INDEPENDENT PORT ORCHARD
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 ✮ VOL. 124, NO. 27 ✮ WWW.PORTORCHARDINDEPENDENT.COM ✮ 50¢
Final call for primary ballots
FRESH PRODUCE AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET
Mayor decides outcome after deadlocked City Council vote
By BOB SMITH
rsmith@portorchardindependent.com
PORT ORCHARD — For Port Orchard-area voters, this primary election ballot should be a quick study in participatory democracy. There’s just one primary contest this time around: four candidates for the West Sound Utility District No. 1 Commissioner Position 3 are hoping to advance to the general election. Mail-in voting wraps up Tuesday, Aug. 4. Envelopes containing the election ballots must be postmarked that day in order to be qualified for tabulation. Incumbent commissioner and vice-chairwoman Susan Way is being contested by three other candidates, including former utility district commissioner Jeannie Screws. Screws served as a board member with West Sound from 2008 to 2013. Kevin P. Long, a retired water distribution manager with West Sound, also is running. Angela Smith is the fourth candidate appearing on the election ballot. Smith hasn’t responded to media inquiries for information and apparently isn’t actively campaigning. Accessible voting is available until Aug. 4 at the Kitsap County Administration Building in the auditor’s office.
Split council votes to revisit Tremont Corridor Overlay issue
By BOB SMITH
rsmith@portorchardindependent.com
PORT ORCHARD — Mayor Tim Matthes cast the deciding vote during the Port Orchard City Council meeting July 28 to remove the Tremont Corridor Overlay District references in the city’s comprehensive plan. The city council was split 3-3 whether to remove overlay district references and restrictions to the City of Port Orchard’s comprehensive Tremont Street transportation rebuild. The Tremont Corridor project encompassing Tremont at State Route 16 to Lund Avenue is an ongoing major civic transportation upgrade that includes street widening, as well as improvements to the corridor’s aesthetics. Up for a vote was the city planning commission’s recommendation to move the overlay component to a public review prior to the proposal’s completion at the end of the year. An overlay district is a designated plot of land in which the city inserts rules that differentiate from standard transportation policies. Those policies can also cover build-
Bob Smith / Independent
Summer’s bounty for sale Shoppers in the market for fresh fruit, produce and flowers — and other mostly home-made items — enjoyed a cooler Saturday during Farmers’ Market at Waterfront Park to stock up their kitchens.
SEE BALLOTS, A16
ing design plans and those of surrounding property. The city Planning Commission recommended to the council that it amend the comprehensive plan removing all overlay district references. The commission found that current completed Tremont Street plans were sufficient to ensure “high aesthetic quality” along the corridor without the need for overlay restrictions. The commission also reported to the council that much of the corridor is fully developed and will not require supplemental special regulations. It also stated it found the original and interim district regulations to be “burdensome and unnecessary.” But just where the special restrictions begin and end aren’t clearly understood. Nick Bond, the city development director, told the council that the boundaries of the overlay district are not clearly defined and are open for interpretation. Councilman Fred Chang told the council gathering before the vote that he was “on the fence” about the issue. “How do residents affected by this change feel about it now? We’ve had no public input on this issue,” Chang said. “I’d like to hear from the public.” Also weighing in with an SEE COUNCIL, A16
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