The former Seabeck Elementary School doesn’t see much activity these days. It sits on Seabeck Highway Northwest more or less abandoned after being closed by the Central Kitsap School District last spring.

That changed on May 3, as community members and members of the Neighbors for Greater-Seabeck Community Center group hunkered down in the gym to continue trying to find a way to save the property.

“There’s a lot of interest from people in the area,” neighbors volunteer Joseph Coppo said.

The meeting was titled, “The Next Step,” and focused on ideas for what would be included in a proposed community center to fill the former school’s space.

The group met previously in late February and drew an exceptional turnout — standing room only in the Seabeck gym — as officials from Kitsap County, the Port of Bremerton and CKSD showed up to discuss options for saving the property.

Several prominent officials in the county, including Central Kitsap Commissioner Josh Brown and Port of Bremerton Commissioner Bill Mahan, have pledged their support in trying to make the community center a reality.

The May 3 meeting was held exclusively for community members, however.

“There wasn’t a lot of chance for people to talk to (the neighbors steering committee at the February meeting) so we wanted to have an open house,” Coppo said. “There are a lot of different ideas with what should be included.”

Coppo has been helping the neighbors group for some time now and is lending his expertise to help develop a master plan for the site. He previously worked with the Kitsap County Parks Department.

The ideas generated at the May 3 meeting will be processed by the neighbors steering committee this week and presented at a future meeting sometime in the next four to six weeks, Coppo said.

Neighbors committee members plan to sort out what the top two priorities are for Seabeck residents, in relation to the property. They also plan to look at where visitors to the meetings are coming from.

Some people have traveled as far as six to eight miles away from Seabeck, Coppo said, which may help in the argument to save the property.

Meanwhile, CKSD’s budget planning process has been rolling along and with it, plans for what to do with both Seabeck and Tracyton Elementary School. The district had originally intended to have plans for those properties figured out by mid-May, along with a draft of their budget for the 2008-09 school year. The district’s community finance committee is now planning to make a recommendation on the properties during a June 18 study session.

“Our timeframes are working out well,” Coppo said. “We feel pretty good. Whatever happens to that property, we still think it’s important that people decide what they want.”

The neighbors group’s steering committee meets monthly. For more information, call Chairperson Loanna Day at (360) 830-4674.