Olympic Property Group, the largest landowner in Kitsap County with over 8,000 acres in North Kitsap, expects 2007 to be a year of finally getting some of its big ideas lined out on paper. Infused with public input from meetings held this year on plans for Port Gamble and a made-over Arborwood, OPG is ready to take the next steps in getting its vision for the North End out of the air and onto the land, “setting a footprint in place for Kingston that will be forever.”

That’s how Jon Rose, president of OPG, a Pope Resources subsidiary, looks at it today, a view shared by his project managers, including Kent Berryman and Sue Schroader. They hope their creative energy, resources and holistic view of the small possibilities will add up to larger improvements in the future quality of life here – though it may take decades before that footprint gets set in stone.

OPG’s plan for 2007 includes redefining its 380-acre residential development, Arborwood; taking initial steps to create new businesses and housing in Port Gamble; and spearheading a public access trail system that could ultimately connect the Agate Pass Bridge to the Hood Canal Bridge.

A quilt in the forest

Realizing the value of open space, trails and parkways in attracting buyers and improving the quality of life for new and existing residents, OPG thinks they may have finally come up with something they, the county and residents can live with – and prosper by.

After selling off 426 acres to the county for creation of the North Kitsap Heritage Park and offering the option to purchase another 380 acres – including the headwaters to Grover’s Creek and fragile wetlands – Arborwood is now planned as 380 acres. Of that, 104 would be dedicated as a greenway trail connecting to the larger trail system that’s getting pieced together between Indianola and Hansville; 58 acres would be buffers, protected wetlands and open space; and 143 acres would be left for residential and commercial development, according to Berryman.

Zoning for 305 acres of Arborwood was reclassified from urban reserve to urban cluster residential that permits a density of five to nine dwelling units per acre. Though county commissioners approved Kingston’s sub-area plan a year ago, last July the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board rejected it.

“We really need the UGA (urban growth area) thing done so we can logistically be done,” Rose said. He’s confident the expanded UGA, with Arborwood included, is going to hold. The county needs to satisfy issues brought up by the hearings board and resubmit it along with the rest of the 10-Year Comprehensive Plan. Rose said the county expects that by mid-February 2007, they’ll hear whether or not it’s approved.

“We’re moving on,” in the meantime, Berryman said, pointing to the Oct. 11 open house OPG held with the Kingston community to provide transparency to its planning efforts for Arborwood. They were pleased that so many residents who live in neighborhoods near Arborwood attended.

“It’s amazing how much people appreciate not being put on the spot,” he said. “It’s quite gratifying.”

The project team, he said, met and reviewed comments made by residents on the third revision of the development.

“We set up a matrix to keep those in front of us, to address the concerns and reservations,” Berryman said, as his team creates “broad-brush design concepts.”

The urban cluster zoning will allow them a lot of “flexibility and creativity,” he explained, including commercial use. Changes to its initial zoning reclassification application, in the form of a development agreement, must be reviewed by Department of Community Development as part of conditions required by the UGA.

OPG may consider another name change for Arborwood “to reflect new design qualities” and freshen the development’s image, but nothing has been made public yet.

This third shot at designing Arborwood has lots ranging from 9,000 square feet at the top end, down to 3,000-4,000 square feet, with a range of dwellings including townhouses and zero-lot homes, aimed at middle-income families and empty-nesters. Lots will be sold to builders, with covenants and design standards required to keep a cohesive aesthetic.

“We’re looking at a range of different products in the quilt of the forest. It’s not how small it is, it’s how small you make it,” Rose said.

The main goal is to create a sense of community that emphasizes walkability and open space, with perks such as a possible Kitsap Transit bus stop that could deliver commuters to downtown Kingston to catch a ferry across Puget Sound.

In 2007, OPG will take Arborwood, or whatever moniker it ends up with, further along, creating a conceptual design with traffic circulation routes, trails, lot lines and places where the development touches public roads, that will eventually be brought back before the public for review.

Whether or not commercial development gets penciled in, such as a coffee shop where neighbors can meet or a white-collar business park of up to 20 acres to help in job creation, is largely up to the community, Rose said. “We’re not done with thinking on that. If people want those things, they should speak up.”

OPG could turn just as much of a profit developing the acreage into additional housing, he said, so if the community gives the commercial aspect a thumbs down, they’ll reconsider those ideas.

Berryman encourages the public to give them input by contacting him directly.

“We just want to get that input on the present sketch. Let’s have the discussion.”

Hooks and links

One of OPG Project Manager Sue Schroader’s passions for the last few years has been thinking about rebuilding a version of the old Puget Hotel in Port Gamble that served as a place to stop people heading to the Olympic Peninsula, giving them a chance to explore North Kitsap.

The lack of adequate lodging to capture some of the millions of visitors that cross Kitsap enroute to the Olympic Peninsula is a pet peeve of many in the North End who want to attract more tourists to support business here.

OPG held an open house last May to introduce the community to ideas it has for Port Gamble: it hopes to expand its own business offerings in the historic townsite of 120 acres and has plans in the works to create housing developments on the 4,000 additional upland acres. The land was previously zoned for one house per 20 acres, but last month Kitsap County commissioners approved the Rural Wooded Incentive Program that allows for proposals of up to 5,000 acres to build homes in clusters, making it cheaper and more efficient to develop and at the same time, retaining more open space to benefit not only new residents, but wildlife and the environment as well.

Clustering could allow OPG to create a nature preserve and affords “the biggest, most holistic view of life,” said OPG President Jon Rose.

Schroader hopes the new clustering ordinance will allow them to tie homes in with the town to create a community that is “as interesting and intellectually rich as we can make it.”

Between the clusters of homes, 75 percent of open space could be retained, including a grove of old-growth forest. OPG also envisions an off-road trail system that could connect with other trails, ultimately joining the North End from the Agate Pass Bridge to the Hood Canal Bridge. This could also create watchable wildlife corridors and be another hook to attract tourists. OPG plans to have a “coming-out party” with the trail system and Port Gamble master plan later this year.

“It’s a strategy for North Kitsap that is so incredibly progressive,” Rose said. “It will bring everybody a benefit. We’re financially capable, progressive, patient, and nobody is more creative than us. It’s a legacy for the North End that we want to create.”

To contact Arborwood Project Manager Kent Berryman, e-mail him at kberryman@orminc.com