CK memorial to veterans delayed to '04

Due to the weather and a little extra paperwork, the long-awaited veterans’ memorial at Silverdale Waterfront Park will not be finished by Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11.

Instead, the memorial will be finished by spring and perhaps christened on Armed Forces Day — the third Saturday in May.

Cool but dry weather, forecast for the coming week, will allow some additional work, but it’s far from finished. The fenced-off area north of the waterfront gazebo has seen a good deal of earth moved, but no permanent structures installed. Prior to this week, considerable rain had fallen.

“We’ve had complications with the weather,” said John Armstrong, president of the Home Builders Association of Kitsap County. The association, along with the Sunrise Rotary Club which came up with the concept, have been waiting out the rain and wind.

Plus, since the project is being built entirely with volunteer members of the association, occasional conflicting work schedules have also caused delays.

The two non-profits decided the $75,000-plus project should be built entirely of donated labor and materials. About 200 volunteers from the association, Rotary and community will donate labor to the site which was designed by architect Douglas Maraist of Fjord Architects of Poulsbo.

Ground was broken nearly two months ago on Silverdale’s first armed services memorial site. The groundbreaking came after nearly two years of looking at a half dozen sites around Central Kitsap. Other locations considered included a plot of ground off Silverdale Way just north of the SR 303, and the old Mill Works (now a park) near the headwaters of Dyes Inlet. But for various technical reasons, those sites were rejected.

The spot is small but appropriate for what organizers have in mind. The former swale into Dyes Inlet will be mitigated by a pipeline.

The memorial will commemorate the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and missing in action personnel (MIAs) with seven plaques and seven flags arranged around a convex representation of the world. There will be seating with a view of the inlet, and paths connecting to the gazebo and Waterfront Park.

Although the home builders association is a lobbying and networking body for for-profit businesses in Kitsap, the association itself is non-profit, and looks for ways its members can contribute to the community.

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