Kingston chimes in on community center plan

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, September 27, 2006

KINGSTON — Gathering in the Kingston Room at the Kingston Community Center Monday night, residents were able to view rough concept drawings that sketched out hopes for a new center. While the current building has housed everything from the library to the Kingston Chamber of Commerce, members of public made it clear that they are ready for an upgrade.

With about 15 people in attendance, the Kingston Community Center Foundation unveiled its rough outline for the new center, which will be attached to the Village Green project.

“We want to make sure that the community center is surrounded by green,” said principal architect Miles Yanick, from the Miles Yanick Company, which won the design bid. “The community center should be set in a park.”

“We want a community center in a park,” said KCCF President Bobbie Moore. “We don’t want a community center in a small green space. We want to preserve as much green as possible.”

The plans have the community center in a footprint set back from the Navy housing site off of West Kingston Road, Yanick said, with space for parking under the building and room to expand if additional space is needed.

Kingston residents in attendance sought to add ideas to the current list of qualities the new center should have, which include a library, senior center, North Kitsap Boys & Girls Club space, meeting rooms and a chamber of commerce office.

Kingston resident Carrie Duwe suggested that a swimming pool might be a valuable asset to the complex, but that idea was sunk by Moore.

“When we were at the beginning of planning for this new center, we had a small group that was passionate about a swimming pool,” she said. “It’s just not realistic for this facility. There are the issues of maintenance, funding and staff. This is a way for us to have a community center in the next five to 10 years, not in the next 10 to 20. We had to weigh practical consideration against deep longings.”

Many of the residents gathered were also concerned about the idea of placing senior housing next to the center, when it could be set further back from the building.

“These buildings could be shuffled around,” said Kingston resident Walt Elliot. “The senior center could be put in the senior housing.”

That would open up more room in the community center building, Elliot added. The primary reason to have the two connected, Yanick said, was so older residents would have easier access to the senior center in the community building.

“We have space set aside already for the senior center in the community center,” Yanick said, adding that all residents — not just those who will live in the senior housing — would also need access to the senior center. He added that the public would be better served by having senior area in the community center.

KCCF member Marilyn Olds said the community center should be the focus of the project, with the senior housing as an extra bonus to the plan.

“We need to focus on getting enough space for each group right now,” she said, adding that the goal should be getting the senior center up and running.