Kitsap Planning Commission previews 2025 long-range docket, flags sea-level, rural and permitting priorities

The Kitsap County Planning Commission on Jan. 21 heard a staff briefing on the Department of Community Development's (DCD) proposed 2025 long-range planning docket, which includes a sea-level rise vulnerability and risk assessment, a comprehensive review of rural lands and character, new siting criteria for alternative energy projects and changes to how boundary line adjustments are handled.

Scott Deener, manager of the planning and environmental programs division, told commissioners the sea-level rise vulnerability and risk assessment will "identify the potential for losses or damages due to flooding due to sea level rise and coastal erosion" and is expected to be completed in mid-2025 and adopted by reference into the comprehensive plan. He said the study could lead to code changes and actions ranging from modified development standards to, in extreme cases, road vacations where protection is infeasible.

Why it matters: the long-range docket establishes the county's work program for comprehensive-plan updates and targeted code changes that affect land use, infrastructure and public services across Kitsap County. Many items will require subsequent public outreach, planning commission recommendations and Board of County Commissioners action.

Major docket items and staff summaries

- Sea-level rise vulnerability and risk assessment: Deener said the report will characterize loss risks to uplands and assets and be used in future planning and code updates. He gave an example where a public road may be impossible to bulkhead and could require vacation, affecting access for adjacent residents and utilities.

- "Year of the Rural": DCD will prepare a new chapter on rural lands'economics and character to inform changes to the comprehensive plan and development code. Deener said the effort will revisit material from outreach in 2010 and 2011 and will examine requests deferred from the 2024 comp-plan…