PORT ORCHARD — Kitsap County commissioners are set to vote Monday, Nov. 9, on reopening Northeast Gluds Pond Street at Brownsville Highway Northeast, a connection the county closed in 2002, as a right-turn-only exit for new housing north of state Route 303.
Approval would not open the road right away. The street stays physically closed at Brownsville Highway until the developments’ road improvements are finished and inspected and the county issues the first certificate of occupancy for either the Gluds Pond Apartments or Royal Valley Plat Phase 1, according to the proposed resolution. Only then would the county engineer authorize the opening.
Why it closed
Commissioners made Gluds Pond Street a dead end at Brownsville Highway in 2002 as part of a state safety project on Route 303 (Waaga Way). At hearings that spring, testimony said only four parcels used the street but drivers used it as a shortcut between Keyport and Silverdale, causing “a fairly high rate of accidents,” according to the resolution. Residents asked the county to keep the highway end open and close the Brownsville end.
Why it would reopen
Land north of Route 303 around Royal Valley Road Northeast was added to the Central Kitsap urban growth area in 2012 and rezoned for residential use in 2016. A preliminary plat for Royal Valley was filed in 2020, and apartment permits followed in 2022.
A 2022 agreement among the property owners, the state Department of Transportation and county Public Works called for using Gluds Pond Street for access to the new development instead of traffic measures at the Route 303 and Central Valley Road interchange, which a state fish-barrier project would have undone. The resolution says Public Works “was not aware at the time of the agreement that Gluds Pond Street had been closed by resolution,” and only the commissioners can undo a road closure.
Under the proposed conditions:
- Traffic could turn right out of Gluds Pond Street onto southbound Brownsville Highway. There would be no access from Brownsville Highway onto Gluds Pond Street.
- At Route 303, drivers could turn right out only, with a new island to block left turns. Drivers could enter Gluds Pond Street only from northbound Route 303.
- The Royal Valley development will build a deceleration and right-turn lane on westbound Route 303 for turns onto Lineage Road Northeast.
Neighbors' questions
County staff added a memo Nov. 6 answering residents’ questions. Interim County Engineer Michele Filley and Assistant Community Development Director Cecilia Olsen wrote that a 2024 traffic study found 470 feet of sight distance at the Brownsville Highway exit, more than the 335 feet required. They said there is no sign of unstable slopes where the road runs along the stream, and that the new connector’s 35-foot curb radii meet county standards for trucks and large vehicles.
Neighbors also asked whether reopening fits the county’s obligations under a 2002 state salmon-recovery grant for Steele Creek. The memo says that project rebuilt the creek channel under Brownsville Highway, its long-term obligations ended in 2018, and the state Recreation and Conservation Office confirmed Nov. 2 that the reopening is consistent. The resolution adds that the creek work was ultimately done east of the highway and “has no connection to Gluds Pond Street.”
Access for the existing homes on Gluds Pond Street will be kept open throughout construction, according to the memo. The street is currently closed between Route 303 and Brownsville Highway for work on the private development, according to the county’s weekly road report.
Commissioners meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9, in the Commissioners Chambers of the Kitsap County Administration Building, 619 Division St., Port Orchard. The meeting can be joined on Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/81761133877 or by phone at 253-215-8782 (webinar ID 817 6113 3877). Public comment on business and consent items is taken near the start of the meeting, two minutes per person, and written comments can be submitted to the board.
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