Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu shared detailed updates on the city’s biggest infrastructure, housing, and parks projects during a recent June community presentation and follow-up interview July 3.
At the top of the list is the nearly completed marina pump station, a critical sewer lift station located on the waterfront downtown. The project is expected to wrap in the next 60 to 90 days.
“That project will be completed and all of the sewer in the entire city flows to that point and then is pushed to the treatment plant in Annapolis,” Putaansuu said. “The facility that we’re replacing only had 15 minutes of storage capacity; it didn’t have an on-site generator either.”
The new station is three stories underground, with one hour of storage capacity and an on-site generator. “Now we’ve got generators that will kick on automatically, and if something happens to that generator, you’ve got an hour to bring the portable generator down.”
Next in line for downtown is a $10 million street reconstruction project, set to begin construction in 2026.
“We’ll have the design completed by the end of the year,” he said. “We’re raising the street a foot and a half taller from Robert Geiger, which is where City Hall is, to Frederick Street.”
The project includes new sewer and water lines, underground power, new sidewalks, a landscaped median, and street trees. It also sets the foundation for two major developments: the new Kitsap Bank headquarters and a community center that will house a new Kitsap Regional Library branch and event space.
“We will be ready to go on the community center in 2027,” Putaansuu said. “The ground floor is a new Kitsap Regional Library branch to replace the one we have downtown, and the second floor is event space—weddings, fundraisers, the Rotary Club does their crab feed every year over in Bremerton because we don’t have a facility big enough in Port Orchard.”
Between the two buildings will be the Orchard Street Plaza, a permanent public gathering space.
“I see this as a permanent home for our farmers market, a place where we can have many of our festivals and events, not all be having them in a parking lot, displacing all of our parking.”
A presentation on the community center and plaza design is scheduled for July 15 before the City Council.
The city is also moving forward with the Bay Street pedestrian pathway, intended to connect downtown to the Annapolis ferry dock. Because of rising construction costs, the project has been broken into three phases.
“The first segment will get us from West Bay to Mitchell Point,” Putaansuu said. “We are likely two or three years out before we would go to construction on that first segment.”
In the meantime, five overwater homes purchased by the city will be removed.
“We just received the specifications to go out to bid from the design team…and I would say within the next month we will be out to bid for the removal,” he said. “Those homes should be removed this summer.”
Port Orchard is also investing in safer streets for students. A recent project added sidewalks and bike lanes near Cedar Heights Middle School, and similar improvements are planned this summer from Berry Lake Road to Ruby Creek, including crosswalks in front of Sidney Glen Elementary.
“That area of the city doesn’t have good sidewalks and we’ve got a grade school there,” Putaansuu said. “So we’re gonna make significant improvements.”
At Givens Park, the city is rehabilitating the basketball court into a dual-purpose futsal and basketball court and resurfacing tennis courts for tennis and pickleball.
Bethel Phase One is currently under design and includes two new roundabouts—at Blueberry and Salmonberry—and a complete street redesign.
“Bike lanes, sidewalks, street trees, utility improvements… and we should be under construction on that project in 2027 also,” the mayor said.
A future double-lane roundabout at Bethel and Lund is also planned. “That’ll be our next project after Bethel Phase One.”
Putaansuu also highlighted the emergence of “missing middle” housing in the McCormick area.
“Cottage-style homes, detached garages with ADUs above them. It’s a new product type in our community,” he said. “We haven’t seen it constructed in years past.”
To further encourage accessory dwelling units (ADUs), the city and county partnered to provide four pre-approved ADU building plans to residents for free.
“You can save someone tens of thousands of dollars in the design process,” he said. “You can walk in and pay your permit fees and go to work constructing an ADU immediately.”
When asked which project he’s most excited about, Putaansuu didn’t hesitate.
“Oh, the community center,” he said.