In order to advance a list of comprehensive and complicated civic projects in the near future, Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu said it will require city employees to communicate with each other and the public in better, more streamlined ways.

He told a Port Orchard Rotary audience May 17 that communication is the key to achieving efficient methods to serve the community.

It’s not just “touchy-feely” double-speak. Better communication also is critical in improving existing processes within City Hall.

“I want a whole new process to identify and streamline the process for our Planning Department. That department and our Building department are housed in one wing of City Hall,” Putaansuu said. “However, they have separate staffs and separate processes.”

He wants to see a streamlined process put into place where an individual coming in for a building permit would interact with the same employee along the way.

“I think that could expedite processes,” Putaansuu said.

The need for process improvement is being driven by Port Orchard’s growth as a city. “As we’re growing as a community, we’re going to get many more applications for development activities. If we can be more efficient with the resources we have, we won’t be forced to add staff.”

The mayor also sees a need for building design standards downtown. He said outcomes for developers need to be “predictable.”

“We have a design and review committee, which is great for our downtown, but I think we can take this one step better and take it through our commercial borders so that builders have some options.

“Bethel is potentially being developed haphazardly and the same is true for Tremont,” Putaansuu said. “I’ve seen a couple of projects come through our planning department that features corrugated siding. I don’t think that’s what we want on our commercial corridor, and our current standards allow that.”

Growth in the city has created some traffic tangles within city limits, particularly along Tremont at Port Orchard Boulevard, and at different stretches of Bethel Road. Drivers who reside in McCormick Woods also fight traffic backups.

“If you live in McCormick Woods and the traffic is backed up,” he said, “are you really going to visit the retail corridor here?” That’s assuming Port Orchard has a vibrant business corridor nearby. Shoppers are more likely heading to Silverdale or Gig Harbor.

Transportation issues and the city’s absence of new retail development have combined to become something of a conundrum.

But ample space is available to build on. Tremont, Sedgwick and Bay streets are ripe for retail development, as is Bethel, Putaansuu said. We need to develop our retail corridor on Bethel and capture our local dollars,” which he said are currently flowing out of town.

But efforts to solve the transportation snag are inching along on Tremont and Bethel road projects.

The mayor said paving on the remainder of Bethel will take place this summer. Major improvements to the corridor await decisions about how to pay for them. But Putaansuu said he expects a redesign of the needed Bethel improvements should be funded next year.

Tremont’s road project is expected to move forward in 2018. He said the $18 million project will place two roundabouts and four lanes on Tremont.

“We’re working hard on the Tremont project,” Putaansuu said.

“If we don’t break ground on the project in the next two years, we’ll have to pay back $3.2 million” to the federal government.

“We don’t have $3.2 million, so we’d have to borrow that money and pay it back. That’s not acceptable to me.”

One of Putaansuu’s first moves after getting sworn in as mayor was to work with the city council to hire a grant writer.

“We got three regional grant applications done and already have received one award from KRCC (Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council) for $1.7 million. Our next ‘ask’ is with the Puget Sound Regional Council. We applied for $8 million, but I’m hopeful we’re going to get from $5 million to $6 million.”

The mayor said the city also is applying to the state transportation improvement board. He’s hopeful the PSRC and the state will provide a similar pot of money. “If we can get the (project cost) number down to $5 million or $6 million that we’re borrowing to have a complete project, I think that’ll be huge for our community,” Putaansuu said.

He told the Rotary members that the Bay Street Pathway Project is progressing and will move forward incrementally toward completion.

The new bridge over Blackjack Creek at Etta Turner Park was added last November and $3.5 million from the state will complete the pathway from Annapolis to the Port Orchard passenger ferry dock. But, the mayor said, there are some strings attached to the money.

“Unfortunately, that funding doesn’t come until 2019- 2021,” he said.

With Bruce Titus Ford readying its plans to expand on land it acquired (where St. Vincent de Paul’s building sits), the city was able through its lobbyists to convince the state legislature to move a half-million dollars from that funding to the current biennial budget so it could design and build a section from the bridge to Marina Park.

The pathway, which will curve along the waterfront and next to a new city “pocket park” next to the Comfort Inn, will be under construction next spring, the mayor said.

Another city project, McCormick Village Park, has completed its phase 1 pathways there. Putaansuu said the city has applied for state grants for the follow-on phase.

The $700,000 project is to feature a water element similar to that at Fountain Park in Bremerton. “We want something like that for our kids on a hot day,” he said. “We’d also like to see a children’s play area.”

The price tag for those elements is about $1 million, Putaansuu said. “We have park impact fees to go along with a state grant, which funds half of this.”

The city will need to come up with the other half of the funding, plus cover costs of those additional children’s park components.

“The debate we’re having right now is, do we delay this a little bit? If we don’t delay it, how do we fund it? Ultimately, we have park-impact fees coming from every new home being built, so we have the funding source — but we don’t have the money today.”

But one thing is certain about the park project, he added. The city wants to include those added amenities.