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Commission weighs appeals streamlining and whether to codify application requirements
Summary
Staff proposed removing an intermediate city‑council appeal step for certain Type 3 permits (direct appeal to Kitsap County Superior Court) to reduce costs; commissioners debated removing submittal requirements from code in favor of updatable application forms and asked staff to add versioning/dated forms online.
Nicole proposed that Type 3 permit appeals (shoreline appeals) skip an intermediate appeal to city council and instead allow direct appeal to Kitsap County Superior Court to reduce staff legal costs and streamline the process. She told commissioners prior appeals had cost the city roughly $15,000 in outside legal fees and often resulted in council upholding the initial decision quickly; staff argued going straight to Superior Court aligns with the state's streamlining goals.
On application completeness, staff proposed tying completeness to application forms (so forms can be updated without a code amendment). Commissioners expressed concern that removing specific submittal requirements from the code reduces certainty for applicants and suggested versioned/dated application forms or a table of forms online. Nicole agreed to work with the city attorney, add form dating/versioning and a public table of current form versions to provide certainty.
