species would improve nearshore ecological functions and that cumulative impacts in the reach are limited.

The hearing examiner accepted the Port of Brownsville letter into the record as Exhibit 46 and closed the testimony portion of the hearing; staff recommended approval but no final decision was made at the hearing. The examiner said the county has 10 business days to render a written decision; exhibits 13 and 14 in the record are the geotechnical report and addendum referenced during the hearing.