POULSBO — The paint-by-number tapestry of the College Marketplace will soon take on a more athletic hue as plans are underway to possibly open ballfields by the end of 2007.

But first, there’s the small matter of ensuring the property between The Home Depot and Olympic College’s Poulsbo campus is officially in the city’s hands, said Parks and Recreation Director Mary McCluskey.

“The council has given us $50,000, and we’re going to go as far as we can with that,” she said of field work.

The fields will be the first the city has owned. The rest of the athletic fields in Poulsbo belong to the North Kitsap School District, she said. Unlike some of the city’s other parks, which have required extensive planning, McCluskey said the new athletic fields should be fairly straightforward.

“The primary users are going to be soccer, baseball, softball and lacrosse,” McCluskey said.

Because the park already has a specific purpose, the major issues will be whether it can be seeded with grass this year and how much to spend on drainage and irrigation for the fields, she said.

Grants are a likely funding option, but McCluskey said community organizations and user groups will be instrumental in any improvements made to the fields.

The actual planning process for the fields has yet to start, but as soon as all of the legal documents are signed, it will begin in earnest, she said.

“We’re going to have a meeting with all of the interested user groups and go from there,” McCluskey said.

At least of one of those groups will be the North Kitsap Soccer Club. Select program coordinator Ed Skelly said he was pleased to hear progress is being made on the College Marketplace ballfields.

“It’s very, very important,” Skelly said of the possible addition of two fields to the area. “We’re already six ballfields short of our current capacity.”

Although the planned artificial turf installations at Kingston High School and North Kitsap High School will help meet the demand, it doesn’t add new fields to the area, he said. The College Marketplace fields and the proposed facilities at Kingston’s Heritage Park will be the first new athletic fields in the area that aren’t controlled by the NKSD, he said.

“They will give us some room, and they will give the school district some room,” he said.

If nothing else, the College Marketplace fields will provide teams a place to practice until final improvements are made, he said.

“All we need is some flat ground and grass, and we can practice,” Skelly said.