POULSBO — Imagine living in a place where the shops, parks, medical offices, work, restaurants and schools are all within easy walking distance — a multigenerational neighborhood that offers a range of living choices and costs, a place with trees, walking trails and bike paths, and a park.

Such livable communities are called urban villages. Some are survivors from an earlier times, like the Ballard area of Seattle. Others are brand new — so-called planned communities like Northwest Landing in DuPont.

And if Mayor Becky Erickson and the members of the City Council have their way, Poulsbo will someday have one too, centered around the College Market Place shopping district in north Poulsbo.

“It’s been in my mind since the very beginning,” said Erickson, who estimates that making this vision a reality is probably going to take five to seven years. “We can’t regulate it; we can’t tell people they have to work with us. Instead, we have to convince our partners of this vision. We don’t have any regulatory authority other than the master plan and the common-sense argument that [doing this] will increase the value of everybody’s holdings.”

In point of fact, Poulsbo doesn’t use the term “urban village” in the city’s master plan, a fact that doesn’t trouble Barry Berezowky, Poulsbo planning and economic development director. “If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, then it’s probably an urban village,” he said, smiling.

WHERE IT WOULD BE
As shown on a map, the heart of the hoped-for urban village is bounded by Olympic College/Western Washington University on the north, College Market Place to the west and south, and Olhava Way NW and Olympic College Way NW to the east. Plans are already in place for walking paths connecting the area to Vinland Elementary School and the Liberty Hills, Westwood, and Vinland Pointe neighborhoods to the west.

Many of the most desirable elements for an urban village are already in place: the college campus, a shopping district with restaurants and retail stores, and Cascade View Medical Center.

THREE NEW COMPONENTS
The three major new additions city planners hope to add are a fitness center, affordable housing, and a recreational park. Here’s where the city is in the planning process with each of these items and any costs currently associated with them.

— A new fitness center: The city is in early discussions with the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties Association regarding the possibility of constructing a YMCA on property the city owns just south of Olympic College/Western Washington University. The City Council has set aside $30,000 to cover its due diligence costs on the proposed project. Mayor Erickson anticipates that this due diligence process will take about 18 months. According to Jessie Palmer, YMCA grants and government relations director, the first step will be to hire a third-party firm to conduct market research. This could begin as early as the second or third quarter of this year.

Once the findings are in, Palmer said the YMCA will conduct an internal assessment to see if it could support another facility and what impact this might have on the Haselwood YMCA in Silverdale. He reports that at the present time 3,500 of the 20,000 members of the Haselwood YMCA are from the Poulsbo/North Kitsap area.

— Affordable and market-rate apartments: According to Housing Kitsap CEO Stuart Grogan, his not-for-profit organization plans to build about 100 affordable and market-rate apartments on the property it owns just to the east of the college campus. “It’s pretty high up on our list,” said Grogan, who is concerned that Poulsbo is losing two affordable housing apartment complexes.

Grogan said the for-profit Woodcreek Apartments on NE Hostmark Street has fulfilled its contractual obligations to HUD and the Department of Rural Development and has converted all of its affordable housing units to market-rate apartments.

Another for-profit apartment complex, Winton Woods on Winton Lane NW, has also met its obligations and filed to convert. So a new affordable housing complex like the one proposed for College Market Place is badly needed, Grogan said.

“What the two for-profit businesses did was perfectly legal,” Grogan said. In exchanges for loans and other considerations, they agreed to offer affordable housing for a set period of time. Having done that, they are free to charge whatever the going market will bear for the units. The benefit of having a not-for-profit charitable organization like Housing Kitsap do the development, he explains, is that the mission of Housing Kitsap is to provide and maintain affordable housing. “Our goal is to always keep those apartments affordable.”

— Vista Park: Visually, the most dramatic piece of the plan is what is currently being called “Vista Park on Olhava,” although that name may change. According to Erickson, the park is important because the original plans for developing the area did not give a lot of thought to open spaces and tree retention. Walking through the proposed park area today reveals mostly scrub brush littered with cups and wrappers from nearby fast food restaurants. “It tends to be pretty bleak right now,” she said. But in her mind, she already sees a landscaped parks with trees and bridges and picnic area high atop the bluff, a dramatic entry from Olhava Way into the College Market Place district.

What the proposed park area does have is a view. The southern tip of the property offers a stunning panorama of the Cascade Range and Liberty Bay. “Right now, Walmart and Wendy’s have the best view in town,” quipped local architect Aaron D. Murphy, who is very familiar with the urban village concept and the College Market place area.

The proposed recreation area would run along the undeveloped ridge line property across the parking lot from Home Depot and include picnic areas, bike racks, walking paths and two or thee foot bridges across the stone-lined creeks that carry stormwater across the property to a small pond. “The developer can’t build on the property because of its proximity to the ridge line slope, so we have offered to do the landscaping and maintain the park in exchange for the recreational easement,” the mayor said.

The city had been negotiating with Olhava Associates of Edmonds and was very close to an agreement before the company went into foreclosure. The remaining undeveloped 60 acres of the Market Place development, including the proposed park area, were subsequently purchased by MUFG Union Bank in October.

“I’m going to be reaching out to them,” the mayor said.

If the deal goes through, the city estimates it will cost $150,000 for fencing, benches, walking paths, fitness equipment, and an irrigation system. The funds would come out of the parks allocation budget over the next several years.

“It’s a great vision,” Erickson said. “It’s going to be a great place to live and shop and work.”

A map of the proposed urban village. Terryl Asla / Herald