Permit guides
Building permits on the Kitsap Peninsula: who issues yours
Where you build decides who issues the permit. Find your office below, then read what its own pages say about common projects, quoted and dated.
Five offices
Who issues your permit
The Cities of Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island, Bremerton and Port Orchard each issue permits inside their limits. Kitsap County covers the unincorporated communities around them.
City of Poulsbo
Building Department
Permits inside the Poulsbo city limits.
6 topic guides, quoted from the office's own pages
City of Bainbridge Island
Planning and Community Development (PCD)
Permits inside the Bainbridge Island city limits.
6 topic guides, quoted from the office's own pages
City of Bremerton
Department of Community Development (DCD)
Permits inside the Bremerton city limits.
1 topic guide, quoted from the office's own pages
City of Port Orchard
Department of Community Development, Permit Center
Permits inside the Port Orchard city limits.
1 topic guide, quoted from the office's own pages
Kitsap County Department of Community Development
Department of Community Development (DCD)
Unincorporated Kitsap County, including Kingston, Suquamish, Indianola, Hansville, Port Gamble, Silverdale, Seabeck and Keyport.
6 topic guides, quoted from the office's own pages
Kitsap County DCD's own ADU page separates unincorporated Kitsap County from "the cities of Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Port Orchard, or Poulsbo" (source, read October 13, 2026). Not sure which side of a city line your parcel is on? Ask the office, or ask us and we will find out.
Topic guides
What the offices say about common projects
Each guide quotes the rule from the office's own page and names the page and the date we read it. Where two or more offices are covered, there is a side-by-side page.
ADU (accessory dwelling unit)
Home addition
Deck
Basement finishing
Garage or shop
Fence
How these guides are made
Read from the office, quoted, dated
- We open the permit office's own page and read what it says about the project.
- We quote the rule with its numbers intact, and name the page it came from.
- Every guide lists its sources and the date we read each one.
- Anything we have not read on the office's page is not written down. We link the office's permit page for it.
- A guide whose sources were read more than 180 days ago is flagged for a re-read.
Compiled from the five permit offices' published rules; oldest source checked
Questions
Permit questions, answered from the source
Why are there five permit offices on the Kitsap Peninsula?
Each city runs its own permit office for property inside its limits: Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island, Bremerton and Port Orchard. Kitsap County's Department of Community Development issues permits for the unincorporated communities, such as Silverdale, Kingston, Suquamish and Seabeck. Which office applies to your project depends on where the parcel sits.
Can I file a building permit application on paper?
Mostly not. Kitsap County DCD says it "only accepts online permit applications for all permit types", and the City of Poulsbo began moving to electronic building permit submittals through SmartGov on January 1, 2026, with paper plans accepted only "in limited cases". Each office's guide on this site links the portal it names.
Where do these permit guides get their rules?
From the permit office's own pages, and nowhere else. We read the page, quote the rule with its numbers intact, and show the page and the date we read it. If we have not read an office's page for a topic, there is no guide for it: we link the office's permit page instead. A guide whose sources were read more than 180 days ago is flagged for a re-read.
Is this legal advice, and can the rules change?
No, it is not legal advice. Offices change thresholds, fees, codes and forms, so each guide shows the date we read the page and names the office to confirm with before you design or build.
What does JKM do about the permit on a job?
JKM pulls the permit as part of the job. We confirm which office issues it, prepare or coordinate the application with your designer, and follow it through review. The written estimate says who does what. Ask us about your address.
Next steps
Plan the project, then the permit
JKM pulls the permit as part of the job
Call Ian Laughlin at (206) 226-1988, or send the address and the scope. We find the right office and take it from there.