Bordering on the rediculous

Although the Town Hall Meeting hosted by the Central Kitsap Community Council was intended to offer a broad scope of Silverdale’s future, talks eventually focused on the proposed community campus.

The semi-annual event held Wednesday, Oct. 16 at the Silverdale Community Center brought out about 100 people.

“Don’t get hung up that there’s going to be apartments on every street corner, that’s not what we’re doing here,” said Tex Lewis CKCC member.

Citizens were encouraged to mark on a map, in pink and blue, 20-year and 50-year boundaries for Silverdale. They also commented on boundaries now.

“I have a Bremerton phone number, a Silverdale address and I live in Chico. Figure that one out,” said Bob Miller.

Other people suggested using the school district’s boundaries when determining what might eventually become Silverdale’s Urban Growth Area or its city limits.

Still others said it was only a matter of whether rural areas would incorporate with Bremerton or Silverdale.

“The box is open,” Lewis said when asked if looking at Silverdale’s future 50 years out was like opening a Pandora’s Box or grabbing the tiger by the tail.

“What we’re trying to do is think of that box and consider it, think about it and see what we want to do,” he said.

Ross Jamison AIA, of Lewis Architecture presented an overview of the community campus plan.

Most of the questions he fielded were focused on the campus’ proposed location.

Some Old Town business owners voiced their concerns about the plan to build public buildings such as a new Silverdale library. Although retail is part of the plan’s mix, business owners said they weren’t sure what the plans would do to their business.

The proposed location is a wedge of Old Town between Silverdale Way and Bay Shore Drive south of Bucklin Hill near Reid Realty to the CK school district’s property.

“This is long term,” Jamison told the crowd.

“We’re not proposing that next year the bulldozers come out,” he said.

A new Silverdale library, however, would most likely be in the first phase of the project.

A meeting to discuss the community campus is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24 at the Silverdale Community Center.

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