PORT ORCHARD — Kitsap County took longer than state deadlines allow on 40 of the 46 permit decisions it reported for 2025, according to a state Department of Commerce report. The Kitsap Building Association is scheduled to present the report to county commissioners Monday.
The builders’ group is on the agenda from 9:30 to 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 2, during the commissioners’ morning briefing. Its materials consist of Commerce’s 2025 annual permitting performance report, which a 2023 state law, Senate Bill 5290, requires as part of an effort to speed up housing permits.
According to the report, Kitsap County averaged 405 calendar days to review a permit, not counting pauses while it waited on applicants. With those pauses, the average was 570 days. Eighteen of 20 multifamily housing decisions exceeded the deadline, averaging 449 days of review. All 13 preliminary subdivision decisions were late, averaging 441 days against the county’s 170-day deadline. Six of eight construction permit decisions were also late.
Statewide, median review times improved by about 19% from 2024, and 42 of the 51 cities and counties required to report met or beat state deadlines, up from 33. Commerce cautioned that a 2025 law removed building permits from the reporting requirement. That leaves small samples, so one or two permits can swing a jurisdiction’s results.
From 10 to 11 a.m. Monday, commissioners will deliberate on the Department of Community Development’s 2026 administrative code edits. The edits are housekeeping changes to the county’s land division, zoning and shoreline rules, and staff recommend adopting them as proposed.
Capital plans on Wednesday
At a work session from 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday, Nov. 4, Public Works will walk commissioners through its six-year capital plans for 2027 through 2032. Public hearings on the sewer and stormwater plans are set for Nov. 24.
- Stormwater: $25.9 million in projects over six years aimed at local flooding, water quality, failing pipes and ponds, and fish-passage barriers on county creeks. The plan lists $11.9 million in revenue toward that total.
- Sewer: 28 treatment and collection projects. New additions include replacing or upgrading six pump stations, moving force mains at Liberty Bay and Central Valley for fish passage, sewer upgrades on northern Old Military Road, Dickey Road and Myhre Road, and new ultraviolet disinfection systems at the Manchester and Kingston treatment plants.
- Solid waste: $15 million in 2027 and $9.7 million in 2028. The biggest project is a $45 million rail and intermodal expansion at the Olympic View Transfer Station, planned through 2030. The county says it will cut the extra switching fees it pays the railroad. The plan also includes work at the Silverdale, Hansville and Olalla recycling and garbage facilities and the household hazardous waste facility.
The Wednesday session ends with a quarterly briefing from the Department of Emergency Management on a tsunami resilience project. Presenter Jan Glarum’s slides describe the state Emergency Management Division’s tsunami maritime resilience strategies, which model currents, flooding and water drawdown for a specific harbor and set out guidance for boaters and marinas. The state has already completed one for Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island. The project timeline calls for modeling through January, response, recovery and mitigation workshops through July, and a finished strategy at the end of August.
Both sessions are in the Port Blakely Conference Room in Port Orchard and on Zoom. Monday morning: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84204651614 (webinar ID 842 0465 1614). Wednesday: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86911639123 (webinar ID 869 1163 9123). To listen by phone, dial 253-215-8782. Agendas and documents are at agendasuite.org/iip/kitsap.
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