A hand full of Silverdale-area residents who oppose incorporation were out Friday with signs in hand, urging voters to vote “No” on efforts to incorporate Silverdale.

“We oppose Silverdale becoming a city because Silverdale is not a city,” said Debbie Davis, who resides in the area slated for incorporation. “There’s just no reason for it. And the way that the area has been designed, it breaks apart existing neighborhoods.”

For example, she and her husband, Gary, live on Chico Way, as does her son and his family.

“They live just down the road from us and if this passes, we will be in the city and they won’t be,” she said. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”

Davis and her husband are neighbors of Joyce Merkel, who also stood at the round-about at Silverdale Way and Chico Way Friday. They have waved to passersby often in the past week, holding signs that read “Vote No on Incorporation.”

Voters in the affected are have until Feb. 12 to return their ballots to the county elections office. As of Thursday, about 1,600 ballots had been returned to the county. There are 9,600 registered voters in the Silverdale incorporation area.

Merkel opposes the incorporation efforts because she sees no need for it.

“The only reason to incorporate would be for better government services,” she said. “We have great services from the county as it now stands. Our services are exemplary. County Commissioner Josh Brown is very responsive to our needs. In fact, he’s the one who got us this great round-about.”

The group plans to return to the round-about most days through election day.

“We are trying to remind voters who may not have thought about it that they need to educate themselves and return their ballots,” Merkel said. “We get a lot of thumbs up. I really think a majority of people don’t want this to pass.”

Citizens United for Silverdale, the group backing the incorporation effort, doesn’t plan any public demonstrations, said Rob MacDermid, one of the group’s organizers. The group has issued a position paper that rebuts some of the arguments posed by those who oppose incorporation. In it, Citizens United states that a city government would be more responsive to residents of Silverdale because its “sole focus would be on Silverdale.

Incorporation will get us better qualified and more responsive government.”Officials at Citizens United for Silverdale had no comment on the demonstration by those who oppose incorporation.