Economic Development
Kitsap County Comprehensive Plan Chapter - Economic Development
Economic Development Chapter
Kitsap County is an integral part of the Central Puget Sound Regional Economy (Region), one of the most diverse, innovative, and competitive regional economies in the world; known around the globe as The Greater Seattle Market.
The Region is comprised of four counties, (Snohomish, King, Pierce and Kitsap), surrounding the Central Puget Sound, and is charged by the Economic Development Agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce to jointly plan for transportation, land use, and economic development needs of the Region.
The region’s economy is highly diverse and home to 15 economic clusters (a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses and organizations), of which 11 are present in Kitsap County.
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Guiding Directives
Kitsap County recognizes that adequate land use planning, efficient regulatory processes, solid infrastructure, and environmental protections are key to a stable, prosperous and diversified economy that can provide a setting for Kitsap businesses to grow, living-wage jobs for residents and retain and encourage new businesses to locate in the County. At this time the following industry sectors highlight economic development, either for longevity or potential for growth. An important directive in this effort is the encouragement of expansion/recruitment of these recognized industries:
- Advanced Manufacturing
- Aerospace
- Maritime
- Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), e.g., office furniture and equipment, medical devises, fishing and sporting goods, and energy efficient products
- Clean Technology
- Architectural and engineering services
- Consulting
- Research and Development
- Energy distribution
- Information Technology
- Healthcare
- Military (Defense)
- Regional Retail
- Construction
- Business Services
- Finance and Insurance
- Advertising and Marketing
- Legal Services
- Property Management Food Processing
- Tourism (including ecotourism and agritourism)
The County continues to encourage economic development while at the same time avoiding concentrating industrial and commercial uses in environmentally sensitive areas and maintaining a high quality of life to attract desired businesses.
Goals and Policies
Economic Development Goal 1. Promote a healthy and diverse economy that provides for a strong and diverse tax base, encourages business formation, retention, and expansion; creates industrial and professional business and employment opportunities to attract new business to the County.
Economic Development Policy 1. Kitsap County will work to invest adequate funding for long- term economic development. Seek a cooperative partnership among the County , cities, tribal governments, port and other local districts, the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance (KEDA) , and the private sector, to share in the investments relating to industrial, commercial, and technology business retention, expansion, startup and recruitment activities. The partnership should encourage that each agency work to improve its business retention, expansion, startup and recruitment activities.
Economic Development Policy 2. Develop partnerships and cooperative efforts among government, private corporations, individual and nonprofit entities to plan, finance and implement economic development goals and to efficiently provide cost-effective capital improvements that are needed by commerce and industry.
Economic Development Policy 3. Provide a diverse mix and appropriate range of commercial, industrial and business land uses that will encourage economic activity capable of providing living-wage jobs and reasonably scaled to the needs of the community.
Economic Development Policy 4. Cooperate and coordinate efforts of the local government staff and resources to ensure that plans are implemented in a timely manner.
Economic Development Policy 5. Work with the official county tourism agency, port districts, private sector, other qualified tourism related entities and user groups to identify current and potential visitor and event amenities and services.
Economic Development Policy 6. Develop partnerships to facilitate collaboration among government, private, nonprofit and individual entities to support tourism development, strategies and programs.
Economic Development Goal 2. Support and develop new methods of insuring sustainable business development that create living wage jobs and economic opportunities consistent with local and regional plans.
Economic Development Policy 7. Encourage full utilization and development of industrially and commercially zoned areas.
Economic Development Policy 8. Promote revitalization within existing developed industrial and commercial areas.
Economic Development Policy 9. Encourage mixed use developments within commercial districts that will enhance the visual, economic, and environmental quality of these areas and improve the transition between commercial and residential districts.
Economic Development Policy 10. Develop standards for industrial and commercial development that identify appropriate site size for different types of areas, appropriate types of uses, and standards for design that encourage attractive and efficiently functioning areas.
Economic Development Policy 11. Recognize a wide variety of cultural, tourism, and active recreational programs with regional and neighborhood facilities, providing well-rounded recreational and tourism opportunities.
Economic Development Policy 12. Continue to develop, revise and provide for periodic review of development standards, the zoning code and related ordinances to build a streamlined, understandable, consistent and predictable building, land use and development application procedure.
Economic Development Policy 13. Work with nonprofit groups that support industry sectors identified by the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance and the Puget Sound Regional Council .
Economic Development Policy 14. Recognize the importance of excellent schools as a method to attract and retain businesses and educate a skilled workforce.
Economic Development Goal 3. Provide for the location and design of targeted sector industry needs, transportation, port district activities as well as tourism and visitor amenities, commerce and other developments that are dependent upon a shoreline location and/or use, when the shoreline can accommodate such development.
Economic Development Policy 15. Support development of enterprise areas that stimulate economic development for investors who launch businesses in port and waterfront properties.
Economic Development Policy 16. Continue to work with port districts, and recognize their role as one of Kitsap's important contributors to the County’s economic vitality.
Economic Development Policy 17. Develop a Memorandum of Understanding between the County and the Port Districts in Unincorporated Kitsap County to establish guidelines to promote cooperation in achieving the economic goals of the Ports and the County.
Economic Development Policy 18. Recognize the value of water-related activities as designated by the Shoreline Master Program.
Economic Development Policy 19. Support development of tourism related activities along the shoreline compatible with the Shoreline Master Program .
Economic Development Policy 20. Support growth in the maritime industry, one of the County’s important industry sectors.
Economic Development Policy 21. Consider and identify the vital connection between protection of Kitsap County’s rural character, environmental assets and environmental benefits and economic opportunities.
Economic Development Policy 22. Support tourism to enhance the local economy.
Economic Development Policy 23. Foster at local regional, state, and national levels, an environment in which Kitsap supports tourism activities.
Economic Development Goal 4. Support the further development of the Technology sector and business technology use in Kitsap County.
Economic Development Policy 24. Support plans that evaluate and recommend changes that accommodate technology infrastructure for business growth.
Economic Development Policy 25. Support the technology sector with workforce development programs and policies that meet the needs of technology and technology led businesses.
Economic Development Policy 26. Support growth of technology entrepreneurship through creative and collaborative efforts by individuals, business and organizations.
Economic Development Policy 27. The County recognizes Internet Service connectivity is a valuable utility for both the urban and rural residents.
Economic Development Policy 28. The County will continue to support and encourage private sector Internet Service Providers to offer service in urban areas while also establishing the authority for agencies like KPUD to provide retail broadband service to urban and rural “under- served” residents.
Economic Development Goal 5. Support the local food economy.
Economic Development Policy 29. Expand the county’s capacity to produce, process, distribute and access local foods.
Economic Development Policy 30. Support, including agro-tourism and value-added programs that will stimulate economic growth.
Economic Development Policy 31. Strengthen the rural and urban economies through organizational partnerships that support food system education.
Economic Development Policy 32. Promote inter-agency and intergovernmental cooperation to expand community gardening opportunities.
Economic Development Policy 33. Strengthen the food value chain by supporting new congregation and distribution opportunities such as farm stands, farmer’s markets, and food hubs.
Economic Development Policy 34. Support retail sales and local food economy by encouraging locally based food production, distribution, and choice through the support of community gardens, school gardens, farm-to-school programs, farmers or public markets, and other small-scale, collaborative initiatives.
Economic Development Policy 35. Support economic development opportunities related to local urban and rural agriculture. Assess and plan for community-supported agriculture programs, local food processing, wholesaling, and distribution facilities to connect local agriculture to markets such as retailers, restaurants, schools, hospitals, and other institutions.
Economic Development Policy 36. Foster urban agriculture opportunities by promoting flexibility in development regulations.
Economic Development Policy 37. Review and revise conditional use regulations to create a more agriculture- supportive climate
Economic Development Policy 38. Assess whether publicly owned properties / facilities that may be currently underutilized could be made available for one or more facets of the food system loop.
Economic Development Strategies
Strategy 1 – Business Climate
Supports policies 1-30
- Partnerships: In partnership with other jurisdictions, ports and agencies, review Buildable Lands Report in terms of targeted industry sector growth and utilize land use map for future growth, development and re- development.
- Partnerships: Continue to strengthen partnerships to improve and expand healthy local food access.
- Finance and Budget: Continue multi-agency and jurisdiction with private sector funding of designated ADO (Associate Development Organization), i.e. Kitsap Economic Development Alliance (KEDA) that is the economic development agency for all jurisdictions, with planned increases as deemed necessary to maintain and/or create programs for business growth in the county.
- Program and Projects: Utilizing the ADO and other partner agencies and organizations, update, revise or create policies and programs as warranted to support target industry sectors.
Strategy 2 – Food Policy Council
Supports policies 31-40
- Work cooperatively to encourage affordable land for farmers through a range of potential innovations and new business models.
- Foster consistency of food policy across jurisdictions.
- Promote marketing opportunities across the food system.
- Raise the level of county-wide public awareness and understanding of Kitsap County agriculture, including its ecological, economic, open space and cultural value, and its importance to local food security.
- Assess opportunities to reduce regulatory burdens and related expenses through means, such as, streamlining of taxation exemption processes.
- Develop and adopt a Right-to-Farm ordinance.
- Encourage locally based food production, distribution, and choice through the support of community gardens, school gardens, farm-to-school programs, farmers or public markets, and other small-scale, collaborative initiatives.
- Educate the agricultural community of the importance of business and succession planning, and provide resource assistance.
- Promote youth engagement in agricultural activities.
- Foster, at the local, regional and federal level, a culture in which Kitsap supports food system activities.
- Engage decision makers, agencies, tribal governments and the public through collaboration with agricultural associations, producers, processors and distributors to promote the food system.
- Consider allowing alternative retail models including pop-ups and mobile markets. Increase market opportunities for producers including the use of community gathering places as venues for local food sales.
- Encourage establishment of sustainable community processing centers.
- Expand distribution to retail and wholesale buyers to improve consistency in food quantity, quality and availability (e.g., food hubs).
- Encourage partnerships that support opportunities for local and regional marketing, distribution and sales.
- Promote institutional procurement that favors local and regional food sourcing by county, school and other governmental agencies and local employers.
- Create and update a county-wide food assessment.
- Work with nonprofit partners and local food system members to support processing both on and off farms.
Resources and Related Links