The Washington State legislative session is underway, and a few pieces of pending legislation are of interest to the City of Bainbridge Island. There are at least two bills that seek to increase the housing supply statewide, but in the process they preempt local government land use authority. The bills - HB 1782 and SB 5670 - would mandate increased housing within one-half mile of major transit stops, and mandate the acceptance of fourplexes in all lots zoned for single-family residential uses. The City Council has indicated its collective opposition to these bills. Although, individual members of the Council may feel differently. At the Council’s request, I am preparing a letter to convey the City’s opposition and explain why this is a bad idea for the City of Bainbridge Island. Generally, one-size-fits-all planning mandates do not produce the results the legislative sponsors hope for, which is why the concept of local land use control is important (and important to maintain). The City Council supports affordable housing but feels it can be achieved without the state preempting local control.

Another totally different piece of legislation that is being watched with interest is SB 5697. This bill hopes to revive recycling in Washington by putting more responsibility on product manufacturers to design products and support systems for recycling. According to The Seattle Times, recycling rates in Washington have dropped by 7.5 percent in the past seven years. About a percent per year. This leads to a question: What will it take to reverse this trend?

Interestingly, in 1991, just after Bainbridge Island became an all-island government, the City elected to make recycling voluntary. The City of Bainbridge Island is the only city in Kitsap County that does not mandate garbage and recycling collection. Also, except for the City of Bainbridge Island, compost collection is available in all other Kitsap County cities. On one hand, with our new waste reduction ordinance, we are the leaders in the county. On the other hand, concerning recycling, we are the only city that does not mandate it. We will see if the passage of SB 5697 changes our approach.

Finally, our weekly video update is on a short break to limit in-person interactions during the latest surge in COVID cases. We appreciate your responses so far on this new project and look forward to sharing more videos soon.

The Kitsap Public Health District (KPHD) issued a no-contact advisory for Eagle Harbor and Wing Point through Wednesday, Feb. 2 due to a discharge of partially treated sewage, estimated at 19,250 gallons, reported by the City's Public Works Department. Please avoid contact with the marine water in this area during the advisory. Read the KPHD bulletin.

The discharge was related to a power outage that caused the plant’s ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system to partially turn off. The outage occurred after regular working hours, and operators responded within 35 minutes after receiving a notice from the plant’s remote sensor system.

UV is the City’s secondary treatment system (after clarifying/settling). When there’s momentary power loss at the plant, the system goes off and needs to be reset. During regular operating hours, an operator is onsite to reset the system if it fails to happen automatically, but after hours an operator sometimes needs to manually reset the system.

Public Works staff will be working over the next few months to evaluate this treatment system – and other potential treatment options – as part of the upcoming work related to upgrading the capacity of the plant.

The City Council on Jan. 25 approved a motion authorizing City Manager Blair King to proceed with advertisement bids for the 8804 Madison Avenue N property as the future site of the Police and Municipal Court facility.

The City seeks to build a safe, accessible and adequately sized facility that will serve the community’s needs for the next 50 years.

In early 2020, the City purchased the 8804 Madison Avenue building and property for $8.975 million. In April 2021, City staff postponed construction bid advertising for the retrofit of the building to wait for King to begin his role as City Manager to lead the City through project delivery. The bid advertising was also postponed due to ongoing community conversations about the costs of the project.

As part of the approved motion, the City will include a racial equity lens for the project construction to ensure the building design is suitable to create a welcome space for all the Bainbridge Island community.

The City anticipates awarding a project construction contract in April 2022 with completion in 2023. It’s estimated that the project costs, including the cost of the building and construction, will be $20.4 million.

The Council on Tuesday approved a motion authorizing King to conduct an evaluation of the purchase price of 8804 Madison Avenue N by a Seattle appraiser.

The appraiser, who has not previously participated in any work on 8804 Madison Avenue N or had any involvement with the City’s purchase of the property, will analyze the steps the City took to establish the purchase price, and explore whether the City operated according to best professional standards.

Watch the Jan. 25 discussions.

Looking to build a house? Interested in making changes to an existing home? Trying to figure out if a permit is needed to add an office space? The Planning & Community Development Department has launched a new tool to help guide you through the permit process.

The new Camino online guide will help answer common questions about the permit process, share relevant information about your property (e.g., critical areas) and help you find the correct permits for your project. The tool is designed to help customers begin the permit process with a clear understanding of what you'll need to be successful.

This new tool will provide guidance based on project type and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping. Once you go through the guide, you will know:

The guide currently provides information on the most common residential permits. Work is ongoing to create guides for commercial projects, tree and vegetation removal, and land use permits.

Check out the program here.

The Council will hold a public hearing Feb. 22 to allow the community to provide input on the Grow Community Phase 3 plat alteration proposal that would change the previously approved multi-family use for this phase of the project.

The Grow Community final subdivision (Phase 3 portion of site) is currently approved for 18 multi-family and

four single-family units. The applicant proposes to remove the multi-family units and build a total of 14 single-family units.

The Grow Community subdivision and site plan review was originally approved in 2014 and Phases 1 and 2 have been developed. Phase 3 is currently undeveloped. Phase 3 fronts the north side of Shepard Way NE, east of Grow Avenue.

The City's Municipal Code requires a public hearing to be held when there is a request to alter a subdivision.

In an effort to increase access to at-home rapid tests across the state, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) launched a statewide portal that will allow residents to receive free COVID-19 tests directly to their home. However, the state received an overwhelming response and exhausted the limited supply available for home delivery.

As of Friday morning, the test kits were still not available.

Washington state residents can visit www.sayyescovidhometest.org to check on the status of the rapid-antigen COVID test availability.

Read the full DOH announcement.

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Feb. 8.

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.

Would you or someone you know like to apply to serve on the City’s Race Equity Advisory Committee (REAC)?

REAC is a standing committee that advises the City Council on programmatic, community, and legislative options to address and rectify systemic and structural racism and bias within local government and law enforcement.

The committee meets two Thursdays a month from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

Apply before 4 p.m. Feb. 1 at bainbridgewa.gov/REAC.

We plan to host a series of workshops throughout the year to educate the community on ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change. We're now seeking your input on topics of interest for these workshops. Visit our Engage Bainbridge page to share your feedback.

The workshops are part of the City's larger effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2025. The Climate Action Plan, approved by City Council in November 2020, outlines how we can reach this goal. Learn more about the Climate Action Plan at bainbridgewa.gov/climateaction.

Help us erase waste! You might have noticed that some Bainbridge Island businesses are now displaying signage at the counter with information about the new waste reduction rules. The City provided these signs to inform customers about the changes. We recently spoke with a couple business owners about the changes and what’s coming next. See the video below.

The waste reduction changes are part of a broader strategy to protect our marine environment 

and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions on Bainbridge Island.

If your business has not received the new table tents, please stop by City Hall to pick up some. 

Learn about other climate action efforts at bainbridgewa.gov/climateaction.

Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is appealing the Hearing Examiner's approval of the Wintergreen Townhomes Project.

In December, the Hearing Examiner approved, with conditions, the Wintergreen Townhomes Project. The site is located on Wintergreen Lane near the Virginia Mason Bainbridge Island Medical Center. The applicant plans to subdivide two remaining parcels in the Visconsi Master Plan to build 73 single-family townhomes. This will include 31 units to be sold as affordable housing units.

The appeal of the City’s land use decision will now go to the Kitsap County Superior Court via the Land Use Petition Act (LUPA) process.

No other appeals of the Hearing Examiner's Wintergreen decision were submitted.

Washington residents and visitors now have a new way to receive seconds of warning before earthquake shaking arrives: The MyShake Earthquake Early Warning App.

The app, designed by the University of California, Berkeley seismologists and engineers, is now available for free to download to IOS users through the Apple App Store and through Google Play for Android phones.

The system will deliver alerts to people for earthquakes exceeding magnitude 4.5.

Read the full announcement in the Washington Emergency Management Division bulletin.

Harbormaster Tami Allen recently participated in two conversations about the emergency flotilla on the Disaster Zone podcast and the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center's Something to Talk About program.

The emergency flotilla, led by Allen, is made up of Bainbridge Prepares volunteers who will use their private vessels to assist during a disaster.

Listen to the podcast here.

Click on the video below to watch the Something to Talk About segment.

If you’re interested in participating in the emergency flotilla, please email Harbormaster Tami Allen at tallen@bainbridgewa.gov or call 206-786-7627.

Set a reminder! Annual bridge cleaning is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, Feb. 14 to Sunday, Feb. 20.

Please plan for significant delays approaching the bridge. The delays are anticipated to be a minimum of 30 minutes.

Check WSDOT's Travel Center Map for alerts.