Good evening. I’m Beverly Parsons from Hansville. I’m co-chair of the Kitsap Environmental Coalition Steering Committee and speaking on their behalf. We deeply value diversity, caring, inclusion and grounding our orientation in science.

Earlier today we submitted comments online in which we provided ten principles about the preferred land use decision and its implementation. Our comments are posted on the KEC website for others to see.

I’ll highlight 3 points now:

1. Prioritize attention to climate and environmental conditions. Make these the first chapters in the Comp Plan. Act to protect and regenerate our ecosystems for the well-being of current and future generations of all Kitsap inhabitants including wildlife. Reduce our county’s contribution to climate change and prioritize resiliency.

2. Build your decision on Land use Alternative 2 with concentrated housing in the UGAs and increased missing middle housing. At the same time, intentionally reject Alternative 1, which has promoted contradicting development, and reject Alternative 3, which invites sprawl into rural Kitsap.

When a person goes on a diet to improve their health, they both eat certain foods AND stop eating others. What we do and what we do NOT DO are both important if we want to keep what makes Kitsap special — including our rural and natural areas.

3. It takes us all. Bring multiple voices together in ways that enable us to listen to one another, suspend our assumptions and see how we together protect our beloved Kitsap County and the many forms of life that reside here. Protecting our natural environment and caring for one another takes us all.

Ten Principles for the Preferred Land Use Decision

Highlights from submission by the Kitsap Environmental Coalition Steering Committee for the Board of County Commissioners public hearing, April 8, 2024.

1. Prioritize climate and environmental conditions in planning for the next 20 years.
2. Emphasize Land Use Alternative 2, which centers on concentrating housing in the core of the UGAs and focuses on the missing middle housing.
3. Support affordable and vibrant communities, not solely affordable housing.
4. Focus on Transportation that supports affordable living, healthy communities, and the natural environment.
5. Prioritize diverse local economies that provide a living wage and quality of life for all residents and support Earth’s regenerative systems.
6. Foster localized planning congruent with its land use zones and ecological conditions.
7. Assess the range of physical and ecological attributes in our entire Park system, defining both natural preserves and active recreation areas.
8. Revamp budgetary plans, capital facilities, and utilities to be consistent with the focus of affordable living and community within UGAs.
9. Focus on public engagement of the full range of residents (ethnicity, economic status, skills, interests) to build community, reduce financial expenditures, create new businesses that protect and restore the environment, and increase civic engagement.
10. Ensure the final draft Comp Plan is framed in terms of fulfilling the Preferred Alternative.