POULSBO — As the petition drive to stop work on the 10th Avenue municipal campus site continues to gain momentum and signatures, council members took a few moments to respond to the issue March 15.

Bight of Poulsbo founder Bill Austin and community member Ardis Morrow presented more than 200 signatures to the council from residents requesting that city officials take a look at alternate locations.

“As you know, I have been opposed to the 10th Avenue site forever and there are other options available,” Austin said.

A March 9 open house at the Creekside Center drew an excellent turnout but the 7th Avenue building isn’t the only option out there, he added.

“I’d like to thank (council members) Ed (Stern), Jim (Henry), Connie (Lord) and the mayor for showing up at that building,” Austin said. “At least you saw it.”

With 169 signatures in hand, Austin said the group heading the petition drive has about 600 en route to its goal of 1,000.

Morrow then presented another 36 signatures to the council and clarified her stance on the municipal campus issue.

“I don’t have an axe to grind,” she said. “I’m just listening to my neighbors.”

Members of all of the groups she is involved with throughout the community have been voicing their opinions on the municipal campus project, she said.

“They just want you to listen. They want to be heard,” Morrow said.

Councilman Stern said the mayor’s blue ribbon committee on the municipal campus issue was formed to bring all of the divergent opinions on the issue together in an effort to find common ground.

“The first meeting of the blue ribbon committee was to see if there was some commonality and provide an ‘apples to apples’ comparison,” Stern said.

Instead of a $7 million versus $14 million difference between the Creekside Center and the 10th Avenue site, the actual comparison is closer to $15.8 million for the Creekside to $16.8 million for 10th Avenue with the inclusion of the new police station, he said.

“The more public input we can get on any public project, the better it is,” Stern said. “That is why I’ve availed myself to so many meetings, so I can explain it and fully understand the facts.”

While Stern expressed confidence in the committee’s ability to formulate an “apples to apples” comparison, Councilman Dale Rudolph took a different tact.

“We’ve already got a cheap city hall and if we want to stay cheap, we should stay here,” Rudolph said.

In its comparison, the committee needs to ensure that both are based on a 50-year lifespan, he said.

“We’re not going to compare a new city hall to an off-brand city hall,” he said.

With an existing building comes items like roof replacement and other maintenance issues that must be factored into the equation, Rudolph said.

The council learned from its purchase of the Morris property and did its due diligence before purchasing the 10th Avenue site, Councilman Mike Regis added.

“We seemed to have lost that focus and I think that needs to be brought back into a fuller arena,” Regis said.

Issues beyond just the building itself may impact the 7th Avenue site and those also need to be considered in any comparison that will be made, Regis said.

Councilman Jeff McGinty said the petitions themselves raised questions in addition to those already brought up by the public.

“The petitions I’ve got have three different titles,” McGinty said. “I think that in itself shows there’s a lot of confusion about what people are signing.”