The creation of the Central Kitsap Community Campus, road projects and the expansion of local parkland will be at the forefront for the Central Kitsap Community Council in 2010.
The council members, appointed by the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners, held their first meeting of the year Wednesday, Jan. 20. The 18-member council acts as an advisory board for the county commissioners. Silverdale and surrounding communities are not incorporated as cities.
The campus, set to open in summer 2011, will include a YMCA, senior housing and possibly a new location of the Kitsap Regional Library.
Council President Bob Moyer said the council held a series of public meetings on the campus between 2005 and 2007 which laid much of the groundwork for the plan.
The council will work with the county Public Works Department with looking for improvements to the intersection at Silverdale Way NW, Chico Way NW and
NW Newberry Hill Road, including the possibility of a new stop light or further road expansion.
Moyer said the council will also be involved with the creation of the proposed 1,000-acre Newberry Hill Heritage Park. The county Parks and Recreation Department is hosting four more public meetings on the park in the coming months.
Moyer said he wants the council to become more visible in Silverdale by improving the way it spreads information. He said expanding the council’s e-mail list, social networking methods and follow through on projects are essential to move the council forward.
“We are a volunteer organization so doing something is easy but continuing it is the hard part,” he said.
At its January meeting, the board reelected Moyer as council president and introduced three new members.
-Jeff Brody worked for 33 years as a journalist. He began working as director of community relations at the Kitsap Regional Library in March, which he said allows him to pursue other positions in the community.
He said he wants to make the town more pedestrian friendly and look at other options to unify Silverdale.
“Silverdale does not have the same sense of community that some of the smaller, but still unincorporated parts of the county do,” he said.
-Jason Myers, a dispatcher with the Peninsula Light Company, has lived in Silverdale since he was 9. Though he said he was active with President Obama’s 2008 campaign, this is his first step into Kitsap government.
“My love is Old Town Silverdale,” he said. “I want to reinvigorate the Old Town.”
-Lucy Johnson, a Silverdale resident for six years, said she has a long history of doing volunteer work with governmental organizations. During her time living in Connecticut, she worked for 12 years on the state’s Board of Education.
“I think it takes awhile to learn what goes on from inside a place,” she said. “I plan to watch for a while and find out what’s happening.”
The council holds meeting at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at the Silverdale Water District Administration Building, 5300 NW Newberry Hill Road.
