PORT GAMBLE — After collecting about 150 to 200 comments, concerns and statements from residents in the Port Gamble Bay area, Kitsap County officials are now sorting through them in preparation for a hearing on a 220-foot private dock proposal.

The comments stemmed from a Determination of Non-Significance issued Feb. 8 after the county reviewed the State Environmental Policy Act checklist Port Gamble residents Charles and Sondra Peters submitted for their dock, said Kitsap County Department of Community Development shoreline planner Lisa Lewis. Individuals and groups had until Feb. 26 to submit comments on the project. All of them will be reviewed during a hearing conducted by the county’s Hearing Examiner, Lewis said. After that, the hearing examiner will issue his ruling on whether the dock can continue through the permitting process.

The hearing is currently slated for mid-April, with no exact date or time selected yet. Residents living around Port Gamble Bay are waiting for their chance to speak on the record about the project, said Port Gamble resident Chuck Holland.

“A bunch of us around the bay sent in comments,” Holland said. “I did get a nice e-mail reply back from Lisa (Lewis) about the comments I made in the letter.”

“The county wont make a recommendation until the hearing,” Lewis said. She added that the county has been handling this case as carefully as possible because of the concerns tied to it.