Business owners and community members voiced frustration over the city’s permitting process and event restrictions during public comments at the Port Orchard City Council meeting March 11.
Sylvia Morgan, co-owner of Peninsula Bevco, spoke about difficulties her business has faced with the city’s permitting system while trying to expand into an adjacent space for a banquet room. She said the only structural change is cutting a hole in a non-weight-bearing wall, but the approval process has been slow and confusing.
“We are struggling with the new permitting process with the city of Port Orchard,” Morgan said, adding her son Cody has been dealing with it.
In a letter read at the meeting, Cody Morgan criticized the system with an “F” rating, saying that in the past, city inspectors provided direct guidance and approvals typically took no more than two months.
“To back that rating up, I was told to apply online only to find out two weeks later that I have done the wrong permit because the one I needed wasn’t available online,” Morgan wrote. “No one at the community development could answer any of my permit questions or even if what I wanted to do would be allowed because they hired a private consultant to review all the applications.”
He suggested the city replace the consultant with local inspectors or allow businesses to hire their own inspectors to certify compliance with city codes.
Event restrictions were another concern, particularly for supporters of the annual Saints Car Club Cruz, a long-running downtown show. The annual car show, which has been a staple summer event on the downtown Port Orchard waterfront, has been moved to the Rodeo Drive-In Theater in Bremerton and will be held Aug. 10 after organizers and the city of Port Orchard failed to reach an agreement on safety requirements. Residents objected to a new interpretation of city rules preventing vehicles from leaving during the event, citing safety concerns.
Teresa Fox urged the City Council to step in and resolve the issue, arguing that the restriction is unnecessary and could harm attendance. “The city municipal code hasn’t changed. What has changed this year is city staff’s interpretation of the application of the code,” Fox said. “Vehicle departures can be safely accommodated by using staff escorts and high-visibility clothing, radios and printing on entrance materials that vehicles must be escorted out by staff.”
Fox warned that denying the permit could be bad for the city. “When you are considering risk, consider the failure to issue a must-issue permit under the people’s reserved right to public assembly and the liability that you guys are going to face from a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the city or against public servants individually if you don’t approve the permit.”
Van A. Vlist, who helped launch the event in 1987, emphasized its history of safe operation and its economic benefits to the city. “This event has been built as Kitsap County’s largest one-day festival,” Vlist said. “It promotes a sense of civic pride. More so today, it creates unity in a time where unity is sorely needed.”
Sarah Butler, speaking on behalf of the Port Orchard Waterfront Alliance, said downtown businesses are already struggling, and not coming to a compromise for the event could make things worse. “It brings in revenue for the businesses downtown,” Butler said. “Our downtown is dying, and there are only so many of us who can build it back up.”