Downtown density could net fed bucks

Silverdale’s density may bring a boon in federal dollars for badly needed road projects.

The CK Community Council received one of the county’s first responses to the Council’s “Visioning 2052” process, examining Silverdale’s future.

The CKCC turned-over Visioning 2052 several months ago — after studying the matter two years with the help of county planners. The response so far is Kitsap County Commissioners’ and planners’ recommendations for Silverdale’s “downtown” borders.

Darryl Piercy, assistant director of the county’s Department of Community Development (DCD), presented a “downtown” map of Silverdale drawn to include the highest density of both retail and residential. He described it as the “center” of the urban growth area (UGA) that is Silverdale.

The purpose of the map is to grab federal funds available for transportation improvements.

The new downtown runs from the start of Chico Way in the south, up Silverdale way including the Kitsap Mall and other shopping centers, east along Bucklin Hill to Nels Nelson, then northwest to a point north of the SR 3/Waaga Way interchange. The large Ridgetop residential area was included.

All cities or UGAs with more than 12 “residential/business units-per-acre” in their downtowns are eligible.

Silverdale’s 1.5 square-mile downtown is 11.5.

“But we’ve got some wriggle room,” said CK County Commissioner Patty Lent to the Council at its regular meeting May 21.

“The Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council (KRCC) looks at this first, and my feeling is that they’re on our side. I think we’re close enough to qualify.”

The KRCC is scheduled to meet 8 a.m. Tuesday, June 3 to decide. If they decide Silverdale qualifies, commissioners then have the option of accepting the recommendation at their meeting, scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 11 at the Courthouse.

It’s imperative the issue be addressed now, said county planners, because the law will change the end of June, and the minimum residential/business unit-per-acre will swell to 30, “and put Silverdale out-of-the-picture,” Piercy said.

Lent encouraged citizens and the Council attend both meetings to root for Silverdale. It is not known how much money may come from the feds. Lent would like the junction of SR 3 and Waaga Way (SR 303) be rebuilt to better accommodate the flow of traffic. Others on the Council would like a better system of roads east-west in Silverdale so drivers aren’t cutting across parking lots.

Many maps have been drawn of Silverdale over the past few years, and for various reasons.

l There was the old “llama-shaped” downtown drawn by consultants and the council years ago. It was a fairly conservative look at possible city limits when the area — called an “urban growth area” or UGA — incorporates into a city.

Silverdale — dubbed Kitsap County’s retail center — is the largest unincorporated urban area in the county.

l The “llama” was abandoned in favor of a much larger set of borders (or sphere of influence) that essentially stretched from Poulsbo city limits to Bremerton city limits and to the Hood Canal.

l Meanwhile, the CKCC was looking at converting Old Town into a “Community Campus,” or new town center, with a library/senior citizen complex at its heart and such amenities as an open-air pool, playing fields, performing arts center, Sheriff’s sub-station, clinic, public art, retail mixed with residential, mass transit, grid street patterns, diagonal parking on Silverdale, etc.

Business owners there quashed this idea.

Over time, many things were dropped from Visioning 2052, as impractical or premature (such as a new library). And the campus’ location was changed from Old Town to a largely-empty seven acres between Poplars Avenue and Randall Way.

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