“I think the council’s at the point of being ready to adopt it… We have a general consensus,” Mayor Kim Abel said before the Aug. 27 meeting.

The plan has been undergoing public discussions for more than a year, and supporters, among them many developers, have been growing impatient with the deliberations, which sometimes backtracked on topics that seemed to have previously had consensus. A group of business owners wore construction hard hats at the July 26 meeting, attempting to send the council a clear message that it’s time to move the redevelopment of downtown forward.

Supporters have said the process has been long overdue, and that things like taller buildings were needed in order to revitalize the area and build high-quality projects. Among them is Rudy Swensen, owner of Rings & Things, who compares downtown Port Orchard to downtown Bremerton.

“Look what happened in Bremerton. That place was getting ready to be bulldozed over — and the right people got together to develop a plan,” he said in an interview earlier this summer. He believes the Port Orchard plan is the only way to bring modern buildings downtown while keeping the historic character. He and former city councilman Ron Rider are among several people who have projects on the drawing board and have been closely watching the height restriction discussions. Rider owns the building next door to Swensen’s that houses the Moon Dog Tavern. The pair want to combine their properties and develop a new building with retail on Bay Street, and condos above. But they are hamstrung until the city adopts the DOD so they know how tall they will be allowed to build.

Opponents of the plan, however, have been concerned about the height and other issues, saying the bigger scale will not only impact views and property values, but it’s also not appropriate for Port Orchard. The neighbors organized an opposition group known as the Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA), and the issue has spilled into this year’s election campaign.

City Council candidates Cindy Lucarelli and Jerry Childs, both residents of Kitsap Street, were among the more vocal opponents of the proposal. They appear to be part of a “slate” of candidates running primarily in opposition to the DOD, with most other issues secondary. Some observers have even questioned whether the council deliberately has delayed adoption due to the upcoming election. Several incumbents are running for reelection, including Rita Dilenno, who has dwelled upon almost every bit of minutiae in the DOD proposal.

Lucarelli, who lives within a block of the DOD and is relatively new to the area, said she was pulled into the debate after hearing her neighbors’ concerns. She said she is concerned about the size of development the DOD ordinance would allow and the loss of the natural character of downtown, among many other things. She questions why the ordinance would be adopted without first adopting a plan for the entire city, and says the EDAW plan that was developed in December 2004, and sheved by the council would have been the best place to start as well as a good way to look at the whole picture.

“I see so many contradictions and flaws with the (DOD) plan,” she said. “Enforcing it will be a nightmare… I’d love to see Port Orchard as a destination. It takes a lot of planning to make that happen… (But this plan) is a mistake.”

Lucarelli, who is running against incumbent John Clauson, says she’s sensed a lot of frustration with the council as she’s been out campaigning, a sentiment that has been echoed in the press by other new candidates.

Clauson too says he is frustrated, as are some other existing members of the council.

“This is a major change for our communtity — especially when talking about the heights as well as the design characteristics. Although I believe it took longer than it needed to, it has given everyone an opportunity to voice their concerns,” Clauson noted. “And unlike when the the EDAW plan was developed, we now have people standing by willing to invest their private dollars in downtown.”

He added, “I think it’s possible to be able to incorporate parts of the EDAW plan within this, and not shelve it completely. But the EDAW plan isn’t the the complete answer to this situation.”

Another sitting council member, Rick Wyatt said he is very frustrated as well, and noted that he took the lead in implementing the partof the EDAW plan that called for removal of the marque.

“Yes, this has been a very long process,” Wyatt agreed. “But what some folks don’t understand, is that this will govern how we develop for the next 50 years or more. We owe it to the citizens to take the time to make sure we do it right.”.