Kitsap County, WA Environmental Rules: Boat Dock Permits (2026)

160, part of the county's Shoreline Master Program, governs any new pier, dock, float, or mooring buoy on shorelines in the unincorporated county, not inside Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, or Bainbridge Island. In the Natural shoreline environment, single-use mooring is prohibited outright and joint or public use is prohibited unless the adjoining upland is a public park, in which case up to two mooring buoys may be permitted with a Substantial Development Permit (SDP). In the Rural Conservancy, Urban Conservancy, Shoreline Residential, and High Intensity designations, any mooring structure requires an SDP.

500. The application must show tideland ownership, structure size and location relative to property lines and the ordinary high water mark, and, for residential moorage, proof that no public moorage within ten driving miles is adequate. Buoys are preferred over piers and docks; single-use structures are barred unless a joint-use facility is shown infeasible, and new residential development of two or more dwellings is limited to one joint-use community dock. Design standards require functional grating covering at least 24 percent open area on new or more-than-50-percent-replaced piers, ban creosote, chromate copper arsenate, and pentachlorophenol-treated wood in decking or pilings, prohibit tires in any above- or below-water structure, and require replacement covered moorage to use roofing rated at 90 percent or better light transmittance. Maintenance replacing more than 50 percent of an existing structure re-triggers the full application requirements.