Poulsbo considers free transfer of Iverson Street property to farmers market, Coffee Oasis

Nathan Pilling, Kitsap Sun
·3 min read

POULSBO – Poulsbo’s Public Works operations will soon move from a campus on Iverson Street across town to a new location on Viking Avenue. In the build-up to the move a question has lingered: What to do with the Iverson site?

A proposal brought for City Council consideration on Wednesday would see the city split up the 3-acre site at the intersection of Iverson Street and Eighth Avenue and transfer pieces to the Poulsbo Farmers Market and Coffee Oasis at no cost. The city owns the Coffee Oasis location at the site and leases the property to the faith-based organization. The farmers market currently operates out of the parking lot at Gateway Fellowship Church.

Said Mayor Becky Erickson: “I hope that both of them will move forward, because the idea of a vibrant farmers market in that location is really an attractive thing for a whole lot of reasons. Same way for Coffee Oasis, they’ve been in that building for 10 years, and they provide really valuable services to vulnerable youth. They served over 300 kids at the Coffee Oasis site in Poulsbo this year. They’re both providing huge value in service to the city. I would hope that they would like a permanent home, although a home that has some conditions.”

The property sits along Dogfish Creek and floods on occasion.

The city of Poulsbo's public works facility and the Coffee Oasis location on Iverson Street
The city of Poulsbo's public works facility and the Coffee Oasis location on Iverson Street

Erickson noted that the property has not been appraised, but described it as having limited value because of its proximity to the creek, saying that if the existing buildings on the site were demolished, new buildings could not be built there. She also pointed to an adjacent property on Eighth Avenue that had similar flooding issues and sat unsold for months. The city purchased that site in 2015 for $1 from Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and a home on the site was later demolished.

Erickson also said the city’s lease with Coffee Oasis for its site is expiring soon and said the building needs a new roof, which the city would be responsible for replacing.

She said she would be willing to consider other ideas for the site, but said, “I just don’t know of any other great ideas for this property.”

Said council member Dave Musgrove: “If anyone has a better idea, love to hear about it, love to look at it. We’re kind of chasing this because it was the only dog out there.”

FILE PHOTO - Volunteers paint a mural on the side of a public works building on Iverson Street in Poulsbo in 2018.
FILE PHOTO - Volunteers paint a mural on the side of a public works building on Iverson Street in Poulsbo in 2018.

Council members voted to authorize Erickson to move ahead with further analysis needed to dispose of the property and to explore potential future uses. Erickson said she would move ahead with a financial analysis of the property, which would include an appraisal. A sale, she said, would come as a grant that would allow the city to recover some value if the new owners did not meet certain conditions.

“I know that there was an email sent out to a lot of people today talking about how we were gifting property, prime property, to Coffee Oasis and the farmers market,” she said at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting. “Please, let’s turn down the rhetoric here. We have a lot more due diligence to be done. This is an incredibly encumbered piece of property, incredibly encumbered.”

“I’m in real estate, so it can be in a prime location and not have prime value,” said council member Britt Livdahl.

Council member Gary McVey pushed back against restricting the conversation for the future of the site: “What I’m willing to agree to tonight is, let’s explore potential options for this property, let’s at least do some sort of a basic market analysis for what the property is worth and then perhaps somehow maybe we put out a request for proposals. I don’t think we should limit ourselves to just these two possibilities right now.”

Nathan Pilling is a reporter covering Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap and Washington State Ferries for the Kitsap Sun. He can be reached at 360-792-5242, nathan.pilling@kitsapsun.com or on Twitter at @KSNatePilling.

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This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Poulsbo eyes plans to dispose of Iverson Street site