The June meeting of the Kingston Citizen Advisory Committee featured an extended question and answer session with District 1 County Commissioner Steve Bauer which is detailed elsewhere in the Kingston Community News. What follows is a summary of the meeting’s standard reports.
Subcommittee Reports
Parks – Walt Elliott’s complete report is attached. He reported that the final stages of clearing the land for the new Village Green are under way. Hydro seeding is expected to be done on Monday, June 8. The trail work on Heritage Park continues, as does work on the White Horse connector trail.
Ferries – The legislature has funded WSF to prepare by Nov. 1 a “pre-design” study for a Kingston-Edmonds reservation system. A group is being formed to advise on this and the proposed composition includes: Chambers of Commerce Commercial Trucking, FAC rep; Active Citizens; Local Municipality: Port Rep; Regional tourist reps; daily commuter/frequent rider; regular weekend travelers; Bangor Naval Base rep. The next legislative session will decide whether or not to implement the reservation system.
We can expect fare hikes of 2.5 percent per year beginning this September and possibly a fuel surcharge.
WSF/WSDOT does not intend to implement the plan to mitigate waiting traffic on State Route 104 by creating and additional holding area. Instead they propose that the problem will be addressed by reservations.
Downtown Kingston Master Plan – Pete Sullivan reported on the scope of work to be done by BC&J and that document was sent to KCAC members. He said that budget and staff cuts at the county have cut into the amount of time he and other can contribute to local projects, such as the downtown master plan committee. He said they have just enough staff resources for two more meetings. He noted, however, that it should work out fine as the Downtown Kingston Master Plan committee has been very productive and a lot of the work is done so the professional services of BC&J can be put to good use.
In terms of describing master plan proposals to the community, Sullivan reported that the members of the Downtown Kingston Master Plan committee said they are willing to go before the county planning commission to present the proposals and respond to questions. He said that the more KCAC representatives that could be at that September meeting the better.
Commissioner Bauer asked, “What are the chances that we have the planning commission come here to Kingston, walk the downtown, and see what they are deciding upon? Sullivan and the KCAC members responded enthusiastically to that idea, and Bauer said he would be happy to help make that happen if needed.
The Downtown Kingston Master Plan is available on the county Web site at http://www.kitsapgov.com/dcd/community_plan/subareas/kingston/dtmp.htm.
Community Reports
Kiwanis – Alex Thomsen said that Fourth of July buttons are on sale at various locations downtown for $2 and that 100 percent of the proceeds go to directly to the celebration.
Kingston Garden Club/Downtown Kingston Association – Nancy Martin said the garden club has formed weed warrior groups to fight noxious weeds in Kingston. She announced that the downtown association is now the events committee for the Chamber of Commerce. She reminded everyone about the Saturday night concert series from 7 to 9 p.m. in August at Mike Wallace Park.
Rotary Club – Clint Boxman said the club gave two $1,000 scholarships. He said there are still openings for golfers to play in the upcoming tournament and that former and current members of the Seattle Seahawks will be there too.
Friends of the Library – Jan Richards said the library is getting ready for its July 18 book sale in Mike Wallace Park and donations are being accepted.
Downtown Revitalization – Karen Ross said that the reorganization of the Chamber of Commerce has meant that the Downtown Revitalization group is now divided into three chamber committees for economic development, beautification, and events. Because of this, she said, she is tendering her resignation to KCAC. Ross has served as a member of the council since its inception. She recommended that someone from the beautification committee could possibly be tapped to serve on the council. Platz thanked Ross for her years of service.
Chamber of Commerce – Tom Waggoner said that the reorganization will be good for the chamber and its ability to serve the community. He said chamber members are very excited about the 43 new jobs that have been created in downtown Kingston with the opening of the Firehouse Theater, the Oak Table Restaurant, and the Mora Iced Creamery shop. He said the group is taking with CenturyTel about changing the mural on its Kingston building.
Stakeholders – Rick Lanning said the group is working on how to best market Kingston and focus on the town‘s vision. They are creating a map for the core of downtown to show local places of interest and get foot traffic moving around town. “We are even investigating what a boutique hotel could do for Kingston,” he said.
General Announcements
Co-chair Platz said he attended the grand opening of the Gordon Elementary School garden. It is just a really great community project, he said, that many people supported with generous donations of time, money, and other resources such as seed, lumber, etc. He said students are allowed to “snack” on vegetables from the garden and that the goal is to one day be able to use garden produce at school lunches. In the meantime, the students are reclaiming all compostable foods from lunch.
Naomi Maasberg announced that Spectrum school was holding its graduation ceremony at Stillwaters on June 12. She also wanted the community to know about Fiesta de Agua, a celebration of our local beaches and water system. The fiesta will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in conjunction with the Farmers’ Market and will feature a low-tide beach walk started at 11 a.m.
Parks Trails and Open Space Notes
Arness Park: There is to be no Sani-Can at the park this summer, and trash cans have been removed. The committee asks KCAC to make an urgent request to Commissioner Bauer to restore services at least for the summer months. Our highest priority is a Sani-Can. Trash removal is a secondary but also critical priority especially after weekends and the week before and after the Fourth of July. The community was not advised of these decisions. Parks with lower usage appear to have retained their trash service. For example Norwegian Point park has three trash cans, with a total of 19 cans in Hansville’s parks, while all of Kingston has only 2 trash cans: one at the skateboard park and one at Kola Kole.
Village Green: Final stages of reclaiming the Navy housing site are under way.
Several hundred volunteer hours logged will help our grant-seeking efforts. Material costs borne by the county and covered by the funds dedicated to the Village Green amount to $55,000, about one-fifth of the low estimate for the plan County Parks presented to KCAC.
Generous donations from local businesses have also contributed to the project.
Sometime after the Fourth the grass will be able to withstand some use and when we judge that to be so, the fence can be removed.
The State CTED Capital Programs Manager visited along with state Reps. Appleton and Rolfes. CTED tells us that:
We need to make more progress on fundraising than the $225,000 pledged by the community. The in-kind contribution of $1.75 million that the County used to buy the housing site is not a persuasive factor.
We also need someone to orchestrate this fundraising phase of the project. The Board intends to locate this kind of expertise.
Heritage Park: Trail work continues. We heard from County Parks volunteer coordinator Lori Raymaker that obstacles to opening the Park are:
1) Possible need for permits where trails cross wetlands;
2) Defining what is needed to open the park. (i.e. moving the concrete blocks to accommodate parking on the existing graveled area, signs, a kiosk, trail marking.)
White Horse connector trail: Parks is to quantify for us how much dirt can be moved and how many trees removed before permits are needed, and communicate those limits to us. Then we’ll be able to break the trail work down into achievable chunks so that we don’t trigger permit requirements. Otherwise, Parks thinks the job will cost more than the $8,000 estimate we were given by the contractor several months ago.
Summarized by Mary Kulish, KCAC secretary
