Kitsap County is holding a community meeting this month to get input on proposed, updated design plans for a bridge to replace a culvert on Chief Sealth Road northeast of the Indianola Spit and further discuss estuary restoration and an extended trail system in the Indianola Waterfront Preserve. Funding details and project timelines will also be discussed. The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 12 in the Indianola Clubhouse. The public is welcome.

A meeting was held last October to share preliminary plans for the bridge, designed by GeoEngineers, and to get input from nearby homeowners, the Suquamish Tribe and Great Peninsula Conservancy, which owns the preserve. The culvert prohibits fish passage, according to the GPC. It would also like to replace portions of existing trails with boardwalks, and dig out fill dirt that was dumped into the wetland when homes were built in the area 40 years ago.

Some Indian Bay residents at the October meeting expressed concerns about silt build up that could occur around their docks with the proposed changes.

GeoEngineers revised and clarified the plan, and now that it’s nearly 65 percent drafted, they’re ready for further input at the March meeting, according to Arvilla Ohlde, consultant for the county’s Facilities, Parks and Recreation Department.

Funding for the first phase of the project, which includes the new bridge, will come from a $415,000 settlement Foss Maritime paid to the state for a 4,700-gallon old spill at Point Wells near Edmonds Dec. 30, 2003. The oil spread rapidly across Puget Sound and saturated the Indianola shoreline, including the pristine Doe-Kag-Wats saltwater marsh.

The state gave the settlement money to the county to administer for the project. The county received a grant from the Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group to pay for design and will pursue another grant from the group to help fund further preserve restoration, Ohlde said.

For more information, call the county parks department at (360) 337-5361.