Kitsap hearing examiner reviews Colby Court 50‑lot subdivision, staff recommends approval with conditions

Hearing Examiner Phil Albrecht on May 22 presided over a preliminary-plat hearing for Colby Court, a proposed 50‑lot single‑family subdivision on about 9.77 acres at 5230 Bethel Road SE in Port Orchard, and received staff, applicant and public-agency testimony before leaving the record open for a short follow-up and promising a written decision within 10 business days.

Staff planner Jenny Kreifels presented the Department of Community Development staff report and recommended approval of the preliminary plat (file 2300730) and the associated critical-area variance (file 2301780) subject to the conditions listed in the staff report. Kreifels said the application, submitted by Agile SBPO 1 LLC, would subdivide two parcels into 50 lots and that the applicant requested the variance to allow construction of a private access road with wetland‑buffer reductions under Kitsap County code provisions.

The recommendation is grounded in the county's technical record, which staff described as consisting of 52 exhibits including a habitat survey, traffic analysis, geotechnical report, stormwater plan, wetland delineation and mitigation plan, and agency comments. Kreifels said the site contains Wetland A (about 0.97 acres, on‑site) and Wetland D (about 310 square feet, off‑site), both classified Category 3 in the submitted wetland…