The Washington State Department of Commerce and the Puget Sound Regional Council announced over $1 million in grant awards to 10 cities — including $97,000 in Port Orchard — for transfer of development right (TDR) planning and program development.

TDR is a voluntary, incentive-based, and market-driven approach to preserve land and relocate development away from rural areas and into urban areas.

“This grant allows the Port Orchard Planning Department to conduct an academic study regarding voluntary and market-based incentives for utilizing the existing Kitsap County transfer-of-development rights program that has been in existence since 2006,” said Port Orchard Development Director James Weaver. “The city is blessed to be one of only 10 jurisdictions in the state to granted funding and to have the opportunity to participate in this study.”

Weaver said the study will be cooperative effort with Kitsap County and involves exploring and analyzing potential strategies and planning tools that can benefit cities and municipalities as they attempt to see how existing county programs throughout the state can be used in a model program for other cities.