Category Archives: Kingston

Kingston residents can learn about road projects, local programs at upcoming meetings

West-Kingston_bridge_map
The West Kingston Road Bridge will be closed for eight months during construction, which is scheduled to begin in April 2017.

Two major community meetings are on the horizon for North Kitsap, updates on the Kingston Complete Streets project Tuesday and a community open house for local organizations and events later this month.

The county is presenting the latest design renderings and plans for the complete streets project, which includes reconstruction of the West Kingston Road Bridge.

The project also includes road construction from the ferry terminal to Lindvog Road and from 3rd Street to the Village Green off West Kingston Road.

The meeting is schedule for Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 4 p.m to 8 p.m. at the Kingston Community Center, 11212 NE State Highway 104.

The new bridge and culvert will cost about $2.9 million, and is being funded by the U.S. Navy, according to Kitsap County.

The road will be closed about eight months for the project, which is expected to start in April 2017.

Read more about the project on the county’s website.

The Kingston Community Open House later this month will feature county departments with local project information and North Kitsap organizations that provide local programs and services, such as The Port of Kingston, the North Kitsap School District and other nonprofits.

The open house is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Kingston Middle School on West Kingston Road.

Kingston Complete Streets meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 15 from 4 p.m to 8 p.m.
Kingston Community Center, 11212 NE State Highway 104

Kingston Community Open House
Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Kingston Middle School, 9000 NE West Kingston Road

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Online fundraising used to help Bremerton, Kingston families

Rifes

Kailey Rife quickly started a GoFundMe campaign for her parents who lost everything but their family in a Bremerton house fire late Saturday night.

Rife’s mother came home around 10:30 p.m. Saturday night to find a couch in the basement on fire, and was able to get her husband and two children out of the home.

The Rifes have five children and two of them still live at home.

Rife’s mother stays at home to take care of the two youngest children and her father is a retired Navy veteran with 22 years of service, according to the fundraising page.

The online campaign has raised more than $1,000 in a day with a goal of $10,000.

Another local GoFundMe campaign continues to fundraise for a Kingston family involved in a car wreck on March 11.

Jim Norberg, 53, and his daughter, Kayli Norberg, 14, were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries, according to the campaign website.

Kayli had head injuries and a broken femur in the wreck, and her father had  head injuries, two shattered ankles, a shattered femur and a lacerated liver, along with multiple other broken bones.

The driver of the 1994 Toyota Camry who crossed the center line and hit the Norberg’s Jeep died.

The online campaign has raised more than $5,000 for the Norbergs in two months.

Norbergs

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Strategic plan, timeline set for mental-health tax

Up to $3 million from the local mental-health tax will be doled out July 1.

A sales tax of 0.1 percent dedicated for local mental-health services went into effect Jan. 1 after being approved by Kitsap County commissioners in September.

The July deadline is just one of several in the recently released strategic plan from the Kitsap County Behavioral Health Strategic Planning Team. Proposals for projects or programs, aimed at reducing the number of mentally ill juveniles and adults cycle through the criminal justice system and the demand on emergency services, will be accepted from Feb. 20 to April 18 at 3 p.m. Kitsap County County Mental Health, Chemical Dependence and Therapeutic Court Citizens Advisory Board will review the proposals.

The citizens advisory board also is asking for community input on what residents what to see funded by the sales tax via an online survey.

In the 62-page strategic plan, which outlines recommendations for closing service gaps for mentally ill and substance abuse, it says county and surrounding peninsula region had the highest number of mentally ill boarded ever recorded in October 2013.

The plan recommends increasing housing and transportation options, treatment funding and outreach, among other suggestions.

 

Reporting and responsibilities outlined

The strategic planning team makes recommendations the citizens advisory board and establishes the strategic plan for the mental health tax.

Proposals will be submitted to the citizens advisory board for review. The board will make recommendations for the proposals and funding level to the county commissioners, who ultimately approve the proposals.

The citizen advisory board will annually review projects and programs while receiving input from the strategic team, and report to the director of Kitsap County Human Services, who will present reviews to the county commissioners.

 

 Meet the team and board

Kitsap County Behavioral Health Strategic Planning Team

  • Al Townsend, Poulsbo Police Chief (Team Co-Chair)
  • Barb Malich, Peninsula Community Health Services
  • Greg Lynch, Olympic Educational Service District 114
  • Joe Roszak, Kitsap Mental Health Services
  • Judge Anna Laurie, Superior Court (Team Co-Chair)
  • Judge Jay Roof, Superior Court
  • Judge James Docter, Bremerton Municipal Court
  • Kurt Wiest, Bremerton Housing Authority
  • Larry Eyer, Kitsap Community Resources
  • Michael Merringer, Kitsap County Juvenile Services
  • Myra Coldius, National Alliance on Mental Illness
  • Ned Newlin, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office
  • Robin O’Grady, Westsound Treatment Agency
  • Russell D. Hauge, Kitsap County Prosecutor
  • Scott Bosch Harrison, Medical Center
  • Scott Lindquist, MD, MPH Kitsap Public Health
  • Tony Caldwell, Housing Kitsap

 

Kitsap County Mental Health, Chemical Dependence and Therapeutic Court Citizens Advisory Board

  • Lois Hoell, Peninsula Regional Support Network: 3 year term
  • Jeannie Screws, Kitsap County Substance Abuse Advisory Board: 3 year
  • Aimee DeVaughn, Kitsap County Commission on Children and Youth: 3 year
  • Connie Wurm, Area Agency on Aging: 3 year
  • Dave Shurick, Law and Justice: 1 year
  • Walt Bigby, Education: 1 year
  • Carl Olson, At Large Member District 2: 2 year
  • James Pond, At Large Member District 3: 2 year
  • Robert Parker, At Large Member District 2: 2 year
  • Russell Hartman, At Large Member District 3: 2 year
  • Richard Daniels, At Large Member District 1: 1 year

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Play a role in the future of Kingston

The Greater Kingston Economic Development Council is asking for the public’s input in figuring out Kingston’s future.

The 12-question survey will be used to help the group figure out how to serve the interests of visitor and residents of the area better. The survey ends Oct. 15.

The group, which was formed earlier this year, is working on how best to market the rural community, GKEDC chairman Jerry Kirschner said.

“We’re looking at tourism and retail support for businesses in core area in Kingston,” he said. “We’re not interested in big box stores, but supporting entrepreneurs in community.”

Another survey administered a few weeks ago asked for public input on two Port of Kingston properties. That survey produced 90 responses and revealed green space and open space were the top priorities for the  two properties, according to Kori Henry, the port’s executive director until Oct. 9. She’ll become the public information officer for the North Kitsap School District at that time.

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No press box, for now, for Kingston

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In a 3-2 vote last week the North Kitsap School Board decided to not fund construction of a press box at the Kingston High School football field. It was a somewhat tortured decision, as board members did acknowledge that the board had made a commitment to the Kingston community.

But in the end there was some recognition that the commitment was for a different version of the press box than the one the board ultimately had designed, for safety reasons. And it was for less money.

This in no way marks the end of varsity football games at Kingston High School. I couldn’t attend Thursday’s meeting, (Other news took precedence.) but based on the district’s recording, which doesn’t include the public comment period, of the board’s discussion of it someone in the meeting said Kingston should play its games at North Kitsap.

Kingston backers seem prepared to live with the less than ample seating and head cover at its home games. The students want to play there and watch the games there. Much of the community loves having games at home. What they have is preferable to them to what they would have at what is clearly the home of the North Kitsap Vikings. My hunch is if the board had been asked whether Kingston should play at North Kitsap the vote would have been 5-0 against it, or maybe 4-1.

“Kingston has a right to have its games played and its band play on its field, and have its soccer team and football team and basketball team and everybody else play at its school and at its own homecoming at its home as North Kitsap has,” said Bill Webb, school board member.

This was not a vote about home games, though. It was just a vote about spending money on a press box, and board members said many in the community recognize that. Sure, a large number want the press box, but there were was a not insignificant number from Kingston who lobbied the board to not spend the money.

Scott Henden, board member and electrician, was willing to donate labor to putting in the electricity. He voted for the press box. Ken Ames did too.

Dan Weedin and Tom Anderson voted “no.” And Bill Webb, who before the vote said he hadn’t decided, ultimately decided that the money “now” wasn’t a good expense.

Kingston boosters and the student body had raised about $30,000. The district had earlier committed to $30,000 and set it aside. The final price tag was just south of $85,000. At least $25,000 too much for now.

The booster club meets Thursday and what to do next is on the agenda.

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Kingston High School press box more iffy than the field

The Kingston High School football field met with more conversation on Thursday, even as our earlier story broke, a story didn’t have the benefit of seeing before the meeting.

Our story suggested approval of the change in the field’s conditional use permit from the county is likely.

During Thursday’s North Kitsap School Board meeting Dave Dyess, the district’s director of maintenance and facilities, showed plans for a press box, plans that were prepared a year ago. The stick built facility would be about $8,000 more to build than the district had budgeted, but Dyess said a pole-built box would probably serve the needed purpose and could be done for less money.

Board members expressed caution about going forward, because they want to make sure the conditional use permit is approved before approving a press box. And they’re certain there will be an appeal.

Tom Anderson asked why there needed to be a press box. People stand in the rain at the game. Why build a press box so reporters can. … That’s where he stopped.

Reporters are the last people who make use of press boxes at high school football games. It’s called a press box, perhaps because that’s what they’re called at big stadiums, where the press really does do much of its work. At high school football games the press box is first for the announcer, then usually a couple of people operating the scoreboard. Coaches also use the higher space to get the bird’s-eye view and call plays.

Many reporters, though, prefer covering the game from the sidelines. The weather can change that, but many of the press boxes around Kitsap County are pretty crowded even without the news scribes. If the rain encourages a reporter inside, it’s primarily because it’s tough to take notes in the rain.

The board gave Dyess some permission to check out pole-built options, but not to submit a permit until the first permit is clear. That might take years.

Varsity football games will very likely be played at Kingston this year. The press box is less certain.

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