SILVERDALE – There are many questions about the future of the Silverdale Community Center. But according to Central Kitsap Commissioner Ed Wolfe, one thing is clear: The current building’s closure is “imminent.”
Several groups including tax preparers, the Central Stage Theatre of Central Kitsap (CSTOCK), and Kitsap Computing Seniors, among others, have used the center as a base for their community activities.
But due to a water-damaged roof, portions of the 16,000-square-foot building have been closed off since late 2014, and the remainder will likely be closed by June or August.
Wolfe spoke at the Central Kitsap Community Council meeting April 16 and said the community center issue was a priority for him as commissioner.
All politics is local, Wolfe said, and “there’s nothing more politically local than the community campus. It comes to me directly/indirectly every day.”
“If I can provide a takeaway for you tonight … I would tell you that closure is imminent as regards to a public safety issue,” Wolfe said. He added regular meetings at the center would probably end in June and that CSTOCK could probably finish its season through August.
It is estimated that it would cost more than $700,000 to repair the 1958 building – money that could be put to better use another way, Wolfe said.
“Quite a few people have asked me, ‘Well, how come the county didn’t really factor in these repairs that were needed to be done so we could keep it open?'”
“I believe it was just last September when the county was talking with the Kitsap Regional Library … to potentially locate at the community center site.” It was later decided that the new Silverdale Library would not be built on the campus, but instead be built at the corner of Blaine Avenue and NW Bucklin Hill Road.
A possible option for the community center site would be to use it for a public-private partnership, Wolfe said, “from open space, to mixed use, retail, restaurants, to meeting space.”
Wolfe said he had several questions about the future of the campus including if two performing arts centers were needed there.
“What are their facility costs? Will all this fit? Do we want two performing entities there? What will their facility needs be? How will these organizations plan to finance or fund-raise for their facility? What’s their business plan? Coming from the business world I like to see a business plan,” Wolfe said.
Once those questions were answered, Wolfe said, the community could then create a realistic and achievable time line.
Wolfe said he was interested in working with groups who have a solid financial plan not just for constructing a new building but also for financing, operating and maintaining a building.
“Expecting the county to pay for everything quite frankly is not reasonable or practical,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe also said that the time for debating was over and called for action to be taken.
“We need an action plan for the campus. Not a year study, not a two-year study. Not more outreach meetings. Enough time has passed. We need something to happen now, this year.
“It’s my intent to move conversation past the visioning stage and create a sustainable and financially achievable redevelopment phase for the four remaining acres on the campus.”
In the meantime, the county has made efforts to try and find new homes for groups that had called the community center their home.
“Other groups have taken the leadership to find their own locations out away from the community center. However, it’s a matter of time before the building will have to be completely closed to protect the public,” Wolfe said. That likely meant completely closing the building and demolishing it to reduce liability.
Central Kitsap Community Council President Kay Wilson agreed it was time to take action.
“Maybe that leaky roof will turn out to have been the best thing that happened to us because now we know we’ve got to act,” Wilson said.
Center users present wish lists:
The Community Council hosted an online survey that asked what groups needed in a community center. The responses included: A central location; space for 15-50 people that is flexible and easy to reconfigure; would like a performing arts center for 200 audience members; amenities such as wireless Internet, computers, audio-visual gear and a commercial kitchen; storage space; free and adequate parking with good lighting, and easy access to public transit.
“One thing we do know this is not a ‘Field of Dreams,'” said CK Community Council member Stacey Saunders.
Saunders said there were lots of groups “with really tiny budgets that also make a huge impact in our community … they do need low cost meeting space to make some of those things happen.”
• John Powers with the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance sent a letter to the council that argued community centers offered tangible and intangible benefits to a community. “Dynamic and diverse community centers are the crucible in which socio-political capital is mixed to bake the community’s cake,” Powers wrote.
• Chris Snow with Kitsap Computing Seniors said KCS was one of the original tenants of the community center and that the group had been around 23 years.
“We have been there for a long, long time,” Snow said.
KCS aims to provide education to county residents so they can enjoy their computers more.
“We have 250 members in our organization and about 60 percent of those members live in this core Central Kitsap area.”
• Mary Hancock said the Dispute Resolution Center of Kitsap County served the community by offering remediation services.
“We have been regular users of the community center here. In fact that’s one of the reasons we moved to Silverdale 15 years ago,” Hancock said.
• Tax consultant Doug Stauner said his group did 500 free tax returns in Silverdale at the center. He said the alternative site the county proposed that he use had inadequate parking.
• Jean Williams with the Peninsula Fruit Club said the club used the Evergreen room for their shows and classes. The central location of Silverdale in the county was key, she said. The club needed a large space with tables, electrical outlets and a kitchen for its meetings.
• Josh Hopp with CSTOCK said CSTOCK used 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of the community center.
“We are what we like to call the anchor tenant … we use it almost every day of the year,” Hopp said.
Hopp said CSTOCK has begun planning for building a place of their own to call home. The facility may or may not be on the campus.
“If we just bought a brand new theater we think it would cost $4 million to $5 million,” Hopp said.
In the meantime, Hopp requested that CSTOCK be allowed to continue using the community center for another 18-24 months, which is at odds with Wolfe’s intention of closing it this summer.
CSTOCK and West Sound Performing Arts Center (WSPAC) needs differed enough that each group needed its own facility, Hopp said.
New Silverdale Library could take place of Silverdale Community Center
One possible new home for the groups would be a proposed new Silverdale Library. Jill Jean, library director for Kitsap Regional Library, said the new Silverdale Library could have room for 80-100 people with an expected minimum of 40 parking spaces.
“We’re a place that can really make community happen,” Jean said. “We could really see ourselves as a part of that picture.”
Jean said libraries were true community centers with multiple uses for multiple groups. At 10,000 square feet, the new library would be about twice the size of the current Silverdale Library, located in Old Town.
The new library would have wireless Internet, but Jean said a commercial kitchen was not currently in the cards, nor could the library fill CSTOCK’s needs.
At the Jenne-Wright building, Central Kitsap Community Council members, from left, Jerry VanFossen, Kay Wilson, Natalie Bryson, Commissioner Ed Wolfe, Carol Smiley, Abraham Shim and Samuel Erichsen talk about the Silverdale Community Center on April 16.
