I am not a traffic engineer. I am as guilty as anyone else thinking that I am a traffic engineer. I am a reasonably good driver, so think I know a thing or two about how to design a road system. It often seems that anyone with a drivers license thinks that they too are a traffic engineer. Suggestions and recommendations about speeds, stop signs, pavement markings, parking, and a whole host of traffic-related issues is perhaps the most common topic the community writes about to the city manager.   

This Weekly Update highlights the kickoff of an internal Traffic Operations Committee (TOC). This committee is intended to provide recommendations on traffic matters based upon objective standards. In other words, an attempt to quantify the roots of decisions vs a subjective standard that has no technical or scientific foundation. This committee of City staff will meet publicly and provide recommendations to the city manager who in turn will provide these recommendations to the City Council.

One of the first tasks of the committee is to establish standards. A base line document that real traffic engineers rely upon, unlike myself who is not a traffic engineer, is the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). The MUTCD discusses the concept of warrants, (warrants in this case means what is warranted or justified). A warrant is the minimum standard to evaluate or justify the traffic regulation (e.g., stop signs, speeds, yield signs, etc.). The TOC as a first order of business will need to agree to the scientific warrant system that will guide their recommendations.

In the end, the purpose of the newly established TOC is to improve safety and mobility for Islanders. We are committed to improving the lives and safety of our residents and visitors. The TOC is a tool to help us make the City of Bainbridge Island a safer and more wonderful place to live.   

If you need a place to escape the excessive heat this afternoon, please consider the City's cooling center at the Senior Community Center.

The Senior Community Center, located at 370 Brien Drive SE, will be open today 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. The City activates its cooling center when there are four or more hours over 90 degrees.

COVID-19 protocols are still in effect at the cooling center. All individuals, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask while inside the Senior Community Center.

Individuals who need transportation to the Senior Community Center can request a ride on Kitsap Transit’s BI Ride. Rides may be requested for pickup until 3:50 p.m. today. To schedule a ride, please call 1.844.4BI.RIDE or use the Ride Pingo app.

Individuals who need transportation to the Senior Community Center after 3:50 p.m. may call the Senior Community Center at 206-842-1616 to request a ride. The City is partnering with Island Volunteer Caregivers (IVC) to coordinate transportation to and from the Senior Community Center after 3:50 p.m. both days.

If your neighborhood is part of the City's "Map Your Neighborhood" program, please consider using this as a resource to check on your neighbors who are elderly or have any disabilities, access, or functional needs.

An air quality alert was issued Thursday for Kitsap County due to wildfire smoke until 7p.m. Saturday.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency expects "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" air quality today in Kitsap County and many areas in the Puget Sound region. 

Smoke should begin to clear on Saturday, but could remain at "moderate" for much of the day.

Upper level smoke from California will pass overhead on Saturday and Sunday, keeping skies hazy but not affecting ground level air quality.

To get the latest updates, go to www.pscleanair.gov.

Due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, the Kitsap Public Health District and Kitsap County Emergency Operations Center this week reopened its community testing site at the City of Bremerton Harborside Garage, located at 100 Washington Ave, and will reactivate the Poulsbo test site next week.

The Bremerton test site will be open on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. but hours may change due to demand.

The Poulsbo test site, located at 200 Moe Street, will operate on Thursdays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Kitsap County maintains a list of test providers in the area.

At this time, the City of Bainbridge Island test site remains deactivated. Additional testing resources currently exist in Kitsap County that were not available prior to the City managing its own test site at Town Square from November 2020 to March 2021. We continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation.

The first meeting of the Traffic Operations Committee (TOC) is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Wednesday, August 18.

The meeting will be held on Zoom, and the public will be invited to participate (similar to the format for other City committee meetings).

The purpose of the committee, proposed by the city manager and consisting of the director of public works, chief of police, city attorney, city engineer, deputy city manager, and planning director, is to provide the city manager with a technically-based and objective approach to traffic operations issues related to City-owned rights of way.

The committee will review traffic operations issues and provide the city manager with recommendations that are based upon applicable technical documents such as federal, state and local standards and guidelines that address traffic/pedestrian/bicycle safety, traffic operations, traffic circulation, parking, and other mobility issues that may arise. It is the intention of the city manager to thoroughly review the recommendations of the committee, but is understood that the City Council may or may not act in accordance with committee recommendations. It is acknowledged that there is exposure to legal liability when deviating from recognized standards and guidelines.

The first meeting agenda, which will be posted on the City’s website, will primarily cover the initiation of the committee processes, as well as a review and discussion of the evaluation criteria that is proposed for evaluating and implementing traffic operations-related requests and issues. The committee is likely to meet monthly or every other month going forward depending on the workload.

Staff will provide an update to the City Council during next week’s study session related to non-motorized improvements along the Madison Avenue corridor between Winslow Way and State Route 305.

This presentation is a follow-up discussion from the March 23, 2021 business meeting. During that discussion, the Council authorized $25,000 for an expanded concept design of the Madison Avenue Sidewalk Project. The expanded scope would include the bundling of three priority projects (Madison Sidewalk, Village Basin Sewer Improvements, and Madison Reconstruction) that would be combined into a single project that would also include a separated bike facility on both sides of one or more segments of the Madison Avenue corridor.

The advantage of combining and expanding the scope of these projects is that it would create cost efficiencies by overlapping utility and road replacements, and would also mitigate limitations on staff resources by focusing on a series of improvements along one corridor in a single project. Additionally, the separated bike lane element of the project would create an all-ages north-south corridor through Winslow that could potentially connect downtown with the library, schools, parks, and other commercial establishments.

A virtual public open house meeting on the project concept was held on July 7. A link to the video of the meeting can be found on the project webpage.

As part of this agenda item, City staff will present options and estimates for the expanded scope as developed by the project consultant, Toole Design, with input from staff and the community. Copies of the concept plans and the presentation will be included in the August 17 Council agenda.

Due to time constraints related to the secured federal grant funding for the project, City staff are seeking direction from the City Council on the project scope in August or early September.

The City Council will return to virtual meetings next week (August 17) on Zoom because of the uptick in COVID-19 cases.

The previous decision to return to in-person meetings on August 10 was made July 17 when the situation was improving.

We appreciate the community's flexibility during this time as we adjust to public health guidelines.

The City Council voted this week to indefinitely suspend work on the Island Center subarea planning process and terminated the terms of the existing Steering Committee members. The Council approved the suspension to make progress on the Winslow Subarea Plan update, which was identified as a high-priority project of the Council.

The Island Center Subarea Planning Steering Committee on May 5, 2021 completed a draft subarea plan that includes recommendations for future land use, traffic safety improvements, trail connections, and more. The subarea plan followed three years of extensive discussion, public outreach, walking tours and analysis by the committee.

As part of the Council action, it directed the Planning Commission to review two discrete parts of the draft Island Center subarea plan, including development standards unrelated to increasing or decreasing residential density, and zoning for the Bainbridge Gardens properties.

The suspension of the Island Center subarea planning project was initiated by the City Council during the July 17 Council retreat.

Watch the August 10 Council discussion.

On August 10 the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2021-13 directing the city manager to work with staff to coordinate with the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, on a high-priority basis, to provide information and outreach to the Bainbridge Island community regarding the importance of fire safety measures and wildfire mitigation activities. This includes specific actions residents can take to help protect their property and the community from fires, including vegetation and structure fires.

As part of this effort, City staff has been in coordination with the Fire Department to outline tree and vegetation activities allowed within 30’ of primary residences without a permit that reflect the best practices recommended by Firewise USA®, which is part of the Bainbridge Island Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

The Planning Commission considered code changes to the City’s vegetation standards (Ordinance No. 2021-07, Exhibit A) on August 12 that would incorporate the applicable best management practices. The Planning Commission will hold a future public hearing (tentatively September 9) on the code revisions, and is anticipated to forward their recommendations to the City Council for consideration and potential adoption in September.

Emergency Management Coordinator Anne LeSage and Deputy Fire Chief Jared Moravec hosted a virtual workshop on August 12 to share information about the island's wildfire response plan, and preparedness & mitigation measures for our community. If you missed the workshop, the video is posted on the City's Wildfire Response page.

The City Council this week directed the formation of a land use subcommittee that includes members from the Planning Commission and Design Review Board.

The committee will be focused on reviewing and making recommendations on necessary updates to the City’s land use code.

A similar subcommittee previously existed that included members from the City Council and the Planning Commission, and was sunsetted in early 2021. The Council determined that the new subcommittee would be a more effective approach due to the specific code expertise of the Design Review Board and Planning Commission. The subcommittee’s recommendations will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration as work plan items. There will not be Council participation in the new subcommittee.

The City Council this week scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 24 related to Ordinance 2021-10 that would temporarily only allow bonus density to be used for affordable housing in the Winslow Mixed Use Town Center and High School Road Districts.

The ordinance amends Sections 18.12.030.E (Bonus Density in Winslow Mixed Use and High School Road Districts) and sections of the Bainbridge Island Municipal Code related to reducing the options for obtaining bonus floor area ratio (FAR) in the Mixed Use Town Center and High School Road Zoning Districts.

The ordinance originates from the City Council passage of an Interim Zoning Control, Ordinance 2020-10, in March 2020.

View the project webpage for more details.

The Summary of Actions for the Aug. 10 business meeting are available on the Agendas & Minutes page.

Some of the Aug. 17 City Council study session topics will include:

The public is invited to contact members of the City Council to express concerns, questions and praise. Some council members are holding virtual office hours and others are available to meet upon request. Please visit the City Council page for more information on individual City Council members.

We're seeking volunteers to fill positions on the following committees:

For a description of each position and to access the online application, please visit: bainbridgewa.gov/222.

Applications are due by 4 p.m. Monday, August 23.

Questions? Contact Executive Assistant Roz Lassoff at 580-6735 or rlassoff@bainbridgewa.gov.

Work previously scheduled for the evening of Aug. 10 has been rescheduled to the evening of Aug. 17.

Evening and overnight travelers who use the State Route 305 Agate Pass Bridge are encouraged to plan additional travel time before the upcoming roadwork. 

Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews are scheduled to repair the roadway at the bridge. 

What to expect

Unlike annual Agate Pass Bridge cleaning and maintenance, which requires daylight, this type of work can be completed during the night when traffic volumes are lower.