Port Orchard planning commission recommends rezoning 13 parcels from industrial to residential

The Port Orchard Planning Commission on June 3 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an ordinance approving the 2025 comprehensive plan amendments, including a map change to redesignate 13 parcels southwest of Southwest Old Clifton Road and Lloyd Parkway from industrial to medium residential and a legislative rezone from light industrial to Residential-3.

The recommendation follows a public hearing during which the commission reopened the record for final oral testimony. Jim Fisk, principal planner, told the commission the package also includes city-initiated text amendments to the capital facilities element and the transportation improvement program and that the City Council is tentatively scheduled to consider the commission’s recommendation on June 10 following a required 60-day Department of Commerce review.

Applicant Mike Diaz told the commission he and his consultants had met with neighbors and “decided not to go through Durfee Lane. We have another access point on Old Clifton,” and said he is “not interested in apartments there. I’m interested in residential,” adding he would accept a change from R-3 to R-2 if that would ease neighbors’ concerns. William Palmer, who said he is working with the applicant, described topographic challenges and said industrial use had been considered for the site for at least 18 years without a viable project materializing. Palmer said the site’s slopes, creek buffers and access constraints make single-family residential the most suitable use.

Nearby resident John Medlock, of 1740 Southwest Durfee, urged the commission not to rezone the property and said neighbors remain concerned about access, utilities and long-term impacts. Medlock told the commission the “burden of feasibility is on the purchaser” and expressed a preference to keep the land industrial if that would prevent any development.

Commissioners repeatedly noted the distinction between a comprehensive plan/map amendment and later development review. Fisk and others reminded the commission that development impacts — traffic, infrastructure, critical-area protections — are addressed through subsequent permit processes under the Port Orchard Municipal Code, and that a preliminary plat application would trigger further public hearings and technical review. Commissioners asked questions about access alternatives and whether the site’s physical constraints made industrial uses impractical.

Planning Commissioner Joe Morrison moved to recommend adoption of the full package as presented; the motion was seconded and carried with one abstention. The recommendation will go to the City Council, and the record will remain subject to the Department of Commerce review period prior to final council action.

The commission’s discussion and the applicant’s testimony emphasized access as the central community concern; the applicant and his representative explained an alternative access via Old Clifton Road and clarified they are pursuing single-family subdivision rather than multi-family apartments. The commission did not make any final determinations about future plat or engineering approvals — those remain to be addressed in future permit applications and public hearings.