Tag Archives: City

Environmental comment period to open for island shopping center

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The public will can submit comments on the environmental impacts of a proposed shopping center on High School Road between Friday and July 19.

The city will open the comment period this week as part of the State Environmental Policy Act review for the Visconsi project. The proposed shopping center would add 62,000 square feet of commercial building space and 261 parking spaces to the northeast corner of High School Road and Highway 305.

As the city notice notes, this may be the only opportunity to lodge official comments on the environmental aspects of the project. The city expects to issue a determination of non significance.

Ohio-based developer Visconsi Companies is seeking approval for a site plan and conditional use permit for the project. The center would include a bank, large drug store, medical offices, restaurants and other businesses. This is Visconsi’s webpage for the project.

The proposal sparked protests on the island in June.  Protestors said the development isn’t needed and promotes sprawl.

The full notice is below:

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Waterfront Park planning continues Sunday

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Planning for a revamped Waterfront Park will continue Sunday with a second community workshop. The event runs 1:30-4:30 p.m. at Waterfront Park Community Center. Islanders can join a walking tour of the park and dock at 1 p.m.

The city and Sustainable Bainbridge launched the planning effort with a well attended community meeting June 1. Prolific walkable communities consultant Dan Burden helped guide the conversation. Participants brainstormed ideas for the park and voted on their favorite design elements (you can see the voting results here).

Sunday’s workshop will include presentations from specific user groups. Bainbridge Island Rowing has a proposal for a new boathouse. The city’s advisory Harbor Commission is promoting designs for an expanded city dock.

The city dedicated $1.8 million of a Washington State Ferries settlement to reinvigorating the downtown park and will seek additional grants. A request for qualifications from design firms was recently issued for the project.

 

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Stream bugs offer clues to health of Bainbridge waters

Caddisfly casings cling to a rock pulled from Bainbridge’s Cooper Creek on Wednesday. (Below) a frog keeps a wary eye on its surroundings. (Tad Sooter photos)

When fly fishermen approach a stream they watch for a few familiar bugs. A flurry of mayflies, caddisflies or stoneflies tell an experienced angler what food fish are rising for.

When water quality specialists approach a stream they look for the same insects for different reasons. To the trained eye, those water-dwelling macro invertebrates offer clues to the overall health of a creek.

I received a crash course on stream bugs Wednesday as I tagged along with volunteers from the city’s Water Quality and Flow Monitoring Program, in preparation for a story on the city’s State of the Island’s Waters report, which was released with little fanfare earlier this summer.

Five years of data gathered from all 12 Bainbridge watersheds and around the island’s shoreline went into the report. It’s the first comprehensive study of island water health the city has completed. The report confirmed that many island streams still struggle with high levels of harmful bacteria and nutrients, and low dissolved oxygen.

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Snow day

The snow’s coming down thick here at the Kitsap Sun’s island outpost.

School’s out. Library’s closed. City meetings are called off.

But the snowman making contest is on. Starts at 2 p.m. at Ericksen Park (between Ericksen Ave and Hildebrand Lane).

Avoid these roads on your way to the contest:

-Bucklin Hill Road between Eagle Harbor Drive and Lynwood Center Road.
-Koura Road between Highway 305 and Meadowmeer Circle.
-Valley Road at Park Hill Place.

If you aren’t up to a making your own Parson Brown, you can read the Sun story about the icy sabotage at the Bainbridge school district bus barn, and the angry, angry comments that follow. But why do that when the snow’s falling?

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Island road ends in need of volunteer stewards

Bainbridge Island has over 70 public road ends, yet only a few allow residents to enjoy the view or walk to the water’s edge.

“This is an island but we have little access to the water to enjoy the peace, the birds and a quiet walk,” said city Road End Advisory Committee member Marci Burkel.

Most road ends are blocked by ever-thickening brush and blackberry brambles. Some have old stairwells that are crumbling into the beaches below. Others simply have no sign letting people know their neighborhood boasts a public access to Puget Sound.

But if a few islanders roll up their sleeves, Burkel said, road ends can again do what they were intended: link islanders to the water that surrounds them.

The committee has created a new stewardship program aimed at pairing residents with neighborhood road ends. The volunteer program is recruiting people to make regular stops at designated road ends to monitor the condition of the site, noting man-made alterations and natural alterations, such as dumped trash or eroded banks.

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Cutting costs by closing City Hall’s doors

Shutting down City Hall and sending workers home for 10 days next year may save enough money to avoid a new round of staff cuts.

“Instead of more permanent layoffs, this is a tool that a number of cities are using to balance budgets,” said Mayor Darlene Kordonowy.

Following the lead of King County, the city may institute unpaid staff furloughs to fill growing budget gaps. The City Council on Wednesday will consider approval of a mayor-backed agreement with city workers that would shut down all nonessential city services for 10 days spread throughout the year, typically on Fridays.

Under the proposal, the city would save an estimated $371,000 in 2009 and $387,000 in 2010.

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A wave of shoreline regulation news

Lots of news on island shoreline protections at the tail end of last week.

The prospect of new development restrictions along waterfront properties brought out the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at City Hall (and I’ve been covering City Hall for over four years) last Wednesday.

Based on the applause during public testimony, the room (and the throng spilling out the door) was pretty evenly divided between waterfront property owners opposed to the new regs and residents (some of whom also live on the water) who want tougher shoreline habitat and water quality protections. That’s the crowd pictured above.

Read my story on that event here.

A day later, on Thursday, the state Supreme Court issued a decision that, in island marine habitat specialist Jim Brennan words, “sent a shock wave across Puget Sound.” The ruling effectively halted the city’s update of its shoreline regs, and may delay their implementation until 2011. Environmentalists booed. Many waterfront property owners cheered.

Read my story on the court’s ruling impact on Bainbridge here.

And for even more on the ruling’s wider implications, check out this story.

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Cutting capital projects

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There’s a lot of dollars up for discussion at City Hall tomorrow. The City Council is scheduled for a four-hour capital facilities plan workshop starting at 10 a.m.

At 7 p.m., the council reconvenes to tackle proposed capital projects reductions, proposed additional funding for a code update project and priorities for federal transportation funding.

See my story about the proposed capital cuts below.

Deep cuts planned for city capital projects
By Tristan Baurick

The City Council will vote on a proposal to slash $2.8 million worth of capital projects tomorrow in an effort to balance a budget hit with unexpected revenue shortfalls.

The proposed cuts include $400,000 for road preservation work, $120,000 for new trails, a $10,000 roof repair for the senior center and $75,000 to plan the senior center’s expansion.

Finance Director Elray Konkel said none of the cuts were easy. But the city, he added, is faced with a simple money problem.

“We just don’t have the cash,” he said.

The reductions were initiated after the city forecasted a $2.5 million revenue decline largely due to a weakening housing market.

At $1.5 million, the largest line item in the capital reduction plan is for the purchase of the Quay Bainbridge apartment complex. The city had already backed out of a deal that would have preserved the 70 units as affordable housing when the property’s value was appraised at far less than its asking price.

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