No support: Concern over safety of structures at Hansville's Norwegian Point Park

FOGHORN: A Place to Sound Off

Contributed by Shawn Klingman

This weekend, I was taking a walk in one of Kitsap County’s most recent park acquisitions. A great little place called Norwegian Point Park, formerly the old Captain’s Landing of Hansville. I was reflecting upon the days when it was a ‘hustle-bustle’ operating fishing resort; however, it is now nothing as I remember.

In years past, the buildings and grounds were under constant maintenance mainly to be pleasing to customers but, also for safety and liability purposes. As I stood there in shock looking at the deplorable condition of a once proudly maintained establishment, my shock turned to absolute terror. There were five young children hanging from the beam under the old dock having the time of their lives bouncing up and down, to and fro, upon a section that had no support any longer. This particular section of old, waterlogged decking probably tipped the scales at over two tons and was supported by next to nothing. If it had fallen, it easily would have crushed all five children.

After shooing them away from their new found fun, I started to wonder, why it is that a county that has a building safety code for every possible scenario is operating a park that is clearly so far from code it could be mistaken for a third-world dump site? Is it because they do not have the funding to operate the parks they have? If so, why do we allow them to acquire more?

As a taxpayer, just the look of this park is disturbing; it is an eyesore that devalues all of our surrounding properties. Would the county be willing to reduce my taxes in light of the eyesore they proudly proclaim a park? I think not. OK, then as a parent I will settle for a park that is not a danger to my children. Can we at least have that?

I am tired of our county’s greed for acquisitions when they clearly cannot take care of what they already have. They remind me of one particular greedy sow from the farm I grew up on; she would eat all of the other pig’s slops and yet never had any piglets. She was turned into chops. Perhaps it is time we cleaned out the pigpen called our County Offices.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A meeting of the Kitsap County Parks Advisory Council was held Nov. 12 at the Greater Hansville Community Center. The council was presented with the Historic Structures Report prepared by The Johnson Parnership, released earlier in the month, regarding the structures at Norwegian Point Park. The report includes the historic context of the buildings, as well as site and building descriptions, assessments, and treatment recommendations including cost estimates. A detailed article on this report will be published in the January 2009 issue of the Kingston Community News. To review the report, go the the county parks Web site at www.kitsapgov.com/parks/.

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