CAG set to decide UGA study limits tonight

Port Orchard’s Citizens Advisory Group (CAG) will meet tonight in an effort to decide the study-area boundary for the purpose of setting the new Urban Growth Area (UGA) boundaries for the city.

“The study area is the area that we will be investigating where the boundary will be,” said Kitsap County Senior Planner James Weaver, who works with the CAG.

Weaver said the study area is almost always larger than the UGA will be. The CAG will decide which areas of the overall study area will be used in planning for urban growth over the next few decades.

A boundary will be drawn and the chosen area will be known as Port Orchard’s official Urban Growth Area.

“(The CAG) has never had an official recommendation (for the study area) at this point,” Weaver said.

According to Weaver, the CAG has been waiting for the Urban Land Capacity Agreement before creating a study area, a study done by Kitsap County used to analyze available land and take into account what’s already been developed.

“It’s basically a benchmark of what lands we have for the development of the UGA that is already filled up and how much is undeveloped,” Weaver said. “Then we can start crafting where that land is going to go and where the UGA is going to be formed.”

Weaver said he hopes to finish the study area boundary tonight, stating that it would be “incredibly difficult” for the CAG to stay on it’s previously drawn out schedule if it were to fall behind.

“I’m very optimistic,” Weaver said.

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