Seeking Silverdale and Central Kitsap

I wrote April 10 about developments on the community campus project. More is happening.

County Commissioners heard more about a contract with the Pierce County YMCA to build a Y facility on the Silverdale Community Campus at a special study session April 24. Sometime in early May, commissioners will receive a proposed master plan for the campus, which has been subject of work by the Central Kitsap Community Council and BRCA Architects of Tacoma for several months.

The new masterplan drawings show phase 1 of the campus development with the new Y in the northwest corner of the campus site, fronted by a large village green and otherwise flanks by surface parking lots. But the plan for the final buildout of the campus, which could take 15-20 years, eventually calls for that surface parking to be replaced with a parking structure as other buildings are added to the campus site.

Central Kitsap Commissioner Josh Brown asked for and received this week a letter of intent from the Kitsap Regional Library indicating the library’s desire to participate in the campus development by building the new Silverdale branch library at the site. The conception plan for the buildout of the site gives the library a prime position, adjacent to the village green, on a hill that looks down toward Old Town Silverdale and Dyes Inlet. Brown felt the letter of intent would signal the library’s continued interest in the development to other potential participants. A 20,000 to 25,000-square-foot library building on the campus would combine with the Y to be a considerable draw for any other tenant of the campus, which could well see mixed use commercial development on the part of the site adjacent to Silverdale Way.

As a point of disclosure, I work half time as the Kitsap Regional Library’s strategic planning manager.

The reality is that Kitsap Regional Library will not be able to move ahead with a new Silverdale branch until something happens with its future funding capacity. KRL owns only two of the nine buildings that house its libraries. The rest are owned by local governments (cities, the county, and the S’Klallam Tribe) or by non-profit organizations on Bainbridge and in Manchester that were established to build and maintain the local library branches there. KRL owns it’s central branch on Sylvan Way and the totally inadequate Silverdale branch library on Charlton Street in Old Town.

I say the Silverdale library is totally inadequate because it is one of the smallest branches in the system and serves the largest population area in the system. While Silverdale branch offers 1 square foot of space for each 10 residents of the Silverdale area, the eight other branch libraries average about 1 square foot for each 2.6 residents.

But the only way the library can fund a new Silverdale branch would be to pass a bond levy that would be paid for by residents in the Silverdale area (similar to the process in Poulsbo that resulted in that city’s new library building). A new library of the size envisioned for Silverdale would cost about $8 million. And the only way KRL could operate a larger branch in Silverdale is if it eventually can convince voters to raise the levy lid that now limits the growth in property tax receipts that support the library system.

Even if both things happen, it will be several years before construction could begin on a new library in Silverdale.

But when the conceptual master plan for the campus is released, and the county begins the process of permitting the master plan, Silverdale residents will have a chance to see the vision for the future of their community. It is an exciting prospect, one mentioned by many of the community leaders who have participated in this blog’s “Community Conversations.” Moving forward with the Silverdale Community Campus can help build that sense of community that is lacking in a commercial center that often seems more focused on parking lots for the Mall and big box stores than it is on the people who visit or live here.

— Jeff

On Thursday evening, I attended a meeting of a committee of the Central Kitsap Community Council. It wasn’t a particularly newsy agenda, but it was good to meet a few members of the council committee and to hear what they were saying about the ongoing development of the community campus master plan.

On January 2 this year, Sun reporter Brynn Grimley contributed the following to a wrap up report on items the staff expected to make news during 2009:

Progress Hoped for on Campus
Progress is expected this year on the proposed Central Kitsap Community Campus, a longtime dream of Silverdale residents that could move a step closer to reality.
In their last meeting of 2008, Kitsap County commissioners reached two agreements about the site of the campus, which would be located on a 12-acre plot off Randall Way.
One of the agreements was with Tacoma architectural firm BRCA Inc., which will complete architectural and engineering services for the project. BRCA will be paid $96,000 to figure out how the various possible components of the project — which could include a new library, YMCA, senior apartments, performing arts center and more — will fit together. Conceptual drawings could be ready as soon as February.
The commissioners also reached a preliminary agreement with the YMCA of Tacoma-Pierce County for construction and operation of a recreation facility at the campus. The county is pursuing grants to pay for the YMCA, which could cost $15 million. The county’s share would be $5 million; existing grants already have covered $1.8 million.
Also expected in 2009 is the county’s Silverdale incorporation study, which will analyze the impact cityhood could have on county revenues and services.
Brynn Grimley

According to the discussion Thursday, development of the master plan by BRCA continues, and there may be a public announcement of a specific plan for the community campus area sometime this spring. While past master plans were more conceptual, committee members said last night that the current version is much more specific to the site, dealing with wetlands where they exist and how wetland mitigation will take place. While not every building on the site might be identified for its eventual purpose, it sounds like this plan will include specific building sites and identify for each site the size of the building and what kinds of features it may contain.

While this particular phase of the development of the plan hasn’t been open to the public, this has been a very public discussion over a long period of time. There has been much public comment about what kinds of services should be featured in the community campus. Unless there are serious fundraising snags, the first building on the campus site will be the proposed YMCA. Committee members last night were saying the intention is still to try to break ground on the YMCA facility by the spring of 2010. The tentative budget for the Y is about $15 million, with $5 million coming from government grants, $5 million from bonds sold by the YMCA, and $5 million raised from public fundraising. If the project actually will begin in about a year, expect to see a major public fundraising push begin soon.

Of course, there are other components of the community campus.

The campus is seen as the location for the new Silverdale branch of Kitsap Regional Library. (Disclosure: I am an employee of KRL.) KRL has nine branch libraries. It only owns two of the buildings where those branches are located, the Sylvan Way main branch and the Silverdale library building on Carlton Street. Three of its nine branches are city owned (downtown Bremerton, Port Orchard and Poulsbo); one is in a county building (Kingston); one is owned by the S’Klallam Tribe (Little Boston) and two are owned by independent charitable groups (Manchester, Bainbridge Island). To pay for a new branch, KRL would probably have to sell its existing building and still come up with additional funds. So it’s unclear how soon a library could be under construction at the Silverdale community campus site.

Also mentioned in past years for the site have been senior housing that was to be built by Kitsap Consolidated Housing Authority. But the KCHA has been so damaged by the impact of the economy on its waterfront condo development in Bremerton that its not in any position to begin work on something at the Silverdale campus.

And there was at one time talk of a performing arts center at the site — something I assume that could be the new home of CSTOCK as well as a venue for live music and dance— and possibly a teen center.

Whatever is next, I hope that the people who are involved in the planning are looking for ways that various tenants of the campus site can share facilities. It would seem to make sense that every institution or organization that becomes a tenant on the campus should somehow form partnerships with each other to maximize the use of the facility and minimize the need to duplicate building spaces that they could share.

Here are some links to past stories in the Kitsap Sun about the Silverdale community campus:

This story focuses on prospects for the Y.

This July 2007 story talks about the community council’s frustration with lack of progress on the campus project and the impact that the failed 2007 library levy had on plans for the library being the “anchor tenant” of the campus. This was before the Y emerged as a possible tenant at the campus site.

This February 2007 story was about the public getting its first chance to comment on the conceptual design plan.

Please feel free to comment on whether you think the Silverdale community campus is a good idea, what you think it might contribute to the community, and what should be part of the campus.

— Jeff

A letter to the editor in Tuesday’s Kitsap Sun raised a question that is often asked, but never fully resolved, about schools in Kitsap County. Why are there five school districts in the county, the writer asks. Isn’t it wasteful to pay for the salaries of five superintendents rather than just one for the whole county?

The key phrase in the letter is “My research may not be complete,“ followed by, “… but I have often wondered why so many superintendents are needed in this area to do the job that one does in Seattle.”

Kathryn Simpson, a member of the South Kitsap School Board, responded in one way. Seattle, she noted in a comment attached to the letter, spends more per pupil than any one of the five districts in Kitsap. If each of Kitsap’s districts spent as much per pupil as the Seattle district, then Kitsap taxpayers would be spending $71 milllion more each year to educate the 37,885 students enrolled in Kitsap’s districts. Would having one superintendent’s salary instead of five, Simpson asks, be worth spending an additional $71 million per year?

Simpson makes one good point, but there are so many others. Let me raise a few of them.

First, school districts are a community institutions. They are more responsive to local citizens and to the needs of local students than regional institutions are. I don’t think anyone in Kitsap County would deny that there are differences between the communities served by the five districts. Would anyone try to argue that the communities of Bainbridge and Bremerton are so similar that they should be merged? Would anyone say that North Kitsap and South Kitsap share the same community issues, especially in educational challenges? If you were to merge all five districts to achieve the goal of having just one superintendent and paying just one superintendent’s salary, you would do away with 20 local school board members. The five-member board governing the Kitsap School District would have just one member from each of the predecessor school boards. Central Kitsap residents, would you want to have just one vote out of five when it comes to decisions about which schools to close or where school attendance boundaries should be? Do you think Bainbridge residents would want to give up a school district, and local control over schools, where 92 percent of students passed the WASL, to be in a district where barely 60 percent might pass?

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This week’s community conversation is with Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown, who represents Central Kitsap on the three-member county board. Brown is beginning his third year as County Commissioner. His family moved to Kitsap County in 1994 after his father, a pipefitter, was transferred to PSNS. He grew up in Poulsbo and graduated from North Kitsap High School.  While he was in college, his family moved to Silverdale. After working in commercial real estate, Brown returned to Kitsap, ran for the commissioner’s post, and won. He owns a home off Anderson Hill Road, slightly outside the Silverdale UGA.

Q: How do you see your role as it relates to the Silverdale/CK community?
A: As the County Commissioner that represents Central Kitsap, I believe my role is to be responsive to the needs of the unincorporated areas of my district.  If the Silverdale and Central Kitsap UGA’s were combined,
they would total over 40,000 residents — more than Bremerton, the largest city in Kitsap County.  Providing a safe community, investing in infrastructure such as roads and parks, as well as building a sense of community are my priorities.  I know my constituents rely on me to make sure that their voices are heard.  
Q: What’s your favorite thing about Silverdale/CK?
A: The people.  The thing that I enjoy the most about my position as County Commissioner is being able to meet the great residents that make up our diverse community.  From Silverdale to Seabeck, Illahee to
Crosby, we have an amazing amount of people who are dedicated to making their community a better place to live, now and in the future.  I think part of this is because we have a lot of military families in Kitsap who — after travelling around the country and world — choose to  live and retire here because of its natural  beauty and quality of life. These folks have been dedicated public servants in their professional lives, dedicated themselves to their community is a natural extension.

Q: If you were “mayor” of Silverdale, what’s the first new policy you would implement?
A: Since Silverdale is unincorporated, the County is responsible for providing local services.  While it’s not a policy per say, I have devoted a lot of attention to ensuring the Harrison Hospital expansion in Silverdale is a success.  This project will not only add a new 90 bed hospital in our community, but will provide hundreds of family wage jobs, access to vital medical facilities and spur ancillary development that will transform Silverdale into the health care center of Kitsap County. We have added flexibility to our planning code and are examining ways to enhance infrastructure to support this development. 

Q: What place do you consider the public gathering place of Silverdale, and what do you think that says about us?
A: Some might say the Mall, but I would disagree.  I think Old Town Silverdale is the public gathering place.  The shops, restaurants, along with Waterfront Park provide a quintessential small town feeling. The library and Linder Field provide additional amenities for people to enjoy. I really enjoy it!  A close second in my mind would be the Clear Creek Trail system.  I know many folks who routinely use the trail to visit with friends while enjoying the fresh air. 

Q:. What things do you think stand in the way of building a better sense of community in Silverdale/CK, and what would you do about them if you could?
A: For many years, the community has been desirous of developing the Central Kitsap Community Campus which would be home to new Silverdale branch library, recreation/community center facilities, a performing
arts venue, and senior housing.  This past year, we completed the acquisition of a vital parcel to develop the Campus.  The Kitsap Regional Library is committed to developing a plan to build a new library in Silverdale and we have focused on developing a partnership to build a new YMCA which would have the potential of serving 15,000 residents. The County has engaged the same firm that developed the Gig Harbor YMCA to assist with site planning and developing a YMCA in Silverdale.  Making progress on the Community Campus in 2009 is my main focus as County Commissioner.

Thanks to Commissioner Josh Brown for participating in the blog Q&A. You can see previous interviews by clicking on the “community conversation” tag, listed under “tags” in the right hand column of this page.

I am working from a growing list of people who I hope to interview for the blog to discuss building a sense of community in Silverdale and Central Kitsap. If there’s someone you think should be interviewed for the blog, please send your suggestion to me at seekingsilverdale@gmail.com.

— Jeff   

In a story last week, Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun staff wrote about how our regional library branches are seeing an increase in use with the decline in the economy. In hard times, people grow even more to appreciate the services offered by the library system, including internet access to job hunting; reference guides for doing resumes; and access to free materials for which patrons would otherwise have to pay.

The Kitsap Regional Library system has not been immune to the economic downturn and to the limitations forced on it by the recession. In a previously story, the Sun explained that the library board this year approved a balanced budget for KRL that avoided any staff layoffs, but did require further reduction in hours the branches are open and did require library employees to forego any pay increases this year. The library system will spend 7.6 percent less in 2009 than it did in 2008.

This is at a time when demands on the system are increasing, not decreasing. The library board of trustees, meeting Tuesday night, saw a demonstration of a new program that will help KRL librarians respond to public requests more efficiently and effectively. New software the librarians have been using since Jan. 1 allows patrons to ask questions of the librarians through the KRL web site. The questions can be standard reference questions or questions about a patron’s account. The software allows any of the system’s librarians to respond to questions, not just the staff of reference librarians at the main branch on Sylvan Way. The questions can be tracked and anyone on the system can see what patrons are being told. The answers to frequently asked questions can be reused so librarians do not have to rewrite or re-research them. The library system has already seen an increase in the number of public questions and requests being submitted to the system in the first two months of its operation.

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I wanted to call your attention to Marietta Nelson’s story in today’s Kitsap Sun about Central Kitsap High School teacher and librarian Elizabeth Blandin.

Blandin shared a story from her life with CK High students this week as part of Black History Month. The story was about how Blandin, raised Irish Catholic in 1960s Pennsylvania, discovered after her father’s death that he had “passed” from black to white society upon his enlistment in the Navy during World War II. It was as simply as checking the box that said he was white.

His wife and children never knew of his background. After his death in 2001, Blandin and her siblings started to look into her father’s family history and ultimately discovered his secret. She moved to New Orleans and discovered a whole family she had never known existed.

It’s an extremely compelling story, and a perfect launching pad for a discussion about race during Black History Month. Students at CK who were able to hear her presentation were fortunate for the thought-provoking opportunity.

Was Blandin the same person after discovering her father was African American as she was the day before? Of course she was; but of course she wasn’t. Would anyone have reason to view her differently after her discovery than they did before? Of course they wouldn’t; but at one time in this country, of course they would.

Those among us in these times who would still seek racial “purity” need to know that there is no such thing. There is only purity of the human spirit. Thanks to Blandin for sharing her story with our kids.

— Jeff

I took advantage of the sun on Monday to take a walk on the Clear Creek Trail.

It was obvious that I wasn’t the only one who thought about doing so. While in the past few months there have been times when I haven’t seen anyone while taking walks on the trail, on President’s Day afternoon, there were dozens of people out on the trail.

When I was just about home yesterday, I ran into a neighbor walking her dog, and we talked for a while. I said I had been on the trail, and she commented that the trail is like Silverdale’s crown jewel. I couldn’t agree more, and neither could the people I encountered on the trail Monday.

What struck me as I walked, and as I greeted people who I saw, was that the simple act of walking in public brings people together. There wasn’t a single person I passed yesterday who didn’t return my greeting, or initiate a greeting. I had more human contact in an hour along the trail than you get in a year driving a car around Silverdale.

We absolutely need to find a way to make Silverdale more pedestrian friendly. If anything, the way Silverdale was designed discourages walking between stores and from one area to another. Long term, Silverdale businesses will be better served if they encourage people to leave their cars and walk in the community. And, long term, Silverdale residents will be better served, healthwise, if they leave their cars in one place and walk to multiple spots to do their errands.

As a community, we should be looking for ways to expand the Clear Creek Trail, and to make walking in Silverdale a pleasure, not a scary experience.

— Jeff

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I wanted to call your attention to a story in this week’s Silverdale Life newspaper (delivered by mail to homes around Silverdale) about the recent volunteer work parties that addressed cleanup along the Clear Creek Trail.

I believe the Clear Creek Trail is one of our most valuable community assets. It’s an amenity that the community can rally around and that serves residents of all ages and all social strata. I wanted to call your attention to the great community support for these work parties (and remind you that the schedule of work parties for the trail is included in my weekly Friday post of significant community events). 

A trail is a live entity. It changes throughout the year and after every storm or season. Left to its own devices, it would soon become impassible and trash ridden. The volunteers who give their time to keep the trail in good order deserve our thanks.

— Jeff