Slowly but surely, acre by acre, Port Orchard continues to expand its boundaries.
On Tuesday night, the city council cleared the way for an annexation that had been on the drawing board for months while opening the door for a new one, too.
Most immediately, the council voted unanimously to annex a 95.11-acre site in the South Sedgwick region of unincorporated Kitsap County.
“In essence, the council annexed South Sedgwick tonight,” said James Weaver, the city’s development director. “At this point, we pretty much know it’s going to happen. It’s just a question of when.”
Port Orchard has been attempting to annex the entire Urban Growth Area (UGA) into the city limits for several years, and the South Sedgwick property sits at the southern-most tip of the UGA.
The South Sedgwick property owners submitted a Notice of Intent (NOI) regarding annexation on Feb. 18, at which point the group had six months to circulate a petition to the area’s property owners. In order for the annexation to proceed, the petition had to be approved by the owners of 60 percent of the parcel’s assessed value.
Because the South Sedgwick property has a valuation of $6.8 million, the petition need the approval of those owning at least $4.08 million.
The final petition was presented to the Port Orchard Planning Commission on Monday and passed on to the city council on Tuesday.
The council must now submit its annexation ordinance to the county commissioners. Assuming they approve it, the county’s Boundary Review Board would have 45 days to make a decision.
If the board takes no action, the annexation would become final 30 days thereafter.
Generally, 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 site’s 23 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.
Meanwhile, the council on Tuesday also voted to accept an NOI for a nine-acre parcel at 500 Birch Road designated the Sidney Glen annexation because the property includes the entire Sidney Glen Elementary School.
“The law has a nuance that says a school can’t request to be annexed by itself,” Weaver said. “It must be part of a larger annexation.”
In this case, the site has an assessed valuation of $5.1 million, which is the value of the school.
The required LOI carried the signature of South Kitsap School Superintendent Dave LaRose, giving it the approval of 100 percent of the property’s owners.
With no need to obtain any further signatures, the Sidney Glen annexation would presumably be fast-tracked and could be completed by next fall.
