Creekside Center Buiding on 7th Avenue. More than 10 percent of city residents have signed a petition saying they believe the former U.S. Navy office site would be a much more responsible choice for a new City Hall than the proposed site across Highway 305 on 10th Avenue.

“We are proceeding forward with those plans,” said Poulsbo Mayor Kathryn Quade about the purchase of the 10th Avenue site from Olympic Property Group. The sale of the property is scheduled to close June 10, Quade said, and obtaining permits for the project is already underway.

But a growing number of Poulsbo residents are voicing their opposition to the 10th Avenue site, and are urging the city council to pause and consider other options, with the Creekside Center on 7th Avenue at the top of that list of alternatives.

“There’s no secret that I’m opposed to the 10th Avenue site,” said Bill Austin, who is among those leading the opposition charge. “It’s the wrong site. It’s in the wrong place, the wrong side of the highway.”

Austin and others like him simply want to get the city council members to sit down and talk about other sites.

“Not just 7th Avenue, by the way,” he said, noting that the existing city hall property was also a site that could be considered, as long as a new parking garage was included.

“We want to stop the process long enough to investigate other possibilities,” said longtime community activist Ardis Morrow, another vocal opponent to the 10th Avenue site. The decision to buy and build on 10th Avenue was made without enough input, Morrow continued. She is concerned that the city bonding itself to the fullest extent to build the proposed $16.8 million municipal campus will severely restrict moneys available for other city programs.

“The amount of taxes required to pay the bonds is tremendous,” said Morrow.

Aside from cost issues, other concerns opponents have to the 10th Avenue site include the fact that its location across Highway 305 from the rest of Poulsbo will make access difficult for most of the Poulsbo citizens for whom the city hall is intended to serve.

“It will be difficult to get across 305,” said Morrow. “It’s not easily accessible to the main part of Poulsbo.”

The petition drive has succeeded in collecting more than 750 signatures so far, an impressive number considering that Poulsbo’s population totals around 7,500.

In response to the fervor, Mayor Quade has formed a blue ribbon committee to put together a fact-sheet-style brochure intended to provide an “apples to apples” comparison of the 10th and 7th Avenue sites. She wants to make sure that the public gets all the facts, and doesn’t rely on rumors or misinformation when it comes to this issue. Quade anticipates a town hall style meeting in the near future to review the fact sheet after it is complete.

Quade was one of two city council members that voted against the 10th Avenue site when it was originally considered, but after the decision was made in favor of the location she agreed to support the will of the council and she maintains that effort now as mayor.

“I am open to the discussion so that we can look at it objectively,” she said. “But I’m trying to remain as neutral as possible on this.”

Ultimately it will be up to the city council as to whether the new municipal campus will move ahead at 10th Avenue or whether other options will be considered.

“We know that city council members have to make decisions all the time, and this one seemed to be set in stone,” said Morrow. “We would like to emphasize the fact that they need to be willing to listen to the voters that put them in office.”.