My column this week contains the second part of Councilman Ed Stern’s interview, which focuses attention on his answer to “What is your vision for the future of Poulsbo?”

“My vision can be encapsulated by the term a ‘college town’ — a vibrant small city at the crossroads of both the west sound and the peninsulas region, with direct access to the Seattle metro corridor by both Bainbridge and Kingston ferries, and the Olympic peninsula by the Hood Canal Bridge — hence ‘a college town at the crossroads.’ ”

Then a bit of research yielded some interesting information which falls into the category of “Be careful of what you wish for,” or maybe, “Be prepared.”

Many of you may have read my many letters to the editor of this newspaper on the topic of one of my passions: affordable housing and the dire need our city has in pursuing that goal for current and future residents if Councilman Stern’s ‘vision’ is to be met.

The latest student population of the Poulsbo campus and profile tells some of the story but until a projected student growth goal becomes available, using our imagination will have to suffice:

Annual headcount: 11,735; full-time: 36 percent; female: 51 percent; male: 49 percent; students of color: 36 percent.

I have found no available data on what percentage of the full-time student population that are living in their family home or are renting or living with friends, but one can readily sense the growing need for affordable student housing.

What and where then, are the city’s plans to house this specific student need? For the answer, I posed a follow up question to Stern (see below).

Meanwhile back to my research I found a paper titled: What does a college town look like? Posted on Sept. 8, 2014, by Rebecca Tippett:

“Though migration is a hard event to capture, there is rich data — 60 years of it, in fact! —for every county in the United States, courtesy of the ‘Net Migration Patterns for US Counties’ project at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Nearly every [geographic] has a unique migration profile that can be differentiated by age, race, and gender. These profiles tell us a lot about why people are going there or leaving. And local health care needs, social service demands, housing markets, and environmental impacts are all affected by changes in population composition due to geographic differences in age-specific migration.

“One of the major reasons that people move to another county within their state or to another state is to go to school. When the college they are attending is large enough and the underlying population small enough, a very specific ‘college town’ age-migration profile emerges.

“All four counties [in this study] exhibit classic ‘college town’ profiles. A large number of people move in between the ages of 15 and 24 as they arrive at the university to attend school. Between the ages of 25 and 34, an almost equally large number of individuals move out as individuals graduate and move away. Net migration is fairly flat for other age groups.

“What does this migration profile mean for planning? These four counties have a large young population that steadily turns over. This brings increased needs for rental properties and infrastructure such as bike lanes, sidewalks, and bus lines. These areas may also see a greater demand for part-time jobs, late-night dining, and bars.”

Part Two Councilman Ed Stern Interview

Bill Effinger (BE)

Ed Stern (ES)

BE: What is your vision for the future of Poulsbo?

ES: A small college town with a vibrant mix of many people of all ages.

BE: What have you accomplished during your terms that you are the most proud of?

ES: (1) Saving the funding from the state to build the Poulsbo branch of Olympic College—$13 Million in 2002. (2) Leading on deploying Public Broadband access.

BE: What and where then, are the plans to house this specific student need?

ES: Expanding housing opportunities to support the vision will come in phases as programs expand and awareness increases and young students and adults begin to gravitate here to live in proximity to the educational facilities. The first phase of opportunity will be what’s called ‘shared housing’ bringing together senior citizens (and others to be sure) already living within Poulsbo. *

BE: Do you intend to run again when this term is up?

ES: Yes.

Note: Read my column next week for an unexpected extended statement from Councilman Stern on the topic of a “college town” and his vision for Poulsbo.

Bill Effinger can be reached at bill@billeffinger.net and on Twitter @WREPro.