Eye options for interim development of Kingston's gem, the Village Green

Kingston community members interested in discussing options for the interim condition the Village Green will be left in until development of a new community center and senior housing get underway, are urged to attend a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24 at the Kingston Community Center.

Now that the Navy housing is cleared from the site, the Kitsap County Parks and Recreation Department is taking public input and considering options for grading, tree removal and whether existing roads and terracing should be left in place.

A public gathering and walk-through at the site took place Nov. 12 with about 25 members of the parks department staff, the Kingston Community Center Foundation, the Village Green Stewardship Committee and residents living nearby.

The parks department hopes to bring at least three options to the Nov. 24 meeting. The Community Center Foundation has asked that costs for the options be roughed out, taking into consideration expenses associated with work that may be done now, as well as for guidance in identifying constraints and consequences of action alternatives related to the flexibility to protect future options with minimal upfront expenses.

So far, according to foundation president Bobbie Moore, the foundation reached a consensus in favor of keeping the road and the trees that line it in place, maintaining the present terraced look and feel, and sooner, rather than later, removing the photinia hedges and temporary fencing.

The foundation suggested certified arborist Beth Bronstein, a resident of Kingston, be brought in to help determine which trees should be kept.

“You get to look at the trees, to look at the hillside, but now it’s time to get real – the bulldozers need to come,” said Miles Yanick, who the county contracted to create a master plan for the site. Yanick showed those gathered at the site the schematic design he created but said the plan doesn’t identify in detail tree removal or grading of the open field adjacent to West Kingston Road. The community center, located further back on the higher terrace behind where the Navy housing was situated, will look out over the field.

Martha Droge, parks department landscape architect, pointed out it would take 15 to 20 years to grow trees the size of those already located there.

“What’s a benefit should guide decisions,” she said. “Let’s get the vision worked out and everything we do from now on is in service of that vision. Finding the balance is going to be the key.”

The short-term considerations, according to public comments at the walk-through, should include parking, a play area surrounding the existing playground equipment and the opportunity to use the Village Green as a place to hold events.

Leaving the road in place could provide a short-term solution to parking until a community center is built.

“We have urban problems with a rural infrastructure,” Moore pointed out. “We’ve got to consider parking as a way to service the community.”

If the road and trees lining it were left in place during the interim, they could be removed later, when development of the community center takes place.

Neighbors voiced concerns that leaving the existing photinia hedges lining the front of the park could be conducive to vandalism and they urged the county to remove most of the vegetation as soon as possible, leaving any native plants. They would also like the Public Utility District to open the restrooms in the pump station onsite, built to serve park users.

Until grading work is done, temporary fencing will remain in place, according to Droge, but neighbors asked that it at least be moved back from the road, behind the buffer of the photinia and shrubs to keep it from being an eyesore. They also asked about minimal security lighting.

The Kingston Community Center Foundation is working to obtain funding for a new building and hopes to break ground sometime between 2010-2012.

To review and comment on plans and status of the project, go to www.kitsapgov.com/parks/ or call the parks department at (360) 337-5350. For more information on the Kingston Community Center Foundation, contact Bobbie Moore at (360) 297-2845.

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