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 land-use analysis and a gap analysis that compares Kitsap maps and regulations with updated state resources and case law. "We have received over 600 responses to our survey," Cleveland said, noting the team has already begun interviews with local experts and an ad hoc agricultural working group.

Staff set a schedule of deliverables: a 30% draft for review in June 2025, a 60% public comment period in September 2025, a 90% draft in November 2025 and a board adoption target in December 2025. Cleveland said reclassification requests deferred from the 2024 process (18 site-specific rural-to-rural requests) will be reviewed alongside the countywide land-use analysis.

Planning Commission members pressed staff for early opportunities for public review on high-profile site proposals. "We had a huge amount of testimony both for and against that" on the Rainier proposal outside Kingston, Commissioner Allen Beam said, asking how the public will see site-specific options earlier than the September comment period. Cleveland said the 30% June milestone will be the first opportunity to present options and that staff will reassess the engagement plan if needed.

Commissioner Adrian Hampton urged that the update explicitly consider ecological values and a broader set of rural environmental assets, saying the county should not treat rural land solely for resource use but also incorporate natural landscape, biodiversity and ecosystem connections into planning questions. Other commissioners raised transportation capacity and linkages between rural and urban planning as topics to keep in the scope.

Staff identified three focus topics to guide early work: agricultural policy and code, energy siting, and open-space preservation. Other subjects to be analyzed include rural economy (for example, agritourism and rural events), mobile and manufactured-home parks, forest and mineral resource overlays and watershed restoration plans referenced in state guidance.

Cleveland described the project team and engagement approach: Scott Diener (project director), Colin Poff (project manager), Cleveland as project lead, topic leads including Jim Rogers, and support from staff managing mapping and environmental review. Staff will convene an internal review team from departments such as Public Works, Environmental Management and Parks and will hold two virtual/in-person open houses (first scheduled March 4) plus outreach targeted to advisory groups and stakeholders.

The commission and staff also discussed use of an Agricultural Advisory Council or smaller working groups; Cleveland said an updated Agricultural Advisory Council proposal is a planned deliverable and that several informal topic-specific groups will be used to gather technical input. Staff also said they will publish materials, including the ad hoc agriculture steering-group membership and the set of gap-analysis documents, on the project website.

Votes at a glance: Two routine procedural motions were approved during the meeting. Commissioner Allen Beam moved to adopt the agenda and moved to adopt the minutes as presented; both motions were seconded and carried by voice vote without recorded roll-call tallies.

Staff next steps include preparing the 30% draft for a June presentation to the Planning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners, continuing stakeholder interviews through March and publishing the compiled rural-specific comments from the 2024 comp-plan record. The Planning Commission also asked staff to consider additional early outreach specifically for high-profile reclassification requests, which staff said it would re-evaluate when preparing the June materials.