Municipal campus plan moves ahead

POULSBO — City residents and other interested observers of the $14.4 million municipal campus project will get another look at its progress in January 2006.

At least that’s the word from Public Works Director Jeff Lincoln, who expects to have schematic designs to present to the city council at its first meeting in February.

“On Jan. 19, we’re going to have a community open house to give people another opportunity to look at what’s going on,” Lincoln told the council’s public works committee on Dec. 14.

The open house will probably begin at 6 or 6:30 p.m. and feature floor space outlines and how the different pieces of the campus could fit together, he said.

The actual architectural design is not expected to begin until sometime in the summer of 2006.

With the schematic design process in the works, Lincoln told the committee that the city has begun seeking qualified professionals to serve as the local architect for the project.

“We want to get people on our roster anyway and I don’t think we’ve had enough response, so we’ve got to go out and find more,” he said, noting that the council has asked to be involved in the selection process.

The selection committee will consist of Lincoln, a representative from BLRB Architects of Tacoma, which is doing the overall project, Mayor-elect Kathryn Quade, a representative from the city’s planning department and city councilmen Dale Rudolph and Mike Regis.

The committee will review each applicant’s qualifications based on yet-to-be-determined criteria, select five to interview and make a recommendation to the full council based on that process.

However, the council has yet to define what “local” means in terms of a local architect, said Councilman Jim Henry.

“I like zip code, but that might not work for the depth he (Lincoln) needs,” Henry said.

Lincoln told the committee he has had an architect from Bainbridge Island express interest in competing for the work, and Quade responded by stating, to her, that met the definition of local.

Of the three committee members, Rudolph expressed the most interest in further involvement in the municipal campus design.

“I would like to be involved in the design because I’ve seen a lot of bad design by professional architects,” he said. “I want to be wherever I can be in the process.”

Anyone can be involved in the project with as much time as they would like to put into it, Lincoln said.

Currently the municipal campus oversight committee consists of Police Chief Jeff Doran, Lincoln, Finance Director Nanci Lien, Mayor Donna Jean Bruce, Muriel Williams, Bob Monk and Bill Lockard.

“We’re trying to pick up a couple more community members,” Lincoln told the committee. Bruce will remain on the committee and Quade will officially join the committee in January.

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