Properties could be rezoned as part of Poulsbo’s comprehensive plan amendments

Two applicants have requested that their properties be rezoned to fit the City of Poulsbo’s comprehensive plan.

Part of the City of Poulsbo’s Feb. 5 council meeting was to establish the docket for the 2020 Comprehensive Plan. Nikole Coleman of the Planning and Economic Development Department presented a list of potential amendments to the 2020 Comprehensive Plan for the council to review. Two of the items on the list were pieces of property seeking to be rezoned.

Edward Rose Millennial Development LLC owns a piece of property off of Vetter Road and SR305 and is requesting that 2.4 acres of the nine-acre property be rezoned from commercial to residential.

In June 2011 the Poulsbo City Council adopted an ordinance that changed the comprehensive plan designation for the property from residential medium to commercial with a “Master Plan Overlay.” That overlay was removed in Nov. 2019. The development company now wants to change the designation on a portion of the property back to residential medium to accommodate for current site planning efforts, for a stormwater system for the Oslo Bay Apartments project planned for the site.

“This request is further supported by recent market research by Edward Rose suggesting there is no existing (or foreseeable) market for retail in the area proposed for re-designation/rezone,” reads a letter sent to the planning department from Berni Kenworthy of Team 4 Engineering.

The second request for rezoning comes from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department which is requesting to rezone a portion of the property near Morrow Manor from low residential to park property for the city.

Councilman Dave Musgrove wanted to note that this process is really just a formality in the development of the comprehensive plan.

“This is more, just a formality, that we’re given the option to give a flat ‘no’ to any portion of it if we so desired on some other principle … otherwise, we don’t have the information, it hasn’t been looked at, we haven’t gotten review, citizen input, and that’s part of the process we are approving to go through,” Musgrove said.

The council ultimately approved the docket and set in motion the next steps of the comprehensive plan development.