KINGSTON — With some of the biggest changes on the horizon for one of the North End’s busiest communities, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Kingston Town Meeting had a packed house early on Thursday night.

“There was already 250 people at 7:15 p.m.,” said event co-organizer Steve Heacock. “That’s impressive.”

Developers and managers for some of the biggest projects in the Little City by the Sea were on hand to answer questions and listen to ideas that residents want to see come to fruition — like more flexible trips on Aqua Express.

“It’s all weekend talk,” said Aqua Express General Manager Brian Grantham.

And he’s not ignoring their comments, as he said there will be a few events in the near future when the boat will make special runs during a weekend but people won’t have to ride the boat just for the event.

“People could go over for whatever event they want,” he said.

Bob Screen, owner of the White Horse development and his daughter, Sarah Screen, vice president of sales for White Horse and a Windermere agent, said residents had positive comments about the 450-acre, high-end housing development going in off South Kingston and Indianola roads.

“Most everybody is really excited that the golf course is coming and the road blocks are out of the way so we can proceed,” said Bob Screen.

The course is expected to open to founding and charter members of the golf club this fall and to the public by Memorial Day weekend 2006, he said.

About half of the 65 lots have been sold, Bob Screen said. Buyers have included developers and families from the east side of Seattle and as far away as California and Texas.

“People had no idea we were selling lots,” Sarah Screen said, noting that lot prices start at $500,000.

Residents were also interested in the White Horse trail that will connect the Kingston trail system and the Indianola greenway corridor. Kingston Parks Trails and Open Space committee members Bobbie Moore and Walt Elliott were on hand with maps of potential trails in the area. Elliott said some residents had concerns about potential public beach access trails being developed near their homes and noted that there was a lot of interest in a Parcell-Lindvog-Eglon trail network.

“It’s hard to know what’s here and there is a lot here,” he said of the slowly expanding trail system.

One of Kingston’s grassroots groups that has been quiet for a while, the Kingston Community Center Foundation, kicked off a come-back campaign Thursday evening with a bake sale. Though the group has been active, board president Linda Fyfe and her cohorts are starting to make some noise about raising money for a new community center. They sold cookies and surveyed residents about what they want in a new facility. While the effort was admirable, Fyfe said she understands gathering support may be a slow process.

“It’s really hard to gain more than what we’ve done tonight,” she said of trying to garner interest. “When we have a concept or perhaps a model, people will be more likely to back it up.”