NORTH KITSAP — The North Kitsap Legacy Partnership began one year ago as a two-man traveling act.

For months, County Commissioner Steve Bauer and Olympic Property Group presdident Jon Rose toured Kitsap County, touting the open space and development deal to citizen councils, service clubs, newspaper reporters. Anyone who would give them an audience.

It was, in many ways, an unprecedented partnership to support an unprecedented plan.

“He put his career, his reputation at risk working so closely with someone from the private sector,” Rose said.

It’s Rose’s show now.

Bauer anounced his resignation in early January, citing the need to spend more time with family. He’ll step down at the end of February and the search is already on for his replacement (see related story).

Bauer listed commencement of the Partnership — a loose plan to transfer 7,000 acres of timberland to county open space while allowing denser growth in Port Gamble — among his achievements.

His sudden departure raises the question of whether the Legacy Partnership can survive without one half of its founding duo.

Rose said he believes the planning process will be set back by Bauer’s departure, but the Partnership can persevere.

“We’re undaunted,” Rose said. “… I think the Partnership will stand on its own merits.”

For now, the partnership stands on shaky ground.

Its original inspiration was the desire for Olympic Property Group, a subsidiary of Pope Resources, to realize value in some 8,000 acres of North Kitsap timberland, and the town of Port Gamble, which it owns. Meanwhile, the Bauer was interested in preserving open space for trails and habitat.

County staff spent the last year studying how to bring the plan to fruition while responding to appeals from the Port Gamble S’Kllalam and Suquamish tribes and other North Kitsap residents. The county is identifying planning mechanisms that would allow Port Gamble’s population to expand under the state Growth Management Act. These could include Fully Contained Communities and Historic Towns designations.

Olympic Property Group is interested in adding several hundred new homes to the area to make the town morfe self sustaining. Olympic would grant some open space to the county in exchange for facilitating the additional density and helping install utilities.

The tribes adamantly oppose the addition of higher density west shore of Port Gamble Bay. This would concentrate a new neighborhoods and associated pollution over one of the most sensitive areas in Kitsap, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal Chairman Jeromy Sullivan said. The bay has cultural and spiritual significance to the tribe, which still harvests shellfish from its shores and seafloor.

This impasse became apparent over the course of 2010 in a series of letters and appeals from the tribes. Sullivan said Bauer did his best to bring the sides together.

“As far as communication, it’s been really open,” Sullivan said. “We might disagree but we both have environmental issues in mind when we’re discussing it.”

With the help of Bauer, Olympic representatives attended a recent Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal Council meeting. The discussion didn’t reach any conclusions, but both Sullivan and Rose said it improved understanding between the groups.

Rose said he now believes Olympic and the county can find a solution to realize the goals of the Partnership while meeting many of the tribes’ concerns. He expects a final proposal will be unveiled in 2011.

Of course, much will depend on who fills Bauer’s seat.

Rose said the new commissioner could embrace the Partnership and play a pivotal role in its development. Or a Partnership opponent could seek Bauer’s seat in the hopes of killing the plan.

Either way, it’s a chance for a new commissioner to make an indelible mark on North Kitsap.

“It will be difficult but it is worth fighting for,” Bauer wrote in his resignation letter. “Surely future generations will measure us by how we embraced this challenging opportunity.”

Bauer, 65, seems content to slip back out of the public spotlight.

The commissioner could not be reached for comment for this story. In his resignation announcement Bauer stressed family obligation as his main reason for stepping down.

“Our parents are aging, our five grandchildren are growing like weeds and we need to be in their lives,” he wrote.