POULSBO — The North Kitsap School District board rejected all bids for the North Kitsap Regional Events Center Phase I project which would have installed synthetic turf at the high school stadium.

The board came to a consensus to reject the bids during a school board study session June 21, but couldn’t make an official decision on the matter until its Thursday meeting.

The lowest bid on the project from Seattle-based Ohno Construction came in at nearly $1.36 million, about $240,000 higher than NKREC committee estimates on June 20, leaving project backers with limited choices for the summer construction season, and a limited time frame to complete the work.

Despite pooling more than $1.1 million and creating a four-agency partnership between the NKSD, the Public Facilities District, the city of Poulsbo and Kitsap County, the low bid simply proved to be too high.

“When all of the four parties add up the money they have, it’s still close to $250,000 out of reach. It’s unlikely any additional funds will be available for the project this summer,” PFD chair Linda Berry-Maraist said in June.

NKSD Capital programs director Robin Shoemaker is recommending the bids be re-opened in the winter of 2008 and be paired with the Strawberry Field modernization project, which would call for artificial turf as well and also fall under Phase I.

Berry-Maraist said it would work out better for all parties involved if the installation took place in 2008.

“If we go to re-bid in early February of 2008, we could give a contractor maximum flexibility time for construction,” she said in June. “It would be beneficial if we could bid them (Strawberry Field and North Kitsap Stadium) at the same time. There would be more time to get the work done.”

Community volunteer and concerned parent Marcy Salo hopes the four agencies can come up with the funds needed next year to complete the project.

“I hope it gets done. It needs to get done,” she said. “I understand that it was too expensive this year but I have a feeling it can be more expensive next year. I was hoping we could take advantage of the funds this year while we had them.”

School board member Dan Delaney is confident the four entities can work together to make it happen in 2008.

“I am absolutely confident that we have the ability to get this done next summer,” he said. “I think we will be able to come to an agreement to get it done. We have a ton of time to work together to do it.”

Fellow board member Catherine Ahl agreed.

“I am pretty confident. We (NKREC) just all have to work together to find the money to do it,” she said.