As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the all-island city, one of the unique attributes of Bainbridge Island is the cooperation between various governmental entities and elected bodies. The evolution of the community of Bainbridge Island has produced various governmental entities to address the citizen’s needs.

Examples are the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Kitsap Regional Library, various utility districts, and, of course, the City.

Cooperation between public agencies is essential for Bainbridge Island to be successful. There were two examples of successful cooperation between public agencies recognized this week. The first was the completion of the Sakai connection of the Sound to Olympics Trail, celebrated with a ribbon cutting (more on the ribbon cutting below.) This project was a partnership between the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation, Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District, and City of Bainbridge Island. All these partners were needed to complete this trail segment.

The second was the acknowledgement by the Bainbridge Community Foundation of Bainbridge Island’s homegrown efforts to vaccinate people against COVID-19.

The City and its partners (Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Bainbridge Prepares, Bainbridge Island Community Pharmacy, Bainbridge Island School District, service clubs and organizations , and many volunteers) have operated local vaccination clinics since December 2020. They have administered more than 30,000 doses of vaccines to help protect the residents and slow COVID-19. Please watch the video (below) on the Bainbridge Community Foundation award.

This weekend, vaccines will be given to 1,600 children 5 to 11 years old. The available appointments filled quickly showing a demand for the vaccine for children. (I have a mental image of a room filled with children waiting to receive a shot. If households are anything like mine, there will be a lot of ice creams offered as a reward after the shot.)

In conclusion, I offer my admiration for the spirit of partnership exhibited in Bainbridge Island and the success it has brought.

All members of the community are invited to attend a celebration of the 30th anniversary of becoming an all-island government next Tuesday, Nov. 9 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Visitors may sign a guest book commemorating the City’s anniversary and enjoy a commemorative cookie.

Photos, documents and a slideshow will be displayed during the event. Please bring photographs or mementoes from the annexation efforts if you would like to contribute to the City’s archives.

This event will be an opportunity to acknowledge all who served the Bainbridge Island community, as a Council member or volunteer. This will also be an opportunity for residents to reflect on the progress made by the all-island City government during the last 30 years.

In addition, the City Council will commemorate this special anniversary with a proclamation during the Nov. 9 business meeting.

Thirty years ago today, voters approved changing the name of our city from City of Winslow to City of Bainbridge Island. This followed annexation of the unincorporated area of Bainbridge Island into the City of Winslow. Watch the video below to learn about the efforts to become an all-island government.

The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum opened a new exhibit, Protest, that features some of the items from the annexation campaigns (for and against).

The exhibit will continue through November.

Learn more about the Protest exhibit.

The City of Bainbridge Island and its partners (Bainbridge Prepares, Bainbridge Island Community Pharmacy, Bainbridge Island Fire Department, Island Volunteer Caregivers, Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island and the Senior Community Center) received the Bainbridge Community Foundation’s Humanitarian Award for exceptional leadership in the Bainbridge Island COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

"To receive this recognition is really heartwarming," said Emergency Management Coordinator Anne LeSage who accepted the award during a Nov. 4 virtual celebration. “It was such a rewarding thing to be a part of and to continue to be a part of. Day after day the results of our efforts have shown."

Since Dec. 23, 2020, the COVID-19 partnership has administered more than 30,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to the coordinated effort. In 2021, more than 600 volunteers have dedicated more than 32,000 hours to the City's ongoing COVID-19 pandemic efforts; this includes the vaccine clinics and testing site. The team has administered vaccines to the most vulnerable populations in Kitsap and Jefferson counties through home visits and a mobile clinic.

"Truly what made this successful is the volunteers," Fire Chief Hank Teran said. "This is way outside the scope of government, and without the volunteers this would not have been possible."

The City would also like to thank the Bainbridge Island School District for its continued support on the use of its facilities for the vaccination clinics.

Congratulations to all, and thank you to the volunteers who continue to serve our community!

Below is a heartwarming video the Bainbridge Community Foundation produced to highlight the vaccine distribution efforts.

Read the full Bainbridge Community Foundation announcement.

The final Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 booster clinics for this fall will be held held Sunday, Nov.14 (instead of Saturday, Nov. 13 as previously reported). The clinic will be held at the Commodore Options School lower gym. Appointments for this vaccination clinic will open Monday, Nov. 8 at noon and will be posted on the TimeTap page.

Shifting the booster clinic to Sunday, Nov. 14 allows the team to add one additional pediatric clinic on Saturday, Nov. 13 to accommodate the demand for Pfizer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds. The Nov. 13 clinic is strictly for 5- to 11-year-olds because they receive a lower dose of the Pfizer vaccination. Appointments for this clinic will also open Monday, Nov. 8 at noon and will be posted on the TimeTap page.

Council members Fantroy-Johnson, Deets and Schneider cut a ribbon Nov. 4 to mark the official opening of the Sakai Connector Trail, as community members, City staff, Parks Foundation staff and board members, and Park District staff and board members gathered around them.

"As a community, we can come (together) to engage each other and work together. Even though this might be a small segment, it’s really transformative," said Dawn Janow, BI Metro Park and Recreation District Commissioner. "We don’t always have to go for the biggest project. We can go step by step by step and make really big changes.”

The trailhead is located at the corner of the High School Road and State Route 305 intersection.

The paved path runs parallel with the highway about 400 feet then turns west to Sakai Park. The segment transitions to a gravel path and wraps around a scenic pond to Madison Avenue and nearby schools.

The project was funded by the City of Bainbridge Island, primarily by the developers of the Wintergreen Walk development on High School Road as a condition of that development.

City staff and the Park District are now in the early stages of researching the costs and options for the STO’s next segment.  It will begin where the current pavement ends and head north to the Madison Avenue and SR 305 intersection.

The City will hold a virtual public meeting Monday, Nov. 15 from 5 to 6 p.m. on Zoom to get community input on a City proposal to construct trails within the area known as Lost Valley (roughly northwest of Head of the Bay).

The Lost Valley is a large wooded area that contains much of Cooper Creek. The City is partnering with the Park District and the Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation to plan nonmotorized connections from Fletcher Bay Road to Carmella Lane and Eagle Harbor Road.

This connection has appeared in transportation plans for years, including the current Islandwide Transportation Plan, and would connect several neighborhoods surrounding the Lost Valley.

The Sustainable Transportation Task Force met on Oct. 29 to review the first draft of the Near-Term Action Plan.

The Near-Term Action Plan is a proposed package of infrastructure projects for walking, bicycling, and transit. Projects were prioritized based on their ability to connect to key destinations and existing infrastructure, along with other criteria.

The plan also identifies investments into mobility hubs like the ferry terminal and neighborhood service centers, and innovative transit programs such as an on-demand intra-island shuttle using electric vans. Funding strategies and lists of projects that could be accomplished at three funding levels were presented.

We invite your comments on the proposed plan. Please send your comments to Mark Epstein at pwadmin@bainbridgewa.gov by Nov. 12.

Watch the Oct. 29 meeting.

The first culvert that fish encounter as they are swimming upstream on Springbrook Creek has a fish ladder to make it easier for fish to get though the culvert and under Fletcher Bay Road. This fish ladder is reaching the end of its life and requires some support while the City gets ready for a replacement structure.

Last week, Water Resources Technician Christian Berg and volunteers spent a few hours moving sandbags and removing the old rubber liner from the weir to bring the water level up enough to allow salmon to jump into the system.

Since 2017, the City and volunteers have performed annual repairs to temporarily improve fish passability under Fletcher Bay Road during salmon migration season, as most of the prime spawning habitat is upstream of this structure. This usually entails moving accumulated sediment from above the weirs into sandbags and then constructing a smaller weir below the lowest concrete weir in the fish ladder.

The City and Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group (MSFEG) are working together to restore the weir and culvert on Fletcher Bay Road. The City budgeted capital funds for the design and MSFEG applied for a grant to complete design of the replacement structure. The design work is expected to begin in early 2022 and should last 18 to 24 months.

Salmon monitors report that adult salmon were seen above the culvert following last week’s temporary improvements - a positive sign the fish are still using Springbrook Creek to spawn!

The City Council on Nov. 9 will review an updated waste reduction ordinance (Ordinance No. 2021-34) to reduce single-use plastics in both food service and lodging businesses. The draft ordinance includes recommendations from the Plastic and Waste Reduction Task Force to:

The proposed ordinance (Ordinance No. 2021-34) builds upon June 2021 revisions to the City’s municipal code (BIMC 8.24) that only allow single-use food service products to be provided when a customer asks or confirms they would like to use them. The new rules related to customer affirmation are scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2022.

Business Ambassadors are visiting local businesses to ensure they understand the changes to single-use items and are ready to comply. The ambassadors are also gathering suggestions from businesses on how to ensure a smooth implementation. The Business Ambassador program is a partnership between the City of Bainbridge Island, Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce, Bainbridge Island Downtown Association and Sustainable Bainbridge/Zero Waste.

Below are some of the topics for the Nov. 9 Council meeting.

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.

Mark Hofman will join the City staff Nov. 8 as the Interim Planning & Community Development Director. Hofman most recently served 6.5 years as the Community Development Director for the City of Snoqualmie.

Prior to Snoqualmie, Hofman was the Community Development Director of Sun Valley, Idaho from 2005 to 2015. Previously, Mark worked as a planner for several coastal California cities, including the City of Half Moon Bay, CA.

Hofman holds a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from San Diego State. Hofman will not be a candidate for the permanent position.

Requests for Proposals have been distributed to several executive recruitment firms to begin the search for a permanent position.

Applying for a permit to build a single-family residence? Use the online permitting process.

To reduce the backlog of permits and streamline the permit process, the Planning & Community Development Department added the single-family residence permit to the list of permits available for online submittal - no appointment needed!

Staff worked more than a year in a specialized focus group to review and refresh the reconfiguration of the single-family residence permit.

The improvements include the ability to:

By working through this process and implementing needed changes, staff have gained the knowledge to move forward with reconfiguring other building permits. The goal is to soon have all building permits available for online submittal. Feel free to reach out to staff with any questions at pcd@bainbridgewa.gov.

The U-Haul truck that was used during the attempted theft of an ATM at Fletcher Bay Mart last week was found in Port Orchard.

Detectives found the truck, stolen from Tacoma, Tuesday morning abandoned at an apartment complex in Port Orchard. According to a witness, the truck arrived around 6:00 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29 and remained there. Two men were in the truck when it arrived at the complex. Detectives searched the truck for any evidence and later released it to the owners.

Around 2:40 a.m. Oct. 27, a Bainbridge Island police officer saw the U-Haul truck in front of Fletcher Bay Mart at 8800 Fletcher Bay Road. When the officer pulled into the parking lot, the U-Haul truck took off.

The officer found the front door of the Fletcher Bay Mart smashed and a tow strap tied to the ATM inside the store.

Police are still trying to identify a suspect. If you have any information, please contact Det. Jon Ledbetter at 206-842-5211.

The City was awarded $100,000 from the Washington State Department of Commerce to fund creation of a City Housing Action Plan (HAP), a project identified by the City Council as a high priority in 2021.

In September, the City Council authorized the City Manager to apply for the grant. On Oct. 28, the City was notified that it was awarded the full $100,000 for the HAP grant.

The purpose of the HAP is to encourage planning for and construction of additional affordable and market-rate housing in a greater variety of housing types and at prices that are accessible to a greater variety of incomes.

The process of creating a HAP, as described in Washington state law and in the Department of Commerce grant, requires extensive community engagement and outreach.

Sign up to stay informed on the City’s HAP progress and other affordable housing topics.

Winslow Way was packed with dinosaurs, fairies and lions last Sunday for the Hometown Halloween event hosted by the Bainbridge Island Downtown Association.

Winslow Way from Ericksen Avenue to Madison Avenue was closed to vehicles during the event to allow children and their families to safely get around. Bainbridge Island police officers handed out candy to those passing by.

Some merchants estimate they handed out roughly 2,500 pieces of candy.

We hope everyone had a great time bringing back this Bainbridge tradition!