Appeal filed for Port Townsend housing plan

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 26, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — A new nonprofit organization and four Port Townsend residents have filed an appeal of the city of Port Townsend’s Comprehensive Plan, which was passed in December.

The petition for review was filed with the Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB) and questions whether the plan’s Housing Element meets Growth Management Act (GMA) requirements to plan for affordable housing.

The GMHB is a state board appointed by the governor. The board is responsible for hearing filed review petitions regarding local legislative actions for jurisdictions under the GMA. It has statutory authority over adoption and amendments to comprehensive plans, among other things, according to a state Environment and Land Use Hearings Office webpage.

The city released a statement acknowledging the appeal and stating that until a GMHB decision finds the plan compliant or non-compliant, it will presume its compliance and operate as such.

“This process is a legal proceeding, and the city will not make specific comments on matters of the petition as the process moves forward,” the city release stated.

The appeal put forward 13 questions, the majority of which ask whether the Housing Element failed to comply with state and Jefferson County laws. Those questions focus on whether the plan adequately plans for housing across income levels, identifies and addresses displacement and racially disparate impacts, and includes enforceable anti-displacement and affordability policies.

The petition also questions whether the city demonstrated sufficient land capacity, infrastructure funding, transportation planning and concurrency to support projected growth, and whether required public participation standards were met.

Affordable Hometown Port Townsend (AHPT), the nonprofit which filed the appeal, formed in response to the adoption of the new zoning policy.

The group’s stated purpose is advocating for affordable, workforce and middle-income housing while keeping the spirit of Port Townsend neighborhoods alive, according to its website.

AHPT board president John Watts, treasurer John Capps and secretary Todd McGuire are three of the four individual petitioners listed on the appeal. They are the only board or staff listed on AHPT’s website.

Mary McCurdy, the fourth individual, is not listed as a board member or staff on the website but as one of 20 supporters. In the appeal, her email address is specific to the nonprofit.

“The record shows that people overwhelmingly wanted affordable housing measures and gentrification protections in the Port Townsend comprehensive plan, but the city council chose to pass a plan lacking any of these measures and protections,” Watts said in an AHPT statement.

While strongly voiced opposition from many community members in the ultimate stages of the plan’s adoption, such opposition was not apparent in many of the public meetings about the plan going back to April 2024.

Still, those who commented in opposition were taken off-guard and requested the plan’s adoption be delayed. Much of the opposition related to the increased density being proposed for zone II residential properties.

Requests to the city and Watts, inquiring whether dates for a hearing have been set, were not returned by press time. The GMHB’s schedule includes hearings at 9 a.m. April 17, June 1 and Oct. 14.

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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.