POULSBO — First it was the Morris property, then it was known as the 7th and Iverson Park, but now the 2.5 acre city-owned parcel has an official name: Centennial Park.

City parks and recreation director Mary McCluskey presented the city council with the city’s Parks Commission recommendations for the park title at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

Five of the seven parks commissioners chose Byparken (Beeparken) over Centennial Park and Iverson Park, McCluskey said.

“Every little town in Norway has a Byparken, which is Norwegian for city park,” she said.

Centennial Park was a late entry into the naming possibilities, so it probably didn’t get as much consideration as the others, McCluskey said.

As soon as McCluskey handed the naming issue to the council, Councilman Mike Regis took the lead and made his case for naming the property Centennial Park.

“I’m going to weigh in on Centennial Park, because I think it would go along with the historical society,” Regis said.

The park is reminiscent of the environment, which drew the city’s Norwegian settlers to the shores of Liberty Bay, he said.

“I think it would be a fine tribute to them,” he said. “Iverson Street and Centennial Park seems to me to be a natural fit.”

Iverson Street was named in honor of Rudi Iverson, who served as mayor and was also active in the city’s governmental functions, Regis said.

Even though Councilwoman Connie Lord said she favored Central Park as the property’s official name, Regis’ plea struck a chord for her.

“I have to agree with Councilman Regis,” Lord said. “The environment is what drew people here.”

The name will also recognize all of those who had the foresight and vision to found a city government, Lord said.

Councilman Jim Henry also voiced support for the Centennial Park name, saying if he had to choose a name he would choose Centennial Park.

When the issue came to a vote, all five council members in attendance approved the official name of Centennial Park.

While the naming of the park took less than 10 minutes, the approval of the master plan for the property came down to deciding whether to make it an active or passive use facility.

“The difference is based on the parking required for an active park, which would be greater than a passive park,” said Laurie Larson of Larson Casteel, which developed the master plan.

Thirty parking spaces would be required for an active use park versus 10 for passive use, Larson said.

Since the park will come under the city’s new Critical Areas Ordinance, the setbacks from the south fork of Dogfish Creek, which divides the property in half, would amount to 150-feet of no-build area, she said.

“Any structure built on the property would require parking,” she said, adding that the recommendation is to remove the existing building on the property.

Because of the property’s limitations, there is no way to fit the required 30 parking spaces on it, Larson concluded.

However, if the park were passive use, there would be enough space to fit the requisite 10 parking stalls, she said. One use that has been mentioned for the park is the Poulsbo Farmers Market, which could use the park with the 10 parking spaces, Larson said.

Councilman Ed Stern questioned the legality of creating a park around the anticipated use by a single group.

“The farmers market was the most vocal, and that wouldn’t preclude any other group from using it,” McCluskey said. “We haven’t gone to the second step of talking to legal counsel.”

Instead of referring specifically to the farmers market, Stern said the city should use a generic term.

“We do address it as the farmers market or public entities,” Larson said. “We looked at it as far as what would be required if we had a community assembly.”

Stern said instead of having an active park, he would rather see the property be a passive use area.

“I think it would be respite for people in an urban environment,” Stern said.

Along with being a natural oasis in a built-up area, Stern stressed the need for balancing public safety issues with habitat preservation.

“We need to have the ability to patrol it easily,” Stern said.

Larson said the public safety element has been addressed throughout the planning process as evidence of human habitation has been found on the property.

“There are going to be short shrubs and we will have a visual corridor in between the restroom facility at 7th and Iverson that would make it easy to patrol,” Larson said.