POULSBO — Does Poulsbo Creek really exist or is it a mere drainage ditch? Should Johnson Creek have 300-foot or 75-foot buffers?

Those were two of the questions left unanswered as the public hearing for the city’s proposed Critical Areas Ordinance closed Wednesday night.

The new CAO regulations are designed to protect environmentally sensitive areas within the city. The next step in their adoption is for the city’s planning department staff to compile all of the comments from both citizens and the council and develop a list of choices for the council to consider in its final draft of the CAO, Planning Director Barry Berezowsky said.

“On April 18, we hope to get final direction from the council,” Berezowsky said. “On May 23 we hope to have the final public hearing.”

Mayor Kathryn Quade praised Berezowsky for developing such an ambitious schedule and expressed hope the council and staff will be able to follow through.

One of the bumps along the road toward the adoption of the new CAO is the issue of Poulsbo Creek, Councilman Ed Stern said.

Stern said he and Councilman Jim Henry had raised the issue of the creek with the Suquamish Tribe and Tribal Chairman Leonard Forsman.

“He said he had never heard of it, but he was willing to look into it with his staff,” Stern said.

In 2003, when the city asked Jeff Davis with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to review the streams within the city and its Urban Growth Area, Poulsbo Creek wasn’t on any of those maps, Berezowsky said.

“Mr. Davis did add some tributaries to Johnson Creek, but Poulsbo Creek did not appear on that map,” he said.

Recently, the city received verbal confirmation from Fish and Wildlife the creek does indeed exist, but the state agency has yet to take a formal position on that issue, he said.

“I am not prepared to do anything in regards to Poulsbo Creek, because it does not exist,” Berezowsky said.

Old Town Poulsbo resident Brad Allen said in the 23 years he’s lived in the city, he had never heard of Poulsbo Creek until the CAO public hearings.

“I have to tell you Poulsbo Creek is lost habitat,” Allen said. “The only fish in there are in a spiritual sense.” Despite reports to the contrary, Allen said he has never seen any fish, dead or alive, in the drainage ditch that cuts through his property.

“Protect the habitat that’s there,” Allen told the council. “Protect the human habitat from unnecessary restrictions.”

While Poulsbo Creek’s existence is debatable, the issues concerning Johnson Creek — a formally recognized waterway, which runs through the northwest part of the city’s UGA — are centered on how wide its buffers should be.

Members of the Johnson Creek Association, which is led by John and Molly Lee, have advocated for 300-foot buffers. Other property owners including Brad Watts, John Johnson and Linda Berry-Maraist have requested 75-foot buffers.

“I would ask you not to respond to a very small minority,” Johnson said. “Johnson Creek is entirely inside the UGA and the recommendation of the Planning Department and Planning Commission was 75-foot buffers.”

Watts told the council 1,300 feet of Johnson Creek runs through his property and the size of the buffer will have a dramatic impact on his ability to use his property.

A group of property owners hired the city’s consultant to study Johnson Creek and develop a recommendation for the buffer size, he added.

“He came up with 75-feet and if that’s not best available science, I don’t know what is,” Watts said.