Poulsbo Planning Commission recommends spring 2025 code amendments and draft comprehensive plan to city council

The Poulsbo Planning Commission voted to recommend that the Poulsbo City Council approve the spring 2025 code amendments and the draft 2024 comprehensive plan update, moving two linked packages forward for council review.

The recommendations cover the periodic comprehensive plan update required under state law, multiple housekeeping and legislative code changes, and a manufactured-home-park overlay sought by residents. Planning staff told the commission the amendments align city code with recent state legislative changes and the city’s comprehensive plan work, which included an environmental impact statement and updated housing and utility capacity analyses.

The recommendation matters because the comprehensive plan sets Poulsbo’s 20-year strategy for housing, utilities and transportation, and state and regional requirements now direct local jurisdictions to show capacity for specific future population, job and housing targets. Planning staff said the city was required to plan for roughly 5,600 new residents, 4,000 new jobs and 1,900 housing units as part of this update. The plan update included an environmental impact statement — the first such EIS for Poulsbo’s plan since the 1990s — and new appendices such as a housing needs assessment and a racially disparate…