Port Orchard council declines in-meeting comment on a pending Hull Avenue rezoning; directs hearing before hearing examiner

Port Orchard — Residents from the Hull Avenue neighborhood pressed the city on infrastructure and safety concerns tied to a proposed rezoning at 1083 Hull Avenue, but city staff and the council said the application must be handled through a formal hearing process before the city’s hearing examiner.

Lindsay Paradiso spoke during the council’s first citizen comment period and identified herself as a Hull Avenue resident, saying she opposes rezoning 1083 Hull Avenue from R-2 to R-3 because she believes it would allow a more than 100-unit apartment building in an area of low-density single-family homes and would compound existing impacts from a nearby 200-unit Forest Song development. “The people of our neighborhood don’t want this rezoning to happen,” Paradiso told the council.

City legal staff intervened to explain that the matter is a quasi-judicial application for which the council will later serve in a quasi-judicial posture and that state law and city code limit off‑record communications. The city explained the rezone application is an owner-initiated request, a notice of application was posted in May, and a sign is on the property, but the hearing date before the hearing examiner has not yet been set. Staff advised residents to bring public comment to the hearing examiner process where written and verbal testimony will be taken.

Why it matters: City staff said a single public hearing — at the hearing-examiner level, per city code — is the formal venue where evidence for quasi-judicial matters must be presented so the council’s eventual decision is based on the hearing record. Staff cautioned that council members must disclose ex parte contacts and that unrecorded conversations about the application could disqualify a councilor if the matter is appealed.

Council directions and follow-up: Staff said they will provide the hearing date and make sure residents receive notice; the clerk will collect contact information so residents receive updates. Council also asked staff to prepare a short explanatory script residents can use that explains how communications to council members may trigger disclosures and possible recusals when councilors later sit to decide the matter.

Public concerns recorded in the record: Speakers described traffic and safety hazards on Hull Avenue — blind curves, missing sidewalks, speed, stormwater/runoff and flooding concerns — and raised questions about parking for new apartment units. Athena Walstrom and Matthew Paradiso reiterated pedestrian-safety concerns later in the meeting and urged continuous sidewalks and other infrastructure improvements along Hull Avenue between Melcher and Hill.

Ending: No policy decision was made at the July 8 meeting on the rezoning. The city urged residents to submit testimony to the hearing examiner when the hearing is scheduled and said staff will notify residents and the council once the hearing date is set.