Reporter Central Kitsap
What’s cookin’? Monica’s Bakery & Cafe in Old Town Silverdale is full of goodies Page 9
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013 | Vol. 28, No. 28 | www.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.com | 50¢
Neighbors worry about planned new development
Contributed photo/Staff Photo
Wes Morrow/staff photo
Olympic High School teacher and robotics team advisor Brandon Brown consults with Steven Parkins and Chance Phelps as the two students work in Brown’s computer repair class. Both Parkins and Phelps are members of the Binary Robotics team.
Battle of the bots By WES MORROW wmorrow@soundpublishing.com
In January tens of thousands of high school students around the world sat in front of monitors to watch the live webcast from First Robotics that would announce the beginning of the 2013 season. At 7 a.m. Pacific Time on the first Saturday in January, First Robotics announced the season goal to more than 2,500 schools — build a robot capable of throwing a frisbee. A basketball court-sized arena will be set up at each regional competition with a number of different targets. This weekend, teams from Olympic, Bremerton and Central Kitsap High School will travel to the CenturyLink Event Center in Seattle to compete in one of four regional competitions around the state. Student teams from all three schools spent the winter working tirelessly on their own robots. From the time of the announcement in January, teams have only six weeks
to design and build a robot capable the fortune of partnering with a of not only handling the task, but number of naval engineers from performing it better than anyone Keyport. else. The team at Central Kitsap has “You have 42 days from that been participating in First Robotics moment to solve the problem of competitions since 2010. That team how you’re going to build this robot is advised by teacher Jim Adamson. to play this game,” Adamson and said Brandon Brown. Brown work cooperBrown is a teacher atively on a number at Olympic and the “They call it a varsity of projects. In fact, faculty advisor for sport for the mind.” Adamson helped the school’s robotics – Brandon Brown engineer Brown’s team. He said during involvement in the six weeks of the Central Kitsap and design and build seain First Robotics. son time is a precious commodity. “He’s the one who kind of got me Brown estimated he works 40 into teaching here in the district,” hours a week on the robotics team Brown said. alone — that’s 40 hours on top of A couple years ago, when Adamson his full time teaching job. went to Australia, Brown had the “It’s a big commitment — it’s opportunity to take Adamson’s a lot of work, but it’s fun work,” team to the Seattle competition. He Brown said. “It’s not a thing I regret got to see the culmination of the doing.” Central Kitsap team’s hard work High schools recruit local engi- and experience the atmosphere of neers, who volunteer their time the event firsthand. working with and mentoring stuSee ROBOT, A13 dents. Brown said Olympic has had
Neighbors who oppose nine new homes being built in their neighborhood stand near that property on the southwest corner of Kint Drive and Tracyton Boulevard NW in the Silverdale area. By Leslie Kelly lkelly@soundpublishing.com
A group of property owners who live near a proposed residential development at Tracyton Boulevard and Kint Drive took their concerns to the Central Kitsap Community Council last week, only to be disappointed. The group was asking the council to recommend to Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown that the project not happen. Brown is the commission that represents the area where the development is slated to be. Ron Gillespie, a property owner near the proposed development, told the council that the group had “gotten no where,” when taking their concerns to Kitsap County. “Our concerns have gone into a bureaucratic void,” Gillespie said. “In the past, citizens could appeal land use decisions directly to the county commissioners. But now, to
appeal, we have to go before a hearing examiner and pay $500. It seems the commissioners have washed their hands of any involvement in these issues.” (The hearing examiner process came into place several years ago.) At issue is the proposed development of nine homes on 1.65 acres. It is classified as a short subdivision and by county land use rules, is a process that is handled within the community development office. Jeff Reed, who owns the property, submitted plans to the county in June 2012. But several components were incomplete and a completed application was filed and accepted by the county in January. Notice was then sent to the neighboring land owners advising them of the proposed development. During that time, the zoning (as part of the Urban Growth Plan) was changed from See neighbors, A13