KINGSTON — Turmoil followed a simple question posed by Kingston resident Mark Rustad at Tuesday evening’s Kingston Open House. He asked Kitsap Commissioner Chris Endresen when his house, part of the old Kingston Navy Housing off West Kingston Road, would be demolished for the Village Green.

The answer Endresen provided — April 1 — came as a shock and resulted in the discovery of a previous miscommunication between the commissioners and the Kitsap County Facilities, Parks and Recreation Department, which manages the property.

“Commissioner Endresen and the other commissioners were briefed on the status of the project in November 2006,” said newly appointed Kitsap County Administrator Nancy Buonanno Grennan. “April 1 was the original date, but we bumped it out to June 30 by the normal course of the project plans.”

The Navy housing property, comprised of 3.6 acres purchased by the county in December 2005, will be razed for the Village Green, a park and community center to be built in the next few years. The deadline for residents to relocate will not be pushed back past June 30, Endresen said.

That date was selected so families with children in school would be able to move after the school year ends, Buonanno Grennan said.

“June 30 is ample time for the people living there to find another place to live,” Endresen said. “The other units were not supposed to be leased out, but they have been. I’ve been told they are on month to month leases.”

The parks and recreation department decided to allow people to move into the 12 units because they were in dire straits and desperately needed places to live, Buonanno Grennan said. When the time comes for them to move out, the county will assist as best it can in finding other homes, she added.

“My understanding is we were viewing ourselves as a temporary stop gap for people while they are looking for more permanent housing,” she said.

Rustad said having people move into buildings scheduled to be demolished seemed backward, and added that residents are scrambling to find new homes.

He and his family have lived in the Navy housing development for about 12 years, and have been trying to find another place to live for about six years with no luck.

“Mr. Rustad would have had to leave when the Navy sold the property,” Endresen said. “We feel we are doing the right thing by him in letting his family stay there until his retirement. I felt the other units should not have been rented.”