Kitsap joins four cities to offer preapproved ADU plans; building review expedited, site review still required

Kitsap County staff described a regional project to license and offer preapproved accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plan sets on March 18, saying the program is intended to make ADUs more accessible by reducing architectural cost and shortening building-plan review for standard designs.

“Five jurisdictions have teamed up to work on this project,” Heather Cleveland, long range planner, said, naming Kitsap County along with the cities of Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Port Orchard and Poulsbo and noting that Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council (KRCC) facilitated the selection of an architect (Artisans Group) that already had four ADU plan sets available for licensing.

Cleveland said the approach is to license four existing plan sets and commission two additional designs, producing six total options. The four preexisting plans are in pre-review with Kitsap County building staff; two additional plan sets—a medium-large carriage-house ADU (24x24 living space above garage) and a roughly 1,000-square-foot ADU buildable in urban growth areas—are in development. The county will permit modifications: nonstructural customization (roof type, siding, colors) can be selected from options without further review; more substantive design changes would no longer be preapproved but could be accelerated relative to a fully custom set.

How the program works: a user will request a plan set for a specific site from the jurisdiction; preapproved plans are only available for use in Kitsap County and must be paired with site-specific documentation (critical-area review, utility availability, setbacks). Building-plan review for architectural, structural and energy-code elements is expedited because those items are pre-reviewed; zoning, critical-area analysis, utility and other site-specific reviews will still be required and proceed through normal permitting channels. Cleveland said there will be no fee for the licensed plan sets themselves, though the usual permit fees and site-review requirements apply.

Public comment on ADUs included technical and siting concerns. Mr. Palmer, a public commenter, asked whether the preapproved designs account for sloped lots and asked that a previous director’s interpretation about density and urban cluster density be carried forward into code edits. A representative identifying as Powers, an environmental planner for the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, said the tribe supports using the preapproved ADU plans in urban growth areas but opposes their use in rural areas.

Staff said the program aims to promote ADUs in urban growth areas and that rollout will include outreach: Kitsap County will present to the Kitsap Building Association and post landing pages on jurisdiction websites; Port Orchard and Poulsbo already have sample landing pages in development. Cleveland and staff said they will coordinate promotional efforts, finalize how jurisdictions will distribute the plan sets, and continue interjurisdictional coordination; final plan-set release and promotion are scheduled for spring to fall 2025.