Bremerton planning commission hears public critique of draft active transportation plan, votes to separate its adoption from comp plan timeline

At a Planning Commission workshop in Bremerton, the commission received a presentation on simultaneous updates to the transportation element of the Comprehensive Plan and a new active transportation plan and then heard more than a dozen public comments before voting to recommend the active transportation plan be adopted separately from the comprehensive plan timeline.

The presentation was given by Vicki Grover, engineering project manager with the City of Bremerton, who said the city updated two plans together because of overlapping content and new Growth Management Act requirements, and summarized public outreach and technical appendices supporting the transportation element. Grover said the initial public survey (Jan. 19–Feb. 15, 2024) drew 605 responses, a mailed postcard to 5,000 addresses produced the largest share of respondents, and a GIS-based interactive map (Aug. 19–Sept. 8, 2024) yielded 225 comments and eight emails. She said 36% of map comments requested new facilities or raised concerns about existing corridor conditions and 68% of feedback focused on bike priority networks. Grover told the commission the draft documents were on Bremerton2044.com and that the formal comment period closed at midnight that night. She also described the required concurrency analysis and a project list with planning-level cost estimates and said PSRC had provided initial comments and would take about six months to certify the plan after adoption by council.

Why it matters: the transportation element is a required part of the Comprehensive Plan under…