POULSBO — Any fears of the city having limited options for its downtown city hall project appear to be unfounded as more than 45 developers have formally requested information about the proposal.

With six weeks to go before the April 30 deadline for submissions for the much-discussed project, Mayor Kathryn Quade announced last Wednesday that the city had received 47 requests for information about the proposal.

“I do believe this is the most exciting thing to happen in Poulsbo in a long, long time,” Quade told the city council. “I will do my best to keep you informed.”

The level of interest demonstrated by the private sector has exceeded expectations and should result in several exciting possibilities for the city hall project, Quade said.

Councilwoman Connie Lord agreed that the interest level came as a bit of a surprise, but it bodes well for the city.

“It means that they see something positive in the city, and we have a healthy business climate,” Lord said.

Once all of the proposals are submitted, the next step will be for the city’s long-range planning committee — augmented by volunteers, including the city of Bremerton’s economic development director Gary Sexton — to review them, she said.

The proposals will be judged using criteria developed by the committee, which includes a point system based upon the council’s guidance for the project, Quade said.

That system is designed to provide the council the means to compare each proposal along with the building’s cost, Lord said.

“We put things in a rating system that gives weight to what we’re after,” she said.

One of the most difficult issues in developing the Request for Proposal was defining what the city wanted without being so specific that it stifled the development community’s ability to be creative, Lord said.

Four or five finalists will be asked to present their proposals to the council, Quade said.

“The public is invited but will be unable to ask questions about the different proposals,” she said.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the council will deliberate and discuss the merits of each before making a final decision, Quade said.

As for whether construction of the new city hall will begin during the 2007 construction season, Lord said that will depend on the actual proposals themselves.

“It’s hard to tell,” Lord said. “It’s exciting to finally get to the point where we wanted to be.”