The first major phase of commercial development at Gig Harbor North, the retail center situated just across the Pierce side of the Pierce-Kitsap county line, continues to garner praise for an innovative design that’s made the big-box retail project palatable to development-sensitive Gig Harbor residents.

Ironically, two of the anchor tenants at Gig Harbor North, Home Depot and Target, were originally slated to build at the intersection of Sedgewick and Sidney Roads in South Kitsap. But after nearly eight years of political wrangling over environmental, zoning and comprehensive plan issues with Kitsap County, the retailers moved up the road to business-friendly Pierce County when the opportunity presented itself.

It is estimated that South Kitsap residents now spending their money in Pierce County will drain in excess of $750,000 annually in sales tax revenue from Kitsap’s coffers — adding to an already critical budget problem.

Meanwhile, Gig Harbor’s Design Review Board (DRB), working from the Design Review Manual, is credited with the high quality project that resulted in a development that “fits” into the area. The DRB provided the legal horsepower to enforce design standards while permitting the flexibility to pursue a creative approach to the project.

It was Steve Osguthorpe, an associate planner, who drafted the guidelines leading to implementation of the DRB and the Design Review Manual. Coincidentally, he left the city three years ago, but returned earlier this year.

The development’s primary tenants — Home Depot, Albertsons and Target — are set back behind substantial street-fronting structures in a not-by-the-book placement that has proven popular with most factions of the Gig Harbor’s diverse political community.

The project has been heaped with praise — including by factions originally opposed to it — for how well the design review process worked in spite of the fact parts of it don’t strictly conform to by-the-book interpretations. It was allowing those deviations in return for other considerations that have contributed to Gig Harbor North’s “village” ambiance.

The retail complex is situated on about 50 acres. However, more than 400 acres of commercial and residential land between Peacock Hill Avenue and state Route 16 along Borgen Boulevard remain undeveloped, while proposed amendments to Gig Harbor’s comprehensive plan call for increased commercial intensity in the area. If approved, the amendment would allow additional anchor-caliber retail tenants, including Costco, who has reportedly agreed to locate there.

Olympic Property Group, which owns about 300 of those acres, stands to benefit the most by approval. As ULID 6 and the South Kitsap Industrial Area work their way through Kitsap’s seemingly never-ending, snail’s-pace planning processes, Olympic Property Group envisions a community containing commercial, residential and recreational elements, which, because of its proximity to South Kitsap, could have a negative impact on some of the commercial development eventually planned for there.

Meanwhile, the wrangling at Sedgewick and Sidney continues with Kitsap County trying to come to an agreement with the City of Port Orchard for master planning all of South Kitsap — as Gig Harbor moves forward with the type of economic development even initial opponents praise — and sales tax revenues continue to leave Kitsap County.