City Hall discussion ignites ‘Project Poulsbo’

Published 9:00 am Saturday, July 22, 2006

POULSBO — The location of Little Norway’s city hall won’t be decided until voters cast their ballots on the matter Nov. 7.

However, city officials are hoping to harness all of the energy generated by the ongoing community debate to help chart a course for the city’s future.

“Between now and November we will be beginning something called Project Poulsbo, our city, our future,” said Wendy Johnson, a principal with Northwest Collaborations, which is leading the city’s latest visioning effort.

In May 2005, former Mayor Donna Jean Bruce attempted to conduct a visioning effort for the city’s downtown core, but it was aborted by the city council in August 2005 after a disagreement concerning the consultant leading the effort.

When former Councilwoman Kathryn Quade won the November 2005 mayoral election, she started a renewed citywide visioning effort through the city’s long range planning committee, which recommended the Bainbridge Island-based firm.

Project Poulsbo will initially focus on where residents would like city hall to be, but during the process, they will also be asked questions that address larger issues about the city’s future, Johnson said.

As she handed Project Poulsbo badges to each of the council members and Mayor Quade, Johnson said it is important to have an identifying symbol, so people can rally around it.

“It starts here, and it starts with each of us,” she said.

That effort will entail a DVD with a PowerPoint presentation about the city hall sites and other information about each one as well as a fact sheet with the cost estimates for both sites.

The DVD will be part of a Project Poulsbo kit, which will contain discussion questions and information from advocates of both sites, Johnson said.

“Our desire is to reach people where they are right now, and kits will be available for neighborhood groups and anyone who is interested in engaging people in conversation around the city hall issue,” she said, adding that the kits won’t be available until early October.

Between now and the Nov. 7 election, the city’s Web site will be updated to include additional information about the project as well as give residents an opportunity to provide comments and ask questions.

“This is our future, not our city hall,” Councilman Ed Stern said. “As important as the city hall issue is, it won’t be important in the next couple of years.”

The city needs to keep the visioning effort large and not let it be narrowed down to just the city hall issue, Stern said.

With the way the city hall issue is being handled by Northwest Collaborations, the public will get its first taste of what the council has gone through on Olhava and other big issues, Councilman Jim Henry said.

“They’ll essentially be doing what we have to do, we go through all that stuff and at one council meeting have to vote yes or no and live with it,” Henry said. “There is no next time.”

In the next century, the city will build only one city hall and the Nov. 7 advisory ballot issue will decide where, Henry said.

Even though the city hall issue has been a source of controversy and heated debate throughout the community, it can have a positive impact on the city’s future, Councilwoman Connie Lord said.

“It’s a motivation for us to finally tackle some issues that are long overdue,” Lord said.