The City Council voted unanimously to adopt the City of Bremerton's 2024 comprehensive plan update (Ordinance 5,511), completing a multi-year update that adjusts future land-use mapping, raises allowed heights in targeted centers, and adds policies on displacement, climate, tree canopy, and neighborhood-level outreach.

Garrett Jackson, planning manager, told the council the plan aligns local policy with the state Growth Management Act and Puget Sound Regional Council centers criteria. "The planning commission unanimously recommends adoption of the proposed comprehensive plan," Jackson said during his presentation. The update focuses growth into regionally significant centers and corridors: the downtown regional center and the Puget Sound Industrial Center. Where mapped, the plan increases allowed heights and reduces some density constraints to create more capacity for housing and jobs.

Key changes adopted include increased height limits in targeted residential and commercial zones (for example, medium-density zones from 35 to 45 feet and high-density/general-commercial zones up to 65 feet to allow economical wood-frame-over-podium construction), aggregation of some downtown zones into a mixed-use downtown designation with higher allowable heights consistent with regional center objectives, and updates to the Bay Vista and East Park sub area plans to reflect subdivided lots and ready-for-development parcels.

Councilors and staff highlighted outreach measures: the planning team reported more than 100 public events, district digest mailings and postcards to every resident and business, and a dedicated website (bremerton2044.com) with study-session recordings and project documents. The planning commission had recommended adoption after extensive hearings and edits to incorporate council direction on wording and protective policies, such as stronger language for the Wright Creek wetland system and manufactured-home-park protections.

Public commenters at the hearing praised the update's focus on housing and transit but some advocates and residents again raised shoreline and development-process concerns. Planning staff reminded the public that shoreline regulation remains governed by the city's Shoreline Master Program and by state law; staff also noted that critical-area and shoreline buffers limit some new density increases in mapped sensitive areas.

The motion to adopt Ordinance 5,511 passed unanimously. Staff will now begin implementation steps that include zoning-code amendments, design standards, and subsequent rulemaking required to implement the plan's policies.