EAST BREMERTON — A lot near the county's forested Illahee Preserve was supposed to have an All Secure Storage business built on it over a decade ago.

But the parcel remains empty amid a fight between stewards of the preserve, concerned about development at the site, and the developer of the storage business. A move by the county and the developer this month will mean more delay, but also makes it possible for the project to move along.

The owner of the property, Reinout van Beynum, said he's about to give up.

“For 13 years I have made numerous attempts to sit down with people of Illahee to see if we can work out our differences," van Beynum said. "They flat out refuse to sit down with me"

The most recent development in the long-running saga was the county, in conjunction with van Beynum, this month withdrawing the original State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) mitigated determination of non-significance so a new one can be submitted to reflect current conditions of the property.

The proposed three-story storage unit on the northwest side of the preserve near NE McWilliams Road and Highway 303 has been in the works since 2006. But it was discovered when the parcel was cleared that a "class four" wetland was found on the property. The county then issued its mitigated determination of non-significance in 2007, so the property owner could alter the wetland and fund habitat restoration on a property near the proposed storage site.

But the Illahee Forest Preserve, a volunteer group of land stewards and environmentalists, filed an appeal on this determination. Jim Aho, a member of the Illahee Forest Preserve, said that although the property owner could modify the wetland, he couldn’t do that to a stream.

“With streams you have to have required buffers, so they did not have any required buffers for the stream,” Aho said. “They basically ignored the stream.”

In 2016 All-Secure Storage provided revised site plans with the SEPA appeal to Kitsap County's Department of Community Development (DCD). The record was still left open, and in 2017 scientists and those involved in the storage unit debate traversed the area to examine the wetland.

The property is still undeveloped because of new environmental information involving the stream and wetlands that must be taken into account.

"It's a matter of sorting it out and reissuing the SEPA determination to reflect the new environmental information," said Jeff Smith, senior planner for Kitsap DCD.

Aho said to build the proposed storage unit, the wetland would be dug up and a 10-foot retaining wall would be put in with the stream right next to it.

“We were saying, how does that make sense? How can you have environmental laws and buffers and so forth, then you’re going to put a big commercial thing right next to a park and stream and you’re going to dig up a wetland?” Aho asked. “That was the most egregious thing I’ve ever seen and yet the county was going to go ahead and do that.”

Now, largely because of a 2018 identification of a fish-bearing stream nearby, the determination of non-significance has been withdrawn. The DCD has asked the state to make the stream typing official, said Scott Diener, Kitsap County DCD manager of development services and engineering. Consequently, the SEPA appeal submitted by the Illahee Forest Preserve is moot.

The wetland biologist must submit an updated SEPA checklist, but the project is vested, meaning it can move forward.

Once the revised SEPA checklist is done and a new or revised determination is made, interested parties like the Illahee Forest Preserve are notified so they have the opportunity to appeal again, said Steve Heacock, DCD senior environmental planner.

Smith said the county is still trying to grapple with the addition of the stream and how it will play into the project.

"It's all being evaluated based on that new information," Smith said. "We withdrew the SEPA determination we had issued before. Based on new information, it made sense to issue another determination."

The determination was withdrawn also in part because of need for mitigation for effects on wetlands, Diener said. The plan for that was authorized this year by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and would mitigate the effects near Steele Creek and Rolling Hills Golf Course.

“We understand the project can accommodate these issues but will need the applicant to revise the project scope to show this,” Diener said. He said the department isn't yet sure when a new SEPA determination will be issued.

Van Beynum said he’s considering marketing the property because of how long the process has taken. At the beginning of the Illahee Forest Preserve’s fight, van Beynum said the hearing examiner directed the appellants and the applicant to sit down and see if they could work out their differences.

“I can’t resolve things when they refuse to sit down and resolve things,” he said.

Van Beynum contends that the Illahee Forest Preserve is doing what it can to make it uneconomical for the storage unit to happen. He has $550,000 invested in the property.

There have been talks of the stewards of the preserve purchasing the 2.92-acre property, but that can’t happen without the help of grants, Aho said. The property changed from a mixed-use designation to commercial use, so the price is higher.

"The owner actually gave us a landowner agreement that he’d sell to us if we get the money," Aho said. "And we’d still like to buy it, but it’s commercial."

Aho said the Illahee Forest Preserve's goal is to get as much undeveloped property as it can in that area and to see the county follow its own codes.

"I think everybody that’s involved with this wants to see it decided one way or another," Diener said.