County questions Bremerton’s intentions

It’s not quite a riff, but it’s certainly a misunderstanding.

The city of Bremerton officially has a vision for its future, but the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners isn’t to sure about that vision. The Bremerton City Council passed its 20-year comprehensive plan on Dec. 1 that outlines a wish list of how it would like the city to look in the next 20 years. The plan includes urban hubs — business districts surrounded by mixed use property that eventually gives way to residential neighborhoods. The comprehensive plan is a result of hundreds of volunteer hours and more than two years of collaboration with the city’s community development department.

The urban hubs are not what the county disagrees with.

The comprehensive plan also shows some areas the city would like to incorporate into its city limits over the next two decades. With that, the county says Bremerton has jumped the gun. These areas include the South Kitsap Industrial Area and the area in Central Kitsap where Bremerton and the unincorporated area of Silverdale may collide if both keep growing, according to Chris Hugo, Bremerton’s director of community development.

That’s what the county disagrees with, according to a letter dated Dec. 1 and signed by county commissioners, Patty Lent, Chris Endresen and Jan Angel.

The county’s letter states that the city’s comprehensive plan infringes on some areas that were intentionally left unincorporated in the county’s master plan when it was OK’d in 1998. The letter specifically mentions the South Kitsap Industrial Area and the Central Kitsap Urban Growth Areas that includes the Barker Creek watershed. Those areas were left as unincorporated and the county wants to see discussion between county residents before any lines are drawn.

“We understand your city’s need to update your comprehensive plan and we request that you remove the language regarding annexation of county unincorporated land until the (sic) Bremerton and Kitsap County reach an agreement on where the boundaries should be drawn,” the letter states.

Hugo agrees that there is some discussion needed. The city’s comprehensive

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