Tag Archives: Winslow Ravine

Island Gateway forum tonight

Developer Bill Carruthers reviews a map of the Island Gateway site. Photo: Tristan Baurick

The city is hosting a forum tonight about the Island Gateway development taking shape at the Highway 305-Winslow Way intersection.

Despite a fair amount of opposition to the 60,000-square-foot project, city leaders say the meeting is not aimed at deciding whether or not to halt Gateway’s progress, which now includes a partially-done Kids Discovery Museum and a large pit that will eventually be underground parking.

Rather, the meeting is aimed at informing Gateway’s critics how and why the city let it go forward.

City leaders admit they could have done a better job explaining its processes and getting information out more quickly.

Islanders opposed to the project have made several public information requests, created a website and filed a lawsuit.

Some critics aren’t happy with the goals of tonight’s forum, calling it a “farce” and a “slap in the face.”

For more about the issues surrounding Gateway, check out the story I wrote for Monday’s paper.

Tonight’s forum runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at City Hall.

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Winslow development clashes with the “Bainbridge aesthetic,” officials say

gatewaywwview

The design illustration above depicts what the prominent northwest corner of the Winslow Way and Highway 305 intersection may look like in the near future.

A new art museum would anchor the front end (depicted at right) of the proposed Island Gateway project, with about 60,000 square feet of commercial space and a new home for the Kids Discovery Museum to the rear.

The project’s plans call for the removal of the five-acre site’s three existing structures. All new buildings would incorporate green design and the overall site plan features elements to reduce stormwater runoff into Winslow Ravine.

The city’s Design Review Board balked, saying the project’s design doesn’t fit the city’s preferred aesthetic for downtown. The board’s move doesn’t kill the project. The project’s developers, owner Bill Carruthers and architect Matthew Coates, will meet with the board next week to hash out some new ideas.

For my full story on the project, click here.

Below is a site plan showing the full project.

gatewaysiteplan

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Winslow Way property tops state hazardous sites list

The former Unocal gas station property on Winslow Way was one of four Kitsap County properties added to the state’s Hazardous Sites List this week.

Sitting at Winslow Way’s intersection with the highway, the 1-acre property has for several years been hemmed by a fence decorated with murals and banners.

The property hosted a gas station from 1957 until 1989. It is currently joint-owned by the city of Bainbridge Island and Kitsap Transit. Three underground storage tanks — with one or more leaking — were removed in 1991.

The site could impact the stream in Winslow Ravine, which borders the property to the west.

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