KINGSTON — More often than not, traffic and water stream along at a fairly rapid rate in Kingston, but North End residents expressed worries that both could be dammed up by the construction of the Arborwood development.

Wednesday night brought representatives from Olympic Property Group to Kingston Junior High in hopes of gaining the public’s insight, and the course of the evening’s open house discussion flowed around those two topics.

“There were a lot of written comments,” said OPG President Jon Rose. “Concerns-wise, it centered around traffic and water. Traffic is always the No. 1 issue raised in big projects.”

Arborwood, which was originally presented in 1991 as an 1,100 acre golfing community, has dwindled down to 380 acres with 765 homes. The homes will be clustered, which will allow for more open space and trails, said OPG Project Manager Kent Berryman, adding that approximately two-thirds of Arborwood will become trails and open space.

“I’m not happy with that much development,” said Kingston resident Louise Lien. “They’ve changed the plan a number of times. I know that they have to improve the roads — I hope they do anyway. There’s going to be so much more traffic because of it.”

About 130 people attended the open house and gave opinions, Rose said, and all are being taken into account as Arborwood gets ready to move into full-fledged development.

“We’re pleased with the direction that they are going,” said Stillwaters Environmental Center administrative director Naomi Maasberg, adding that the main concern she has with Arborwood was whether it left enough space for wildlife. “We’re concerned with protecting the wetland in the area. I’m delighted though that they are starting over. Originally, they had really small buffers.”

During the open house, residents were able to write down their comments on index cards and talk with the various experts and OPG officials who are working on the project.

The next step, Rose said, is for OPG employees to review comments and see how they can be adapted into Arborwood’s master plan. OPG could have a design to the county as early as 2007, he said.

“It was good that we stopped at that point to get community input,” Berryman said. “There were some concerns about easements on Hillbend Lane, which is not the case at all. It was good having the team there so the neighbors were able to talk to the pros and get their questions answered.”

“I have always been impressed with OPG’s approach to projects,” said Poulsbo resident Gale Kirsopp, adding that OPG has been successful because it is so transparent about its plans. “I think Kingston will truly be the beneficiary of this project.”

“We had a lot of questions last night, and not a lot of answers because we don’t have a master plan yet,” Berryman said. “But they were very thoughtful questions from the community, and we’ll have the answer for them soon.”