City officials are
calling Rockaway Beach residents to ask them to reduce water use,
specifically landscape irrigation.
A new release from the city said the Rockaway Beach water
system, which serves about 90 homes, is experiencing “unusually
high water consumption.” The increase is putting stress on the
system that pulls water from a single well with limited
capacity.
While it hasn’t been dangerously hot on the island, higher than
normal temperatures have hit the region, along with dry
conditions.
No other areas of the city’s water system have been affected,
according to the city.
Paper & Leaf co-owner Brendan
Hill is shown walking through the store in a reflection on a glass
case where marijuana products are locked up. (Photo by Rachel Anne
Seymour/Kitsap Sun)
Bainbridge Island’s first and only retail marijuana shop could
pass for an art gallery or café with its natural light, neutral
color scheme, vinyl music and refurbished wood décor, if not for
the smell of marijuana. Now, Bainbridge residents do not have to
scour and ramble around to
choose best kratom vendor, because that one’s right in the
townsquare.
Even the name, Paper & Leaf, doesn’t reek of weed
clichés.
Owners Steve Kessler and Brendan Hill held the
company’s grand opening Wednesday, after having a soft opening for
friends and family June 20. The 1,800-square-foot store is just off
Highway 305 in the industrial park at 8040 Day Road.
Although state regulations won’t allow more than one
retail shop on the island and Paper & Leaf won’t have competition
within a 30 minute commute, it is doing business a little different
from other pot stores around the Sound.
Shoppers won’t find candy-like edibles for one.
While islanders strongly supported legalizing
marijuana, there was a concern about can candy edibles appealing to
children and minors, Kessler said.
About 70 percent of the island’s voters backed
Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana in 2012, compared to 56
percent statewide.
Instead of candy edibles, Paper & Leaf has liquid
products customers can drop directly into their mouths or use to
bake.
When using products for the first time, Kessler
suggested taking it slow.
“I always tell people, ‘Less is better,’” he said,
especially with edibles that can take up to two hours to take
affect.
How Paper & Leaf
displays its marijuana products also is a little different from
most.
They are all locked in wood and glass cases on the
walls and not behind the register. Producers, including several
locals, have their own case with a variety of strains.
More than half of Paper & Leaf’s producers are in
Kitsap or North Mason, Kessler said.
Product not only arrives faster with
closer producers, he added, it’s a way of supporting other
local business.
Marijuana isn’t the only local item Kessler and Hill
want to hang on the wall.
One long, blank wall by the store entrance will
eventually feature artwork from local island and area artists. The
first exhibit will be a history of cannabis, Kessler said, although
future exhibits can be unrelated to marijuana.
The art is part of a goal to create a relaxed
atmosphere at Paper & Leaf.
To add to the vibe, customers can talk with staff or
among themselves — as some did Wednesday — at a long table made
from reclaimed wood by the local Coyote Woodshop.
Even with a relaxed feel, security is tight.
There are 28 cameras throughout the parking lot and
every room in the business, except the bathroom. Kessler and Hill
also had motion detectors, automatic locks and broken glass
sensor installed.
Paper & Leaf staff continue
working on the store as others help customers during the grand
opening on Wednesday, June 24, 2015. (Photo by Rachel Anne
Seymour/Kitsap Sun)
Speeding leads
to underage pot citation A teenager was cited for
possession of marijuana after a silver Lexus was pulled over for
going 42 in a 30-mph zone on Sportsman Club Road on June 20.
As a Bainbridge Island Police Department officer spoke with the
18-year-old female driver, he noticed a “strong odor of green
(non-burned) marijuana,” according to a police report.
The officer asked the driver how much marijuana was in the car. She
told him there was none, but there had been marijuana in the car
previously.
The officer told the driver that she had to be 21 to possess pot,
and asked her for the marijuana. She then pulled a small plastic
bag with 5.4 grams of “a green leafy substance” out of her purse,
before telling the officer, “I cannot believe I just gave you my
marijuana.”
The driver was given a warning for speeding and a citation for the
marijuana, according the police report.
Updated to reflect the edited code item in the June 26 print
edition of the Islander.
Bainbridge Artisan
Resource Network (BARN) has earned a $500,000 grant from the C.
Keith Birkenfeld Memorial Trust for a new facility.
This grant pushes BARN’s campaign for a
25,000-square-foot artisan center over $5 million, and closer
to its $7.5 million goal, said Carolyn Goodwin, BARN
spokeswoman.
BARN is currently in a 2,000-square-foot facility, which was
meant to be a temporary location for the nonprofit. It is home
to metalworking, fiber arts, writing, printmaking and glass work,
among others.
BARN is a nonprofit organization, which formed in 2012 to
operate a “hands-on center for craft and invention” on the
island.
The organization is hoping to break ground this fall on the new
center.
One of the benches that has
been painted orange near along Winslow Way.
Photos by Tristan Baurick/Kitsap Sun
At least four small
cement cube benches along Winslow Way were “mysteriously” painted
orange recently without consent from city officials, said City
Manager Doug Schulze.
The city is trying to find out who did it.
“The issue we have now is cleanup of this might be problematic,”
Schulze told the council Tuesday. “Because pressure washing or
using some sort of solvent could damage the surface of the
concrete.”
The city could leave the benches orange or paint over
them with a cement gray color.
“If you hear any rumors about who might have done this, we’d
like to chat with them so this doesn’t continue,” Schulze said.
Bainbridge Island
could be asking for proposals for the Suzuki property, instead of
hiring consultants.
Councilman Val Tollefson said a council subcommittee he is on
decided hiring a consultant — who would breakdown how much money
could be made on the property based on the buyer and development
purpose — would leave the city right where is was Tuesday, needing
to ask for proposals.
Interested parties would have 45 days to respond to the
published request, which is expected to have a list of priorities
for the Suzuki property laid out by the city.
Those priorities are:
Affordable housing or mixed housing with affordable and
market-value houses.
Green and sustainable construction.
Open space, community gardens and connecting trails.
Integration with adjacent neighborhoods and island
character.
Tollefson also suggested the public should have input on the
proposals the city receives.
Several residents have voiced concern about traffic issues and
housing density. Others have asked the city to leave the property
as is.
The school district is not interesting in buying the property,
Mayor Anne Blair said.
The council has previously talked about allowing affordable
housing to be built on the land.
“Frankly, the city owns a valuable piece of property and needs
some money,” Tollefson said.
The undeveloped Suzuki land is assessed at about $500,000,
according to county documents, which is the price the city paid for
the property in 2000.
The City Council decided to sell the 14-acre Suzuki property in
2008, and use the money to pay for a new police station.
Last week, the council selected a site for a new police station
and court facility. It is estimated to cost about $15 million,
including buying land.
City Council is considering paying the Bainbridge
Community Foundation to oversee and help allocate about $323,000
for nonprofits.
An exact cost or where the money would come from was not decided
during Tuesday’s council meeting, although the foundation’s
proposal outlined $21,050 in fees.
Community nonprofits voiced concern about how paying the
foundations could take away money for local services.
The Health, Housing and Human Services Council previously helped
guide the city in funding local nonprofits.
The Health, Housing and Human Services Council was created by
the city in the early 1990s, and tasked with distributing city
money to about a dozen human service groups — from the food bank to
the teen center. It also undertook regular community needs
assessments and surveys.
The city has still provided funding to nonprofits since 2010,
although it has not reviewed whether the amount these organizations
receive should change based on needs or if the organizations are
still based on Bainbridge Island.
A new Human Services Funding Advisory Committee also would be
formed to make recommendations on goals and funding
allocations.
The program, run by Bainbridge Island Child Care
Centers, will have to leave the Bainbridge Island School District’s
central campus, because the district needs the portables where Kids
Club now meets to address space issues at Ordway Elementary
School.
The district has said Kids Club can stay in the
portables through the end of June, and the district has made the
Ordway gym available through the end of August, until school
begins.
The program is looking for a new location as close to
the central campus as possible, said program director Shelley
Long.
Anyone with a potential location can call Long at
206-842-6525.
A break in through a broken window was reported at the Filipino
American Community Hall on June 4.
Although no items were missing, it appeared someone used bleach
to try and clean up blood from an injury after climbing through the
broken window.
It appeared that a person broke the window with a broom or dust
pan and used a wheelbarrow to climb into the window that was 8 feet
off the ground, according to the police report.
There were “sporadic” blood drops and smears from the window to
the kitchen, along with footprints in the bleach. Police found shoe
prints as well as a partial bare foot print.
An empty bottle of bleach was left on the kitchen counter.
The city of Bainbridge
Island is looking to start refunding the Public Art Program.
In November 2010, the council voted to suspend program
funding.
Now, the council is moving forward with plans to transfer an
equivalent of two-percent of all eligible municipal capital
construction projects to the art program. Water, sewer and
stormwater management facilities would not be eligible
projects.
City officials could decide to include an additional transfer
during discussions on individual projects.
City Council is expected to approve the ordinance during one of
its Tuesday meetings in the near future.
City Council is considering an ordinance to allow temporary
tent cities on property owned by religious organizations.
The city’s insurer, Washington Cities Insurance Authority,
suggested city officials have regulations on tent cities since a
church sued the city of Woodinville for not providing a permit for
a temporary homeless camp in 2006. The church said the city was
violating its first amendment right to free exercise of religion,
and won the lawsuit.
Bainbridge Island’s proposed ordinance would allow camps for up
to 92 days with a permit and require campers be over the age of 18.
No drugs, alcohol or open flames would be allowed. The number of
campers would be limited to 100.
A “ sight-obscuring fence” could be required around the camp
unless there is “sufficient vegetation, topographic variation, or
other site conditions,” according to the proposed ordinance.
A public hearing for the ordinance will be scheduled.
Island residents and visitors will eventually be able to
park along Manitou Beach Drive in a small parking lot by a the
beach park looking out at downtown Seattle across Puget
Sound.
City Council approved a plan for two bike racks and four parking
spots, including one handicap spot, on the west side of the
road.
There also will be a 6-foot-wide, ADA-accessible boardwalk on
the east side of the road over a ditch, allowing access to the
1.36-acre beach.
Mark Epstein, the city’s capital projects coordinator, told the
council the project would cost about $54,000-$60,000. He also said
the city could save about $15,200 if the city performs some of the
work.
City officials are
calling Rockaway Beach residents to ask them to reduce water use,
specifically landscape irrigation.
