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Commission prioritizes objective design standards and streamlined reviews; director flags Walmart drone delivery exploration
Summary
The commission's survey ranked objective design standards, consolidating redundant review steps and a pre-approved landscaping list as top code-efficiency priorities. Director Nick also told commissioners that Walmart is exploring a drone‑delivery base in Port Orchard with 6–18 pads and drone payloads of about 3–5 pounds; staff will study land‑use regulation for drone bases.
Staff presented the planning commission's internal survey results on potential code amendments to improve development-review efficiency and predictability.
The survey showed the highest priority was establishing objective design standards with graphics to reduce subjectivity in review; second was consolidating redundant review steps in the site-plan process; and third was creating a pre-approved landscaping plant list. Mid-level priorities included expanding administrative approvals and reducing uses that require conditional use permits. Jim Fisk said these items appear to offer the strongest immediate improvement to predictability and that staff is not asking for action tonight, only direction.
Commissioner Tiffany Mitchell said objective design standards could help shape Port Orchard's long-term character and make reviews more predictable. Commissioner Paul Fontau and others echoed support for consolidating overlapping reviews.
In the director's report, Nick said Walmart and a private drone-manufacturer presented at a city-council work study and that Walmart is exploring drone delivery in proximity to the I‑5 corridor with Port Orchard among candidate store locations. Nick said Walmart's materials suggest between six and 18 pads per facility and that the larger drone would carry about five pounds while a smaller model would carry about three pounds. He noted the FAA regulates flight operations and that the city's land-use code is silent on whether a drone-delivery base is an allowed primary or accessory land use; staff will return with recommended land-use regulations for the planning commission's consideration.
The director also reported the city council approved a final-plat processing ordinance and the city will transition agendas and packets to CivicPlus with clerk-led training planned; he reminded commissioners that a downtown refacing grant program will begin accepting applications later this week and that matching-fund amounts vary by project and are described on the city web page.
