PORT ORCHARD — Kitsap County commissioners approved a third-quarter budget amendment, gave up a short unbuilt stretch of road in South Kitsap and reappointed two advisory board members during their Oct. 26 meeting. They also put off a decision on a package of land-use code edits.
Budget amendment
Commissioners unanimously approved an amendment adding $179,323 in general fund spending authority and $40.8 million in other county funds. Staff called it mostly accounting housekeeping.
Most of the change is a $14 million transfer of sewer bond proceeds into the sewer construction fund and an early payoff of an older sewer bond, which the Treasurer’s Office recommended to save interest. Because transfers between funds count twice, the real effect is closer to $20 million, budget manager Kristofer Carlson said. “It’s more like twenty million, but technically, I suppose it’s forty million,” he said.
The amendment also moves $1.5 million in real estate excise tax money to begin Phase 2 of the courthouse roof replacement a year early. It adds $125,000 for LEOFF retiree medical costs in the Sheriff’s Office, which staff said follows a state audit recommendation, and $125,000 for election postage in the Auditor’s Office. Carlson said current projections do not have the general fund spending down its cash this year.
Road vacation
Commissioners approved a petition from Austin and Kelsey Culbert and Miracle Medema to vacate an unopened section of East Idaho Street in the Manchester area. The right-of-way was dedicated in 1907 but never built, and an adjoining section was vacated in 2013. County staff received no public comments. The land reverts to the neighboring property owners.
Code edits
Commissioners closed public testimony on annual administrative edits to the county’s zoning, land division, land use procedure and shoreline codes and will deliberate Nov. 2, with adoption scheduled Nov. 9. Staff described the edits as clarifications. Among them is a change that lets property be divided to lease space to wireless facilities without meeting minimum lot sizes. Commissioners Christine Rolfes and Katie Walters both said they want a closer look at the cell tower changes. Rolfes noted the existing rules took years of work with the industry and neighborhoods. Staff withdrew a proposed change to the definition of multifamily housing after residents pointed out it conflicted with another definition.
Appointments
Allena Koch, a high school senior, was reappointed as youth representative on the Kingston Community Advisory Council through Aug. 31, 2027. Susan Nolen of the Poulsbo area, a retired University of Washington professor, was reappointed to the Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council through 2029.
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