Welcome to Manchester, WA 98353
Newsletter
Ship traffic (top), Mt Rainier (middle), occasional snow in winter (below)
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Welcome to the Manchester Newsletter, produced in cooperation with the various groups of volunteers who work to improve our community. According to Kitsap County, our village occupies an area bounded by Nebraska Street eastward to the water and from Mile Hill northward to the Navy Fuel Depot. The village includes the settlements of Manchester, Colchester and Colby.
Manchester is an old settlement on the western shore of Puget Sound, just south of Bainbridge Island. The community is blessed with stunning views of the Puget Sound, Mount Rainier and the Seattle skyline, plus a great deal of ship traffic travelling along the far coast. Part of the view is helped by topography: the village is spread across a crescent shaped, east facing hill that catches the morning sun, weather permitting.
Two decades ago, the State of Washington mandated that each county create a land-use plan to provide for orderly development. The idea was to regulate urban growth and industrial areas while preserving agricultural and forest lands. In 1997, Kitsap County designated Manchester, a largely rural community, as a candidate for protected status. Five years later, the designation was official and Manchester became a Limited Area of More Intensive Rural Development (LAMIRD). The impact is primarily seen in our zoning ordances, which create a small commercial zone near the Manchester docks, a surrounding area with a maximum of 4 homes per acre and the remainder, set at 2 per acre. In addition, the community has strong view ordances that regulate the height of buildings so as to protect the views of neighbors. These ordances were developed nearly a decade ago through meetings between Manchester residents and County staff.
Manchester is served by buses from Kitsap Transportation, taking riders to major shopping and medical centers, the Port Orchard foot ferry and Washington State Ferry at Southworth. The foot ferry connects Port Orchard with the Bremerton ferry and thus to downtown Seattle.
More information about public transportation is available online, including fares, routes and timetables.
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As you know, Manchester has been selected to participate in a low impact development project to address storm water issues. Low Impact Development (LID) is an attempt to find solutions to old problems using methods that are friendly to the environment. In the case of storm water management, the approaches are wide-ranging -- from permeable surfaces to rain gardens, which allow rain to settle into the water table. The goal is to curb the potential for flooding, erosion and pollution.
Kitsap County's Surface and Storm Water Management Program (SWMM) has undertaken a study to evaluate and rank the various sites in Manchester to be improved. These sites are listed along with a map and the criteria used to rank them. It is expected that work on the highest priority sites will begin late this year or the early part of next year.
GEOLOGY TYPE
Soil Type/Infiltration Potential
Regional Topography
Slope (0-3%, 3-5%, >5%)
Risk to Environment - aquifers/wells, steep slope, stream, etc.
Available Area
Effective Impervious Area Flowing to Site
ECOLOGICAL / HYDROLOGICAL FUNCTION
Flow Storage Potential
Conveyance Potential
Water Quality Treatment Potential
Identified Concerns within Subbasin
Potential Impact on Basin
ECONOMIC / COST FACTORS
Capital Cost
O&M Costs
Potential to Replicate/Leverage
Hazards/Risks to Existing Infrastructure
Potential for Multiple Funding Sources
SOCIAL / COMMUNITY FACTORS
Multiple benefits potential (walkways, parking, parks, bike trails, other CIP projects)
Conflicting uses (parking in ROW, etc.)
Supports County/Community Goals (walkability, commerce, etc) or Comprehensive Plan
Educational Value and Visibility
Supports Health & Safety
Here is the list of potential sites for the Manchester Storm Water Retrofit project. The areas are listed 1 through 30 but this in not a rank of project importance. The ranking will be discussed during a public meeting on 25 October, 6:30 PM, in the Manchester Library. The number listed below refers to the map location .
#Map Location
32 California Ave detention pond, between Harrison and Van Buren
62 2nd Ave, north of main, improve drainage
3 Downtown vacant lot, Colchester and Main, detention pond pocket park
15 Manchester Community Church,
39 Alaska Ave detention pond, between Harrison and Polk, possible park
72 Madrone Ave at Cedar, improved drainage
27 E. Manchester Road detention pond
26 E. Manchester Court
24 E. Collin Rd, end
29 E. Raintree Ln
6 Village Center, Main and Colchester
9 Spring Street SE
14 Manchester Community Church parking lot
25 East Collins
5 Colchester Drive businesses, between Main and Spruce
35 E Polk Ave detention pond
40 E. California ditches
65 Third Ave E, north of Main
66 Madrone Ave E Main Street corner
67 West side of Valley Ave E, between Main and Hemlock
59 E. Daniels Loop, lot on south side midway up the street
30 E. Ramblewood Street
18 California Ave above Chester Rd
2 Shopping Center parking strip next to Port property
58 Dennison Ln
41 Alaska Ave ditches between Patricia and Truman
7 Cedar Street/Madrone Ave at E Brock
71 Hemlock Street between Valley Ave and Spring
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To help residents understand the upcoming storm water retrofit projects, the potential sites are organized into categories and by neighborhoods. The categories are streets that run north/south (relatively level) and east/west (sloping to steep). The neighborhoods are (a) California and streets running east and perpendicular from California, (b) Madrone/Main and streets intersecting, and (c) Colchester north of Duncan Creek. Two other sites, Dennison and Daniels Loop, are under consideration but not discussed here.
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Steep slopes.
Main/Madrone, Spruce and Hemlock are steep roadways running between Alaska and Colchester, east to west. The concept here is to slow storm water with a series of cascades. Clearly, these cascades will have to be narrower but the concept is clear.
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Gradual Slopes
Collins Rd, Manchester Ct, Raintree and Ramblewood are non-through streets off California and slope toward the Puget Sound. Here is an example of what could be done to prevent flooding
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Level Roadways
California, Alaska, Spring, 2nd and 3rd Avenues, as well as Valley, run north/south and are fairly level. Here are two examples of what could be done. As with the other examples, what is actually done will depend on soils, cost, right of ways, etc. |
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Business District
The intersection of Colchester and Main, running south toward Duncan Creek to the intersection with Spruce Street, is a possible site. Here is an example of what might be done to control flooding. (See Selection Criteria) |
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