New DCD director introduces priorities; planning commission briefed on forthcoming administrative code edits and housing discussion

Raif Weinman, the recently appointed director of the Kitsap County Department of Community Development, introduced himself to the Planning Commission on March 4 and said he intends to present short‑ and long‑term department priorities after aligning them with the board’s mission and vision.

"I started off my first life flying jets for the Navy. I spent 26 and a half years doing so," Weinman said while describing his transition into county leadership. He told commissioners he plans to meet each commissioner individually and will share a mission, vision and goals after the county board finalizes its statements.

Staff then previewed a set of administrative code edits the department plans to bring to the commission. Colin Poff, long‑range planning supervisor, said the edits are intended as clarifications and housekeeping — for example, correcting outdated references, codifying prior director interpretations, and restoring use table entries that were inadvertently omitted during past updates. Poff said the edits are not meant to be substantive policy changes; items that prove more complex during review will be removed from the administrative list and handled through separate projects.

Poff also said staff plan an educational briefing on housing requirements, growth targets and their relationship to the Growth Management Act and PSRC policies at a future meeting to help newer commissioners understand recent comprehensive‑plan work and pending appeals related to housing targets.

Commissioners asked for plain‑language explanations when acronyms such as BLA (boundary line adjustment) are used and requested that staff provide examples to clarify whether proposed edits are purely technical or have policy implications.

The meeting concluded with standard procedural votes to adopt the agenda and minutes (see "Votes at a glance" below).