A chance to speak for the trees: Parks and Rec wants insight on Village Green

To keep or not to keep the trees in Village Green is the question currently posed to the Kingston community.

With the phase one of demolition of the old duplexes on West Kingston Road now complete, Village Green is going forward; but because of heavy rains, flood warnings and the onset of winter, regrading won’t occur until spring, said Matt Keough, project manager for Kitsap County Parks and Recreation. This gives community residents some time to decide what they’d like best for the Village Green Center, he said. The Village Green will host a public play field, senior housing center and a new community center.

“If we want to retain the trees, that means we retain the topography,” Keough said. “If we want to level the field or make it a more level area then that says the existing trees, vegetation is not important.”

There are two chances for locals to offer input to project planners. The first begins Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. in the form of a site walk through with Keough.

A second meeting with Keough is scheduled for Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. in the Kingston Community Center.

“The grading done in the spring will determine the way the area looks and is used until the Community Center/library/senior center building is begun, sometime between 2010 and 2012, depending on funding,” said Bobbie Moore, president of the Kingston Community Center Foundation and Village Green Stewardship Committee.

During a Community Center Foundation/Village Green Stewardship Committee meeting in August County Commissioner Steve Bauer and Kitsap County Parks and Recreation staff said it looked promising to complete the grading and hydroseeding by the end of the year as long as all the permits fell into place.

“We did apply for a grading plan with the idea that at least we can get this done for the community but it wasn’t the grading plan everybody wanted,” Keough said. “It would have been a real shame for us to say, ‘Hey, we got this done for you,’ and have someone say, ‘Yeah, but it’s not what we wanted.’ ... We’ve postponed final permits until the community has weighed in on what the final grading plan should look like.”

Keough said the slope above where the duplexes used to be is the difference of a height of 30 feet over a distance of 300 feet.

“When we removed the houses they have artificial shells in the ground and it’s not very useful to the space the way it is,” he said.

Until grading is done, Keough said it’s likely the fencing and post-demo look will grace the area for a few more months.

“We still have to evaluate if the fence should be left up. There are some safety concerns and disturbed soil. Until that grows over we don’t really want people there,” he said.

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