As the Port of Port Townsend prepares its upcoming community open house at Point Hudson Pavilion, for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29. The Leader reviewed the most recent publicly posted draft of its 2025-2030 strategic plan.

The plan is intended to provide a roadmap to guide the Port’s decision-making over the next five years, outlining its goals in key subject areas, along with strategies to help achieve those goals. Among the key issues it aims to address are ideas on how to:

• Promote a healthy local economy.

• Maintain and develop port infrastructure that supports community prosperity.

• Preserve and enhance the environment for present and future generations.

• Implement operating and capital budgets that are fiscally sound and transparent.

• Provide facilities that are both physically and financially accessible to the public.

• Partner with other local governments and stakeholders to efficiently serve Jefferson County residents.

• Inform and involve the public, and respond to community needs.

• Safeguard the community assets entrusted to the Port’s care.

The discussion draft of the plan that was posted on March 26 outlines not only these eight strategic directions, but also associated objectives to guide the Port in carrying out its mission.

The Port’s current strategic plan was adopted in March of 2010, following a year-long citizen engagement process, to develop a clear vision and objectives to direct Port activities in a manner responsive to the community’s needs.

The process facilitated public discussions about the Port’s mission and vision, yielding a document that’s steered the organization for the past 15 years, with a central conceit of “triple bottom line” decision-making, to factor in the environmental, social and economic consequences of choices made.

Following discussions at its annual retreat in March of 2025, the Port Commission directed the preparation of a streamlined, simplified and user-friendly draft of the strategic plan, that would retain the core direction of the 2010 plan.

On April 9, 2025, the Commission adopted a resolution to guide the strategic plan update process, outlining its objectives of the effort and a schedule for the planning process, and enabling the establishment of the Strategic Plan Review Committee, made up of up to 13 citizen stakeholders, to collaborate with Port staff to develop an updated plan.

The plan is expected to be sent to the commission in June or July.