POULSBO — Once College Market Place has all of its lines colored in, its guiding master plan will have been completed.
Olympic College was the first to draw itself onto the 216-acre page on the city’s northwestern edge before retail giants Wal-Mart and The Home Depot followed suit.
Now, as the calendar notes the first days of September 2006, smaller retailers have found their place along with a large residential development, a dialysis center, banks and the first office building, which are laying solid plans for construction in 2007.
However, much remains on First Western’s list of additions the development needs to fulfill the ideas clearly stated in its master plan.
“In about seven or eight years, it could be fully developed,†said First Western President Mark Zenger, who’s company is heading up development at Olhava.
The retail plats have all been claimed and the business park is in its infancy, Zenger said.
The first 188-unit residential development, the Parkside Development, is being handled by Quandrant Homes of Bellevue.
Also, the Kitsap County Housing Authority has tentative plans to develop the multi-family residential area near the Olympic College campus and the last residential area in the master plan as well.
With the residential side of things gaining momentum, the city’s parks and recreation department is preparing plans for the seven acres of recreational land at the development, city Parks and Recreation Director Mary McCluskey said.
“These will be the first ballfields the city owns, and we’re going to organize a meeting with all the potential users,†McCluskey said.
The fields will definitely be multi-use, but the exact uses won’t be known until the actual shape of the area is finalized, she said.
“We have $50,000 set aside for the project, but the land hasn’t been deeded to the city,†McCluskey said.
The west side of the city is growing rapidly, so it is crucial that the city provide recreational amenities for the increasing number of potential users, she said.
Councilman Mike Regis said once Olhava is totally filled out, it will mark the end of a journey that has been guided by the development’s master plan.
“It will be the result of the great effort that the city council and developer put into developing the master plan,†Regis said.
That fulfillment should benefit the entire city as the development’s future continues to unfold, Regis said.
Among the pieces of the College Market Place puzzle yet to fall into place are a hotel and a sit-down restaurant, which will add to the overall concept envisioned in the master plan.
“We could have a hotel there in the next few years, and a quality sit-down restaurant is in the plans, too,†Zenger said, adding that no exact timetable has been set for the completion of the development.