By Kari Pelaez

The Kingston Citizen Advisory Council meeting of April 4, 7-9 p.m., North Kitsap Fire Station on Miller Bay Road.

Present
– Naomi Maasberg, co-chair, member at large.
– Clint Boxman, Kingston-North Kitsap Rotary.
– Mary Ann Harris, Kingston Garden Club.
– Steve Heacock, Carpenter Lake/Creek.
– Ken Hanson, Kingston Kiwanis.
– Dan Martin, Kingston Stakeholders.
– Dawn Purser, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe.
– Clint Dudley, Kingston Farmers Market.
– Nancy Langwith, Downtown Kingston Association Events Committee.
– Kari Pelaez, school parent. 
– Pat Wicklund, Friends of the Kingston Library.
– Pete DeBoer, Kingston Port and SoundRunner.

Excused
– Dave Wetter, Village Green.
– Walt Elliott, member at large.
– Betsy Cooper, member at large.
– Sandy Scott, Kingston Chamber of Commerce.
– Annie Humiston, at large, Roads Subcommittee.
– Rick Jones, North Kitsap School District.

Not Present
– Kitsap County representatives.

CorrespondenceKCAC needs to encourage people to apply for the open “Member at Large” position via the county website. No one has applied yet.

May 17 will be the date of the Kingston Town Meeting and Open House at the middle school. KCAC meets ahead of time (4:30 or 5) to set up tables at the school.

Five presentations are to be given by county people, including Eric Baker (remand of Kingston UGA), Kingston roads and traffic, Dennis Oost and trails, Shoreline Management update, Chris May (stormwater study).

Ideas: Have tables in the gym, talks in the commons room. Have a schedule of talks so residents can choose which talks they wish to attend.

Brainstormed some other community groups to add: S’Klallam Tribe for a table about the new casino. Olympic Property Group. North Kitsap Tourism Consortium. North Kitsap Economic Assessment Committee. Kitsap Forest & Bay. Red Cross. Sharenet. Café Oasis (Poulsbo). Kingston Rescue Mission.

Steve Heacock will distribute the Excel spreadsheet of former participants for members to look over and make suggestions of new people to invite.

Special Presentation – North Kitsap Tourism Consortium, Nancy Langwith.

The North Kitsap Tourism Consortium is a volunteer group of individuals with a passion for the North Kitsap Peninsula and a unified mission to increase tourism in the North Kitsap Peninsula area.

The consortium’s vision is to bring the world to the North Kitsap Peninsula to explore scenic, historic, waterfront villages connected by land and water trails to find adventure, culture and natural experiences.

The consortium’s purpose is to organize the North Kitsap Experience and package it as a product that can be marketed. The consortium meets the third Tuesday of every month, 8:30-10:30 a.m.; the location is different every month.

Membership is open to all and the consortium asks only that partners attend the meetings and actively participate on the action teams. Partners are: Port Madison Enterprises, the Suquamish Museum, Olympic Property Group, Port Gamble, The Point Casino, Kingston Chamber of Commerce, Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce, Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, and community members and small businesses from Kingston, Indianola, Hansville and Poulsbo. The consortium will also collaborate with the Port of Kingston on a project by project basis.

The consortium is targeting July 1 for the launching of its website and additional marketing activities. The branding and website effort has been funded by Port Madison Enterprises. The consortium hopes to have a product integrating all of the North Kitsap Peninsula that can be provided to other tourism organizations to assist in their marketing effort. One measure of success is to see the North Kitsap Tourism Consortium fade as the North Kitsap Experience lives on.

Subcommittee Reports – Parks & Trails Department, Walt Elliott.

Dori Leckner said the Parks Department intends to close the parking lot at the Eglon Trail trailhead. That ball is in Commissioner Gelder’s court. The arrangement was for Parks to fund once/year gravel-filling of potholes in the dirt road leading from the end of pavement on Parcells Road to the trailhead, although that portion is classified as “unmaintained County road.” The cost cited was $2,500 annually.

County Parks staff have given official sanction to Anthony Whalen to be skate park steward.

Parks is supporting a planned Arness and Kola Kole cleanup day on May 5 with volunteers being offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The subcommittee again acknowledges the Village Green cleanup done by Bayside Church members on March 17. John Bennett and Michael Nau organized the effort and the results are spectacular. Thanks also to Dave Wetter and Nick Jewett for repairing the two picnic tables that had been in the woods and restoring them to their rightful place at the Village Green.

Access to trails around the schools has apparently been restored, with limitations requested such as asking people not to approach the schools themselves. Signage is being replaced accordingly. Thanks to school district personnel for their help.

Heritage Park Stewardship Committee reports that a Bainbridge Island business wants to adopt the park and the committee is working with them to identify a 2012 project to enhance the park. Second Saturday work parties are in effect, 9 a.m. to noon.

NW Adventure Sports Festival is June 9-10 in Port Gamble, and a portion of proceeds will benefit North Kitsap Trails Association. The subcommittee is re-investigating installation of the vault toilet at Arness Park, which has been in storage.

– Ferry Advisory Committee, Walt Elliott.
June 5, the committee will have a public ferry meeting with Washington State Ferries staff. David Moseley may also be interested in briefing the KCAC.A 2.5 percent fare increase, along with the seasonal increase, goes into effect in May.

If your car is under 14 feet, you can get it laser-measured at the terminal and they will give you a sticker for the small car discount.

The committee is looking for a member who’s a frequent rider. Contact Walt Elliott or Rebecca Pirtle, the county’s volunteer coordinator.

Community Reports
– Kingston Garden Club, Mary Ann Harris. Garden Club is busy getting ready for May 5 Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Community Center. Biggest fund raiser of the year.

– Kiwanis, Ken Hanson. Mustang raffle tickets for sale. Look for “Where’s Max” on Facebook. (Max is the 1965 302 Mustang up for raffle.)

– Rotary, Clint Boxman. The golf tournament is on June 22nd. Information at www.knkrotarygolf.com.

Kingston 4th of July Fun Run information at www.kingstonrunning.org. Rotary is accepting new members; contact Boxman at (360) 297-8677.

Recent projects and donations include Village Green picnic shelter, ShareNet, KHS Band, KHS Fine Arts, Heritage Park.

– Chamber of Commerce, Sandy Scott.Dan reports that the Spring Clean-up was well attended.

Need help with the emptying of the Big Belly garbage cans in downtown Kingston.

– Village Green Foundation, Dave Wetter. No report.

– Kingston Stakeholders,  Dan Martin.

Some $36,000 has been contributed to the downtown core from the stakeholders group.

– Kingston Port and SoundRunner, Pete DeBoer.

Bought a new forklift instead of the hoped-for electric car.

SoundRunner had a mid-day run on March 31 and only had six passengers. The ridership is not growing as hoped. Looking at schedule timing, issues due to ORCA, and docking times at Colman Dock.

– Downtown Kingston Association, Nancy Langwith.Nancy gave a list of community events planned for the next few months:Spring Kingston Wine Walk, June 20.Summer Concert Series, July 7 through Aug. 25 at the Marina.Fourth of July, July 3 and 4 at Mike Wallace Park & Kola Kole Park. Fireworks on July 4.Kitsap Arts & Crafts Festival, July 27-29.

– Kingston Farmers Market, Clint Dudley.Opening Day for 2012 is May 5 at the Mike Wallace Park. The hours will be the same as last year, Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Accepting applications for farm, food and craft vendors. Annual fees for vendors are the same as last season, with a slight rise in the weekly booth fees.

The market now has about 35 vendors signed up, including our anchor farms, bakeries, espresso stand, and some exciting new craft vendors. We have a community booth for local groups that need to give out or gather information from the public. Contact Clint to schedule. – North Kitsap schools, Rick Jones and Kari Pelaez. No report.

– Carpenter Lake/Creek, Steve Heacock. Replanting will take place in June at the Stillwaters Fish Passage Bridge.

– Friends of the Library. Pat Wicklund.

A successful two-day book sale. Funds support the summer reading program and the new-library fund. Friends meets on the second Tuesday of the month. Next used book sale July 21 at the Farmers Market.

– S’Klallam Tribe, Dawn PurserGliding Eagle is having Customer Appreciation Days on June 22. Locals will set up vendor booths with music and games. The S’Klallam Tribe is in early stages of coming up with a tour of the bay that would include cultural stuff from the Tribe, possibly in the first two weeks of September.

The new Point Casino is on schedule for opening at the end of May. The long-term strategic plan group did local surveys to get data for a profile of “who we are,” i.e., the people of North Kitsap. A report should be available at the end of April.

Traffic improvement for the corner of 104 and Miller Bay Road is in the works with the county.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 p.m. Next meeting: May 2.