Although a portion of the Silverdale Community Center has been closed due to the building’s poor condition, Central Kitsap Community Council members said some kind of alternative was needed to make up for the lost space.

Exactly how that might be done, however, was not known.

The Kitsap County parks department is working with individual groups that have used the center to help them find new places to meet.

Angie Silva, senior policy analyst for the Kitsap County commissioners office, said they would try and use the rest of the center for as long as possible. Safety was the county’s concern, she said, and there was no timeline for how to deal with the building.

“There’s very limited funding in terms of making improvements that will make that portion of the building last longer,” Silva said.

Council member Rob MacDermid initially criticized the county for not being more proactive in maintaining the building.

“This strikes me as a problem that shouldn’t have surprised anybody,” he said.

“It seems to me a responsible property owner would be in there on a routine basis monitoring the condition of that building and would have taken steps along the way to either solve the problem or start — long before it becomes a crisis — start taking steps to remedy the problem.”

Council member Natalie Bryson disagreed and noted that the future of the building had long been in question.

“I think to give a blanket condemnation (of the county) is inappropriate and it’s not factual,” Bryson said. MacDermid later recanted.

Silva said there had been discussions about using the parcel for a new library or for a performing arts center, thus leading them to hold off taking action on the existing building.

“Dumping over $700,000 worth of improvements (on the existing building) when the possibility of demolishing that one or two years down the road doesn’t make financial sense, at least in my mind,” Silva said.

Council member Tex Lewis saw “two sides of a coin.” One one side, he said, “It’s obvious that our infrastructure is going to pot throughout the country. The people who are in charge of it are aware of it but the resources have not been allocated to correct those deficiencies.”

On the other side, however, Lewis held up the Silverdale Water District as being proactive in dealing with problems in making infrastructure improvements.

Silva said stewardship groups could be an option to help provide labor and materials to support buildings like the community center.

“The parks department has a budget of less than $5 million to take over a thousand acres of properties throughout the county itself that have a number of different facilities,” Silva said of the park department’s strained resources.