Imagining what Silverdale might look like in the year 2035 was on the minds of around 120 area citizens who met to ponder issues such as commercial and residential zoning, transportation and maximum building height. Those issues and more will be described in a sub-area plan which is due for a revision in 2016.

“Whats your vision for Silverdale’s urban growth area looking over the next 20 years?,” asked David Greetham, senior planner with the Kitsap County Department of Community Development.

Greetham said public comments were a key, influential factor in determining the answer to that question.

Because Silverdale is not incorporated, the county is responsible for planning how it grows. The Silverdale sub-area plan is a smaller part of the overall Kitsap County Comprehensive Plan, a document that guides development, regulations and serves as a long-term road map for the future county-wide. It is structured around the state’s Growth Management Act.

Link: Silverdale Comprehensive Plan map (PDF)

Link: Silverdale Urban Growth Area and Regional Center maps (PDF)

Link: Silverdale Sub-Area plan (PDF)

By law the county has to draft a plan that looks 20 years into the future. Several aspects of Silverdale are evaluated in the sub-area plan including land use, housing, sewer and other utilities, transportation, rural areas, economic development and more. The plan and the map, Greetham said, is not “set in stone” as it is regularly updated every eight years.

A copy of the current comprehensive plan and the Silverdale sub-area plan are available on the Web at compplan.kitsapgov.com.

Greetham said the goal of the comprehensive plan included working with Kitsap’s cities to concentrate growth in urban areas where the services such as water and sewer exist, and also to maintain rural character.

Growth was expected in Silverdale, Greetham said. He said the county might expect its population to increase by 65,000 people over the next 20 years.

Some audience members asked Greetham if Silverdale was planning for too much growth, thus leading to vacant buildings and too many commercial areas.

Greetham said Silverdale already had zoning for commercial areas, such as around Greaves Way, and said it was up to the community to decide if that zoning should be changed or not.

“We also have to figure out how much industrial and commercial development we expect … if we find out we’re creating way too much industrial urban zoning then we have to look at scaling it back,” Greetham said.

But part of the equation is waiting to see how the market played out. There are no guarantees that a recession wouldn’t affect the economy, or that the Navy would always be a part of the local economy, he said.

“It’s planning, some of it is projections, guesswork … seeing how close we can get and planning for that,” he said.

‘City’ phrasing irks some

The current text in the Silverdale Sub-Area plan states “Within the 20-year planning horizon, Silverdale will be a self-governing city.”

That particular line proved to be contentious and some audience members objected to it, noting that citizens had voted against incorporation already.

“That can change but that’s what’s in this plan now,” Greetham said. If the people wanted to change that text, he said, it was up for discussion.

One audience member asked how the reference to Silverdale as a city could be removed. Greetham said by submitting comments, the public could influence county staff and commissioners to change the document.

He did not know how the line got into the plan in the first place.

Pete Wimmer, who is a member of the Central Kitsap Community Council, addressed the “city” issue:

“It’s to act city-like,” he said of the wording, not to make Silverdale a city officially.

“I know it’s a very hot topic, contentious topic for some people,” Wimmer said.

“Just because it’s city-like in the comp plan does not make it a city. It’s the infrastructure, it’s the building codes, it’s how we look at the whole thing,” Wimmer said.

Greetham added that regardless of whether or not Silverdale was incorporated, it still needed to plan for good transportation and services.

Comments are key to changing plan and map

Jim Sommerhauser with the county planning commission said that every public comment was put into a comment matrix which was reviewed every time a particular decision was made.

“By making a comment you’re really getting a vote,” Sommerhauser said.

“Believe me, the comments you make are important. They are not lost. And they are used all the way through the process to try and figure out what you want,” Sommerhauser said.

The county’s plans are put into effect as follows: The comprehensive plan is drafted by county staff. Then, the county planning commission holds public hearings and collects comments. The planning commission then makes a recommendation to county commissioners, who will then vote on the comprehensive plan. The plan then goes to the state Department of Commerce for review and final approval.

Good regional center plan could provide transportation funding

Greetham showed a map of Silverdale showing two boundaries: A larger boundary that showed the Urban Growth Area and a much smaller boundary inside of it called the regional center plan.

The regional center plan was important in that by planning a certain way, Silverdale could be eligible for transportation funding from the Puget Sound Regional Council.

Greetham said the PSRC identified 27 regional centers around Puget Sound, and that Silverdale’s center was the only one that was not an actual city.

“So we’re kind of special. It really is intended to focus mixed-use development so we can take advantage of existing services that are already there (sewer, water) instead of having to expand services and sprawl them with sprawl development.”

Mixed-use housing is where the first story of a building is used for a business and the upper level is used for housing.

“We’re really focusing on the downtown core where we have good transit, mixed-use housing, things like that. So it just makes it a better candidate (for funding from PSRC). But even if it doesn’t get transportation funding we’re at least going to make sure we’ve got a good walkable, livable downtown core,” Greetham said.

Around 120 people attended the meeting.