With the Bethel Corridor annexation on hold for now, Port Orchard on Tuesday night shifted its attention to a different piece of the puzzle, taking the first steps toward bringing the South Sedgwick area into the fold.

The city council voted unanimously (with members Rob Putaansuu and Jerry Childs absent) to accept a Notice of Intent (NOI) from South Sedgwick property owners, starting the clock on the six-month process during which the annexation advocates must meet certain conditions.

Specifically, a citizen-initiated NOI must be submitted to the city signed by the owners of 10 percent of the parcel’s assessed valuation. They then have six months to submit a petition signed by those who own at least 60 percent of the area’s property.

A similar effort to annex a 554-acre region along Bethel Road fell $10 million short of that goal in February, although advocates are confident they will eventually obtain the necessary signatures.

The South Sedgwick parcel is a much smaller undertaking and unrelated to the Bethel effort.

“This is a completely different annexation,” said Port Orchard Planning Director James Weaver. “You’ll probably see a number of these areas pop up over the coming months.”

Port Orchard’s current leadership has made no secret of its goal to eventually annex the city’s entire Urban Growth Area (UGA), and South Sedgwick is its current target.

The region totals 97.6 acres, divided into 23 individual parcels, at the southern-most tip of the city’s UGA and has an assessed valuation of $6.8 million, meaning the NOI had to include the signatures of those representing $1.7 million worth of the property.

The NOI was first submitted to the city on Feb. 28.

“By accepting a notice of intent to annex, the council is not committing itself to annex if and when a sufficient petition is presented to it,” Weaver said. “The decision to accept merely allows the annexation to go forward procedurally and allows a petition to be circulated.”

“Put it this way,” said City Attorney Greg Jacoby, “by approving the language of the request, the people being asked to sign the petition know what they’re voting for.”

If backers of the annexation are successful getting enough signatures, the measure would then be submitted to the county assessor for verification and then submitted back to the city council for an annexation ordinance — as was done during last year’s successful annexation of McCormick Woods into the city.

Upon approval by the city council for annexation, the process then is distributed to the Kitsap County Boundary Review Board for its review and approval.

In all, the annexation process typically requires a minimum of five to six months for public notice timelines and state-required process.

This particular annexation includes all of the Urban Growth Area south of Sedgwick and west of State Route 16, near Sidney Avenue, close to the Sedgwick Albertson’s and Lowe’s.

Five of the parcels have an existing County Comprehensive Plan designation of Urban Low-Density Residential with zoning of Urban Low Residential.

One parcel has a designation of Urban High-Intensity Commercial/Mixed Use and Urban Low-Density Residential with zoning of Highway Tourist Commercial/Urban Low Residential,.

The remaining seventeen parcels are designated within Kitsap County as Urban High-Intensity Commercial/Mixed Use in the County’s Comprehensive Plan with a zoning designation of Highway/Tourist Commercial.