SILVERDALE – Higher density is likely to be a part of Silverdale’s future as the Central Kitsap area continues to grow.
To help prepare for the coming growth, Kitsap County has created a plan for the core area called the Silverdale Regional Center, said Darren Gurnee, associate planner for the county. He spoke to the Central Kitsap Community Council Oct. 21.
The basic plan is to create a core that is friendlier to pedestrians and features mixed-use development.
By creating the plan, Silverdale has a chance to qualify for infrastructure improvement funding.
The idea is to make the core a walkable, healthy community with major destination points – such as Kitsap Mall, the schools, the planned new library, major retail areas, the hospital and Clear Creek Trail – connected via a tree-lined green corridor network. Sidewalks would have a buffer area that kept them further away from the road.
To ensure walkability, the regional center is only about one mile wide.
Silverdale, Gurnee said, was ranked by one organization as scoring just 17 out of 100 for “walkability.” Gurnee said that ground-level storefronts needed to have large windows so that pedestrians could see what was around a corner, thus giving them a sense of safety. Gurnee said that a study showed that if the storefronts were opaque, pedestrians tended to avoid walking past those buildings because they could not see around the corners.
Density in most people’s mind was a bad thing, Gurnee said. The usual perceptions of density are that of overcrowding, heavy traffic, pollution and strained services.
But Gurnee challenged the council to see density as a good thing, with great parks, walkable neighborhoods, efficient transit options and a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.
Gurnee showed a photo of a dense Italian city where he had once studied. The photo showed a fairly compact city atop a hill, surrounded by farmlands. If that city had been developed with sprawl instead, he said, all that beautiful farmland would be gone.
The plan ties in to the larger Kitsap County Comprehensive Plan and the Puget Sound Regional Council.
[ LINK: See also: “Future of Silverdale to be guided by revised county sub-area plan” published in the Central Kitsap Reporter Jan 22. ]
Gurnee may be reached via email at dgurnee@co.kitsap.wa.us.
Kitsap County Commissioner Ed Wolfe, who was also at the council meeting, said “walkability and connectors, to me, (were) paramount.”
Wolfe said a “bus rapid transit” system could one day use dedicated road lanes to connect Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Silverdale and Bremerton.
“If I had a crystal ball I’d say that’s going to happen,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe also noted that the old Community Center would be torn down by January or February, and that the Sheriff’s Office could be moved to a larger location.
“Silverdale is the ATM of the county. Things are happening in Silverdale right now,” Wolfe said.
