Town & Country Market released an artist’s rendering this week for a proposed remodel of its iconic Winslow store.

The project will bring the market onto a single story and generally modernize the 56-year-old building. The familiar reader board sign on Winslow Way will remain intact.

T&C first announced the proposed remodel in 2012. The company filed an initial project application with the city Thursday, according to a news release. Remodeling work could begin in early 2014 depending on the permit timeline.

Island architects Devin Johnson and Priscilla Zimmerman are designing the project. Tom Chiado is project manager. Abbott Construction of Seattle is the general contractor.

Company representatives say the extensive remodel signifies T&C’s commitment to staying put in downtown Winslow.

“We feel now is the right time,” T&C Chairman Larry Nakata said in the release. “We are fully committed to downtown and recognize the store’s place in our island’s history. We want to be part of Winslow’s exciting future.”

The Loverich and Nakata families opened the Winslow market in 1957. The store expanded in 1990, adding a cafe and floral department. Town & Country Markets now operates five stores.

Almost five inches of snow blanketed the island on Wednesday, shutting down schools, cancelling city meetings and keeping many slick roads clear of traffic.

As of 5 p.m., the Bainbridge Island Fire Department had responded to just three weather-related calls.

“People stayed indoors and limited their driving, and I think that helped,” Fire Chief Hank Teran said.

The only reported vehicle accident was a Tuesday night rollover on New Brooklyn Road. The family inside the vehicle suffered no injuries, according to Bainbridge police.

Teran said someone suffered a fractured ankle due to a snow-related fall.

Firefighters responded to a report of power lines down on Lafayette Avenue.

No significant power outages were reported, and no roads were closed.

Teran said the department was bracing itself for the evening commute, when driving conditions could be more difficult.

A light dusting of snow is predicted for late Thursday morning.

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King 5 News has a story about Grow Community, a large housing development set to take shape along Wyatt Way and Grow Avenue.

It’s aim is to be fully solar powered and to foster an earth-friendly lifestyle that’s oriented toward walking, cycling and growing food.

I had a story about it earlier this month, which you can read here.

Unlike most big developments on Bainbridge, Grow Community has drawn little criticism (so far). At a recent public meeting, most of the concerns were about traffic impacts. The development’s designers gave assurances that they’d actually be improving the area’s transportation infrastructure by adding sidewalks and bike lanes along Wyatt and Grow.

Grow Community will begin building an eventual 137 homes in May.

Despite the shaky economy and the challenges the Winslow Way reconstruction poses for businesses, five new downtown leases were signed last week, including three for new eating establishments.

Blackbird Bakery’s customers have long wished the nearly-always-crowded coffee and lunch hangout would expand. That wish will come true by mid-April with the opening of Fork and Spoon, a new restaurant that borrows from Blackbird’s menu while expanding it to include meat dishes, salads, beer and wine.

“This started as a way to grow our lunch business, which was held back by seating capacity,” Blackbird co-owner Jeff Shepard said.

Fork and Spoon will take over the nearby Madrone Lane space formerly occupied by Victor Alexander winery.

There will be no indoor connection to Blackbird’s Winslow Way space, although the new restaurant will make use of Blackbird’s kitchen.

The new location will have outdoor seating in an enclosed courtyard.

Shepard said Fork and Spoon will use many local ingredients, including Bainbridge eggs and vegetables.

Also set to open soon is Radish, a high-end restaurant run by the former owners of Real Foods, which closed closed a few months ago.

A new sandwich shop is set to open soon in Winslow Mall, but I have little more detail than that.

The ‘big dig’ is almost here
Believe it or not, but the Winslow Way reconstruction project is less than six weeks away.

Work on the street’s utility poles will begin this month. Crews will tear into Winslow Way by the middle of March.

For more about the project, and the small hiccup in its public relations stragegy, head over here.

Ravine rescue
The Bainbridge man was rescued from an Eagledale ravine this week. No big deal, but the TV news helicopters that came to catch the action sure did spark a lot of interest, especially because a body had washed up on Bainbridge the last time the heli-swarm descended on the island. The gentleman in the ravine was just fine, by the way, and so was his dog.

Ferry reform
Kitsap’s state legislators want to create a panel to reform the ferry system. The bill calls for a system-wide repair plan by next December.

“Serious declines in the amount and reliability of ferry service in recent years have damaged the economic vitality of many ferry communities. For these businesses and working families, recovering from the current severe recession depends on the rapid restoration of better ferry service,” the bill said.

Wall Street whoops
The Wall Street Journal had a nice article about the local geoduck industry yesterday.

The Journal uncovered a key fact that many of us here have failed to recognize: the Suquamish tribe’s 700 members live on Bainbridge Island.

I’m not sure how the reservation’s expansion could have passed under our noses without so much as a public meeting, a workshop or a charette, but I think we can expect the island to get a lot more exciting. Perhaps a Clearwater Casino satellite location in Island Gateway? Maybe a Benny’s Jets fireworks stand stretching across Winslow Green?

The City Council is taking a hard look at a 15-year-old program that has allowed downtown’s workers to park on city-owned land for a very low rate.

The problem is not so much the program but the fact that the Bainbridge Island Chamber of Commerce gets to keep all the money.

Read more HERE.

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.

Looks like the last remnants of the Hoskinson homestead are coming down. Read my story here about the city’s recent decision to allow the removal of large trees planted by Winslow’s earliest settlers.

Doug Tolliver, a “A Shovel 4 Hire,” escorts a Winslow shopper over an icy crosswalk on Monday. Find more photos here

Shoppers squinted and blinked as they entered Lindsleys clothing store on Monday afternoon.

Somewhere among the darkened clothing racks Tom Lindsley was voicing a welcome to them. Most customers needed a few seconds to let their eyes adjust from the glare of Winslow’s snowy streets to the dim of the unlit store.

“Right now all we have is daylight,” said Lindsley, who co-owns the 17-year-old store store with his wife. “And a few flashlights people will hopefully use.”

Lindsleys was one of many downtown shops already struggling under a sluggish economy. The winter snow storm and resulting power outage made a bad situation worse.

And while the Christmas season was anticipated as a happy ending to a tough year, many stores found the snow kept many holiday spenders at home.

“The combination of the weather and the economy really makes things messy,” Lindsley said. “It hurts a lot. Our (sales) are way down. And we’ll have to close early because it’s getting harder to see in here.”

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Made the hike into Winslow this afternoon. Downtown was a lot more friendly and slow-paced today than it was on Saturday, when the hordes descended on T&C and Safeway to gather survival gear (and last-minute Christmas presents) in preparation for the Snowpocalypse.

If you’ve not yet emerged from your bunker, you can check out my tour of Winslow by visiting my new Picasa page.

Expect semi-regular updates on Picasa as I post photos related to island news stories.