Bainbridge Island City Council is moving forward with changes to the city’s animal ordinance, which will affect where dogs need to be leashed on the island.

The ordinance updates will require dogs to be leashed in two major business areas on the island — Winslow and Lynwood Center — and give teeth to the park district’s current leash rule.

Under the city’s current code, dogs can be off leash on city property if under voice command.

The school and park districts already have their own regulations that require dogs to be leashed on their property, except at Strawberry Hill’s off-leash dog park. Those rules are not included in the city’s current city ordinance.

Updates to the city’s animal ordinance will include that dogs must be leashed on park district land, providing penalties for violators.

Dogs owners can face up to a $300 fine for not keeping their dogs under voice control or on leash.

Dog owners who do not prevent their dogs from injuring or intimidating pedestrians or cyclists can face up to a $1,000 fine for having a dangerous animal.

The city began discussions about changing its animal ordinance months ago at the request of the park district, which has struggled with enforcing its leash rule.

One resident who spoke out against changes to the ordinance Tuesday night said the park district hasn’t enforced its own leash rule.

Terry Lande, the park district’s executive director, previously said that the park’s rule has little teeth without the backing of a city ordinance and its penalties. Violators of the leash rule can only be asked to leash their dogs or leave the park property, Lande said.

The city had previously considered requiring dogs to be leashed in city owned parks as well, but has since decided to only apply the leash regulations to park district owned parks.

Other updates to the ordinance will require dogs be leashed in the Winslow and Lynwood Center business areas. The Winslow business area will extend from the waterfront to High School Road, and fall between Madison Avenue and Ferncliff Avenue.

The city-owned Waterfront Park will be included in the Winslow business area, and dogs will have to be leashed there.

The city also is considering a trial period to specifically allow off-leash dogs at Pritchard Park, another city-owned park, during certain hours, days or in certain parts of the park.

The off-leash experiment for Pritchard Park is expected to be discussed at a later council meeting.

Eventually, the city plans to transfer nearly all of the Pritchard Park over to the park district. About half of the park is already co-owned by the city and park district, where the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial is located.

The park transfer is expected to take place some time after September, said City Manageer Doug Schulze.

The city won’t make any conditional requirement in favor of off-leash dog spaces or times at the park for the transfer to take place, Tollefson said.

While leashes will be required in more areas on the island, there are no plans to change the animal control budget for enforcement or code penalties.

Updates to the city’s animal ordinance are expected to be adopted next week.

Multiple mailbox thefts
A neighbor along the 10000 block of Duncan Lane saw a smaller, four-door SUV parked at group of neighborhood mailboxes March 5 around 7 a.m. as she walked her child to the bus stop.
The woman told police that when she walked toward the SUV, it drove to the next group of mailboxes and the driver reached into the mailboxes.
The next day she saw the SUV again taking mail from the mailboxes.
There also were piles of potentially stolen and discarded mail reported on March 6 along Miller Road near Bergman Road and two other incidents on North Madison Avenue, one which included stolen medication, according to Bainbridge Island police reports.
There was an earlier report of stolen mail on the 600 block of Winslow Way E on March 1.

Developers and Bainbridge Island residents Dave Christianson and Terry McGuire shared details and took questions about their proposed community workspace for arts and artisan Monday night during a public meeting.

Christianson is with Tseng Properties, LLC, which is leading the development on a 4.5-acre property off of Day Road near the Bainbridge Island Saddle Club’s facility.

Only 1.5 acres of the site is buildable land because of wetlands, said Michael Wangen, the Bainbridge Island architect working on the project.

Construction on the 10-building project, known as Creative Space, could start as early as this summer and be finished in six to 12 months, said Christianson.

Island Craft, a similar artist development, is being constructed nearby Creative Space on Day Road.

All 10 of the Creative Space buildings are 40 feet by 48 feet, and proposed uses include boat and vehicle restoration, woodwork, painting or sculpture work. Space is not intended to be used for office or retails space, although there could be display and sales events open to the public, Christianson said.

Two of the buildings would be 1.5 stories with a 1,920-square-foot garage on the first floor and a 920-square-foot loft above. One building would be a residence for the facility’s manager. No other units would have residential space.

Eight of the buildings would be divided into two studio spaces, each side about 960 square feet, with the possibility a 440-square-foot storage loft. Tenants could potentially rent the whole building.

The developers want to rent space at about 75 cents a square foot, they said Monday.

McGuire said the goal is to rent the 960-square-foot studios for about $720. A unit with a loft would be about $1,050. The final price would depend on construction costs, which are still unknown, she said.

McGuire and Christianson also live next to and have their own personal workspace by the proposed development. They have lived on the island for about 25 years, Christianson said.

Access to Creative Space would be off of the same gravel road used to drive to the Saddle Club facility and Manzanita Park.

There are no proposed changes to the road or its overhead tree canopy, although about a dozen Saddle Club members at Monday’s meeting voiced concerns about who would maintain the road with the new development.

There is an easement for the road use and the county will be looking into who is responsible for the road’s upkeep according to that easement, said Heather Beckmann, a planner with the city.

Christianson said he was “willing to pony up” and help maintain the road.

“If I am causing wear and tear on the road, I have to cover the expense,” he said.

Saddle Club members also were concerned whether the road could handle more traffic and how how safe it would be because it has mainly been used as a trail.

Juliet LeDorze suggested creating a trail alongside the road for equestrians and pedestrians.

Beckmann said the city would talk to the park district about that possibility.

The project is in the pre-application phase and there will be another public comment period after an application has been submitted to the city.