There are a lot of things going on in the North End of Kitsap County that I thought I would share with you this month. Next month I’ll try to write more in depth about some of them.

Two significant road projects are about to begin in Hansville. The first will be an important improvement on Hood Canal Drive south of Driftwood Key. The project will improve safety hazards having to do with sight lines on curves and a serious dip in the road. The other project will be on Hansville Highway. A wider roadway with expanded shoulders for bikes and left turn lanes will be installed from the Point Casino to the transfer station (on Ecology Road). This has been a big concern for community residents for some time now due to the increase in traffic from the expanded casino. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe contributed to the cost of the improvement. It is my understanding that the tribe is also considering widening the road from the Gliding Eagle store to the casino entrance so that there will be a continuous improved road section. I’m pleased to announce that the contracts for the work have been written to minimize interference with commute times.

The Citizen Budget Committee I wrote about earlier has been appointed and met for the first time May 12. This committee of 13 folks from throughout the county will examine all aspects of county services and the county budget and make recommendations to the commissioners on balancing the budget and county services in the future.

The U.S. Lighthouse Society is now ensconced in the Point No Point light keepers quarters. This is the biggest lighthouse society in the United States and will bring both expertise and resources to the county’s efforts to preserve the Point No Point facilities. Having the society partner with us also increases our chances of getting the Coast Guard to turn the entire Point No Point Park over to the county permanently.

The future of the Norwegian Point Park property was discussed at a meeting April 28. About 40 people showed up to review and offer opinions about alternate scenarios for development of the site. Pope Resources dedicated a fair amount of staff time to showing potential uses for the buildings on site (the flat-roofed buildings would be taken down in all scenarios). One interesting option was the possibility that senior housing condos could be built on the site of the restaurant building. Senior housing has been a high priority item in Hansville for some time but the Growth Management Act has made it impossible to build a senior housing project outside of the commercial area.

Frank Chopp, Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives, paid a visit to Kingston to tour the Village Green, site of proposed senior housing and a community center in a new park where the old sewer plant used to be located. Representatives Sherry Appleton and Christine Rolfes participated in the event. This is a very exciting project and the community and county have been working for years on the design. It is now at the fundraising stage and that was the reason for Speaker Chopp’s visit. The Speaker was very impressed with the community’s involvement and the plan for the site. Funding from the 2009 legislature looks like a good possibility.

The Greater Hansville Area Advisory Council has pushed the county to get the collection of old vehicles at the intersection of Little Boston Road and Hansville Highway cleaned up. The county has been working for more than a year on the issue and it is still a high priority. I want to report that we were actually able to get a physical inspection of the site on May 14. I’m sure county staff will report more at a future GHAAC meeting.

Stormwater has been a long-time concern in Driftwood Key that has only increased with the recent increase in development and home building. The county’s Storm and Surface Water Management staff have been working with the Driftwood Key representatives and the county has signed a contract with Brown and Caldwell to provide stormwater engineering services that will respond to local resident concerns.

Finally, let me give you a preview of a really exciting event that you will want to attend this summer. The first-ever Great Peninsula Future Festival will be held in Port Gamble Aug. 2-3. The festival will have fantastic family entertainment (anyone know the Flying Karamzov Brothers?), a farmers’ market, craft and food booths and lots of events for kids. But the main purpose of the festival will be to focus on sustainability issues.

We plan to have real working displays of solar electric panels, solar hot water, hybrid and all-electric cars, solar cars, wind generation, green building techniques and information on buying produce from local farmers. The exhibits will range from cutting edge (a Port Angeles magnetic levitation train inventor) to practical things we can all do in our daily lives now to reduce energy consumption and our impact on the environment.

We hope to have 5,000 to 8,000 people attend this first event and that you will be among them. You can learn more by going to the Web site http://greatpeninsulafuturefestival.org.

Contact Commissioner Steve Bauer at sbauer@co.kitsap.wa.us or (360) 337-7146.