SILVERDALE — “Growth is happening in Silverdale,” Central Kitsap Commissioner Edward Wolfe said. “We see it happening, from the expansion of businesses, housing and fundraising efforts to build a new library and community theater.”

We’ll also be able to see it happening in the Central Kitsap Community Campus project in the coming years.

Angie Silva, project lead for the community campus, said they’re “at the feasibility and due-diligence phase of the project” right now.

This campus sits on 12 acres of county-owned property off of Silverdale Way in Silverdale. It includes the 85,785-square-foot YMCA campus, the Kitsap Sheriff Precinct Office and the site where the Silverdale Community Center was before it was closed in 2015 for demolition.

Now, the county is moving forward with the planning stage, to figure out the best way to use that property to serve the community.

“The campus will be an opportunity for public and private partners to come together and achieve common goals for the benefit of the Silverdale and Central Kitsap communities,” Wolfe said.

Silva said, “Now and until spring 2017, the county will be assessing financial, market and property site conditions that will help guide realistic design scenarios or options of what type of public and private uses could (be located) on the properties.

“Along with a series of public open houses over the next year, this effort will not only identify what type of uses (they) could locate on the site, but also look at larger community benefits. These larger goals will be evaluating the feasibility of a multi-functional, park-like stormwater improvement that not only serves the campus development, but the larger Silverdale area, as well as look at transportation improvements of getting vehicles, people and bikes to the campus properties, but also connecting them safely to other activity hubs in the Silverdale regional area.”

In an effort to inform the communities about the progress on the campus, the county has launched a website detailing the background and goals of the project: spf.kitsap gov.com/ckcampus. There, you can sign up for project updates, or be put in touch with the project leaders to ask questions or give feedback.

“The stars are aligned,” Wolfe said, “to move the Central Kitsap Community Campus project forward from vision toward actions that are realistic and financially achievable … We are creating a heart, a center for people to come and stay awhile by leveraging talent and funding resources of the private and public sectors.”