Port Orchard staff preview $321,095 amendment for community event center; federal permit requires interpretive signage and tribal consultation

City staff told the Port Orchard Finance Committee on May 2025 that a forthcoming contract amendment would increase the community event center contract by $321,095 and move the design work through construction documents.

The committee was told the amendment — listed as Amendment No. 15 in the council packet for the next full council meeting — breaks down to about $151,000 for a fee increase related to a granted time extension and roughly $169,000 for additional services, including construction documents for the overwater portion of the project and the Orchard Street Plaza. “It's $321,095,” Director Bond said while reviewing the amendment draft, adding that the staff report indicates the work would be paid for from park impact fees.

The amendment also responds to permit conditions tied to work below the ordinary high water mark. Staff said the federal cultural-resources review on the overwater portion of the project requires the city to hire an interpretive specialist to develop content for educational signs and to consult with tribes on language that relates to tribal use of the shoreline. “They want the tribe to have the right to approve or deny that language,” Director Bond told the committee. Staff estimated the interpretive specialist task could be about $10,000 but said a firm quote will follow.

Committee members pressed staff on funding and prior discussions. Staff noted the city has been collecting park impact fees and currently holds roughly $4 million in the park impact fee fund, and that the city intends to use those funds for design and construction of the community event center. Staff also said the city is still about $1 million short of the park-impact-fee share identified in the impact fee rate study for the project.

Separately, staff reported ongoing permitting friction with federal fisheries staff, who are treating the shoreline work as new seawall construction with different mitigation requirements. Director Bond said he raised the issue with federal staff during a trip to Washington, D.C., and characterized the conversations as difficult but part of the permitting process. “Either don't build the project or hire an interpretive specialist to help design the signs,” he said, explaining that the signage requirement is a condition of the permit.

The amendment and related permit matters were presented to the finance committee for awareness; staff said the amendment will be a business item before the full City Council. No formal vote on the amendment occurred at the committee meeting.

City staff said additional, likely minor, contract amendments could follow later this summer to incorporate the interpretive specialist and any other small scope changes that emerge during permit reviews and final design.