Forest City updates Community Event Center design, shoreline work; permits and grants driving schedule

Architects from Rice Fergus Miller updated the Forest City Council on the Community Event Center project, Orchard Plaza and the adjacent shoreline restoration, saying designers are in the construction‑documents phase and are preparing permit submissions in the coming months. The city’s consultant team told council members the shoreline restoration permit review has been active since last year with the Army Corps of Engineers, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Ecology and that “this month is the month” to conclude technical review or extend to August. The city also raised a timing issue: the overwater restoration portion carries grant conditions and deadlines that the project team said affect whether design changes are feasible without risking the funding.

Why it matters: the project combines a downtown plaza, a new library‑anchored community event center and an overwater deck intended to restore nearshore habitat while creating multi‑level public gathering space. Council members and designers discussed how permitting decisions (including Ecology’s shoreline calculator and minimum 50% graded exposure for some deck areas) will determine design details and how the city must balance design changes with grant deadlines and cost estimates.

Design and schedule: Rice Fergus Miller architects Laurie Cook and Dean Kelly said the project is largely designed and in the construction‑documents phase. Laurie Cook stated the team is preparing permit packages and expects to submit them “in the next few months,” while planning to move toward bidding with the goal of construction no later than 2027. Dean Kelly described the building as a two‑story, mass‑timber hybrid with a public plaza (Orchard Plaza) tying Bay Street to a waterfront deck and viewing piers; the building includes a ground‑floor Kitsap Regional Library branch and second‑floor banquet and meeting spaces.

Program and capacity: Dean Kelly described the event and library layout: the ground floor houses the library program areas, a tenant retail/café opportunity on Bay Street and back‑of‑house service access from Port Street. The second floor contains a divisible banquet/ballroom with a catering kitchen; Kelly said the banquet room seated for a sit‑down dinner is “about 110 to 130 people” and lecture‑style seating reaches about 160, with room for more if the folding glass doors open onto the deck. Designers said the building will use cross‑laminated timber (CLT) and glulam beams inside, with steel structure where exposed to the shoreline environment; solar arrays on the roof will partially offset the building’s energy use.

Shoreline and habitat tradeoffs: the team walked council through proposed shoreline sections and noted the existing bulkhead is failing and that pulling the wall landward and creating a more gradual intertidal slope produces habitat credits under Ecology’s rules. Designers said Ecology’s evolving rules and the shoreline calculator changed the credit assumptions while the permit was under review, requiring iterative responses from the project team. Architects pointed out piles supporting the overwater deck and said portions of the deck will be “graded” (designed to allow at least 50% sunlight exposure) to meet Ecology’s mitigation requirements.

Plaza, landscape and utilities: the Orchard Plaza schematic shows patterned concrete paving, planted bio‑swales, performance zones, and built‑in seating. Designers said they plan power hookups to reduce vendor generator use at farmer’s markets and are evaluating lighting that ties to the downtown design palette; rooftop solar will serve the building but will not cover all site electrical needs. Council members asked about fixture standardization and replacement lead times for custom streetlights; staff said PSE stock and replacement lead time had been a recurring issue.

Funding and next steps: staff and consultants said the city will update its cost estimate this fall or winter and that some grant conditions require the city to avoid major design reversals. Council members reiterated the need to avoid design delays that could jeopardize grants; staff noted one source for the overwater portion is an RCO grant with a deadline. Designers said they will return with refined cost estimates, design details and permit submittals and that the plaza and public‑art concepts (including a large topographic Sinclair Inlet wall installation) will be developed further for later review.

The meeting concluded with staff noting imminent bid activity on other downtown projects and with designers planning to bring refined permit drawings and cost updates back to council in follow‑up work sessions.