KINGSTON — Imagine 100,000 people shifting over to a small, rural community. As intimidating of a thought as it may be, that’s what Kitsap County planners are predicting will happen by 2025. With that knowledge, they are trying to plan ahead.

The sunny weather was a possible cause for only about 30 people attending the MyKitsap workshop at Kingston Junior High Monday night. Those who did, however, were able to voice concerns and opinions about updating the 1998 Comprehensive Plan to develop Kitsap County.

“It’s inevitable that Kitsap County will grow and develop,” said Kingston resident Jo Nelson. “What I want to know is where are all the people are coming from?”

According to the Kitsap County Department of Community Development, 189,731 people lived here in 1990. By 2000, the population had grown by 42,238 people. The county is expecting that by 2025, more than 330,000 people will live in Kitsap.

“We are revising the visions statement to address concerns the public has,” said DCD planner Eric Baker. “Today’s workshop is about looking at alternatives for Urban Grown Areas.”

Monday’s workshop was the first of three to be held in Kitsap County and came in the middle of a three-part timeline to redo the vision statement. In March, three workshops were held to establish a general vision of what Kitsap County residents want.

“We were able to take concerns from people who showed up at the first workshops and create a list of overlapping themes,” Baker said. “Most of the public had similar concerns that we are able to address in the second round of workshops.”

Among those concerns are environmental issues, defining rural and urban areas, safe and healthy communities, affordable and diverse housing, improved and creative transportation and economic prosperity with balanced growth with a desire for balance between all these themes.

“The meeting is nice, it seems like they are planning responsibly,” said Kingston resident Kathy Sole. “I think it’s important to have public input. It’s good to have the information in advance, long advance. It’s an early opportunity to find out what’s going on.”

“One hundred thousand people is scary,” said Jon Sole, Kathy’s husband, noting they moved from a small town near Sacramento, Calif. because it was growing too large. “I don’t want to see that happen. We don’t want to see this become another California.”

After an introduction by Kitsap County Commissioner Chris Endresen, and review of information from Baker about the goal of the workshop, the crowd was broken into groups. Each visited different stations to examine maps of the county.

“We want to make sure that the public sees all of what is planned, not just what is planned for their area,” Baker said, adding that the different stations and smaller groups made it easier for both public and county officials to hear concerns, questions and information. “Even the most animated people have good points that are just as valid. You just have to dig deeper to see them.”

“We are getting enough feedback that we aren’t getting to all of our questions for the public,” said Lisa Grueter a project manager for Jones & Stokes, the consulting firm on the project. “The first workshops in March focused on different things. We are going from the big picture to the small picture for the public, so they can understand where we’re headed.”