Hansville Futures seeks present help

HANSVILLE — During a Tuesday evening Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council meeting, members again made it clear the group, and area residents, should be taking the next steps laid out in the Hansville Futures Project. The only problem now is trying to find volunteers willing to put a little of their time into meetings and the shaping of their community.

Despite the fact that GHAAC members posted a notice in the Hansville Log, the community’s local publication, and spread the word verbally, no one answered the call. Only two people attended the monthly meeting who were interested.

“I guess I’m missing something,” said GHAAC member Gerry Porter. “All the issues addressed in (GHAAC chairwoman Judy Foritano’s) preamble were discussed in the Future’s plan. I thought we were going to have two committees and the executive committee would appoint them. I think there has to be some recruitment here.”

Foritano opened the discussion by again listing the various items the two committees would examine and help plan, among them community identity, activities that are and should be made available, the role of commercial ventures, historic properties, potential sustainability, parks, the Hansville Greenway trail system, homeowner privacy, environmental issues, adequate roads, utilities and technology. Each committee would research, discuss and lay out how each of these aspects could impact both the entire Greater Hansville Area and the “village” or “metropolis” of Hansville, an area stretching from Adams Place to Norwegian Point Park, and from the Buck Lake Park area to Point No Point — essentially a “downtown” core of sorts, Foritano said.

“As for the ‘village’ of Hansville, anyone with a better idea than the ‘village’ of Hansville is welcome to speak up,” she said. She added the designation was only something brainstormed in an executive meeting held recently. “It’s open season on that.”

Thinking up a name to call an area expanding beyond what may be thought of as downtown Hansville is a minor issue compared to the work the two committees have before them. The GHAAC, which began officially meeting in January, is a manifestation of the need required by the Futures Project for a group to execute action items listed in the plan. These two committees, subcommittees of the GHAAC, would begin to do just that in conjunction with Kitsap County officials. GHAAC member Linda Redling indicated she would be willing to chair the committee encompassing all of Hansville, but the rest of the positions are still needing to be filled by willing volunteers.

“We came in response to the Log article,” said Hansville resident Howie O’Brien of himself and another resident in attendance at the meeting.

“OK, terrific, that’s wonderful,” Foritano said. “If folks get on the phone and see what folks are interested, and stir interest, that might help a lot.”

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