Kitsap County launches 'Year of the Rural' to update rural and resource lands chapter

Kitsap County long-range planning staff on Thursday kicked off a yearlong effort called “Year of the Rural” to update the rural and resource lands chapter of the county comprehensive plan, presenting scope, timeline and community engagement plans to the Kitsap County Planning Commission.

The project, presented by Heather Cleveland, long range planner in the Department of Community Development — Long Range Planning, will produce a separate rural and resource lands chapter, a gap analysis against recent state and local plans and potential code updates. Cleveland said the work is intended to shine a focused attention on rural lands deferred during the 2024 comprehensive plan process and to inform recommendations for reclassification requests that were also deferred last year.

The update matters because it will frame policy and possible code changes affecting agricultural uses, energy siting, open-space preservation, rural housing and in-home child care across unincorporated Kitsap County. Staff said the effort will be iterative and seeks public input at multiple milestones before a target adoption in December 2025.

Cleveland told the commission the project will begin with a baseline inventory and…