If Port Orchard is to thrive as a city, annexation of the commercial properties in the Bethel Corridor apparently has to happen.

The money needed to build a suitable network of streets to serve the area almost certainly cannot be provided by the county or by the residents living within South Kitsap through new taxes.

Property owners in the Bethel Corridor would, of course, pay a substantial part of the cost for infrastructure, since their properties would enjoy a special benefit from the development. But their contribution would be only a share of the total cost.

Kitsap County isn’t likely to have the needed revenue, even if the county commissioners were willing to use county funds to develop the infrastructure in an area adjacent to Port Orchard, knowing that annexation is inevitable.

When the city annexes land, much of the tax revenue collected from the annexed area begins going to the city and stops going to the county.

If the county went ahead and spent its limited funds on the project, the chief beneficiary would probably be the city of Port Orchard once the inevitable annexation occurred.

The county floated the idea of forming a special district encompassing much of South Kitsap and imposing new taxes to pay for the Bethel Corridor Project, but public opinion was clearly opposed to this approach.

Under the circumstances, it seems that development can occur only when the city annexes the property and dedicates much of the tax revenue to improving its infrastructure.

Port Orchard cannot require property owners along the corridor to become part of the city, but if a promise of development with tax revenue generated in the area is made, who wouldn’t jump at the opportunity?

The two intersections that provide entrances to the city from the main arterial highway, State Route 16, are already adjacent to or within city limits.

But retail and commercial development ought to occur some distance from those intersections, if we are to avoid turning them into chokepoints rather than entries to the city and a large part of South Kitsap.

The Bethel Corridor is a logical place for such development. It’s far enough away from the intersection with Sedgwick Road to allow traffic to flow, provided road capacity is maintained at an adequate level.

A lot of attention has been paid to the old part of the city along Bay Street, but that area isn’t suitable for the kind of development the Bethel Corridor can accommodate.

The climate for businesses on Bay Street would probably improve, if the Bethel Corridor developed and attracted more people to the area. So it’s not as though focusing on Bethel requires ignoring Bay Street.

For those who dread the idea of attracting more people to businesses in Port Orchard, stop and think who many of them would be.

Where do you often go to shop and do business — Silverdale and Gig Harbor?

Rather than drive longer distances, people in Port Orchard and unincorporated parts of South Kitsap would eventually find that most of what they want and need is available in Port Orchard.

Of course, there is at least one drawback to this idea of annexing the corridor and using much of the revenue for infrastructure.

The revenue now goes to the county to pay for services provided to residents in unincorporated areas, and much of it would stop going to the county.

There would be a period of time in which South Kitsap residents as well as all others in unincorporated areas notice the impact on county government services.

If there is a way to avoid that impact, it isn’t apparent.

The infrastructure to accommodate commercial development has to be paid for, and there is no obvious source other than the revenue generated by business in the Bethel Corridor itself.

We may suffer some “growing pains,” but the goal seems to be worth the trouble.

Bob Meadows is a Port Orchard resident.