The Issues

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I oppose the City Council’s plan to massively upzone our historic downtown Winslow. The current plan to upzone would mean bulldozing downtown Winslow and replacing it with 6 story buildings and ultra-density, similar to the ultra-dense condo-complexes you see in Seattle. I believe the upzoning plan will destroy the special character of the Island, strain our natural resources, strain our infrastructure, cause congestion, and increase taxes, all without meaningfully addressing housing affordability.

I advocate for responsible growth planning. What does responsible growth planning look like?  

I will plan for reasonable growth, not maximum growth. The most recent Planning Commission recommendations plan for 40% growth, when we are only required to plan for 18% growth. I oppose a maximum growth agenda. The more prudent approach is to plan for the 18% growth we need to plan for, not more. We can plan for reasonable 18% growth without making changes to our zoning.

I am very concerned about the City Council’s current plan’s potential to significantly strain our natural resources, most notably our water supply.

Bainbridge Island is designated as a Sole Source Aquifer and gets all of its drinking water from groundwater. This means that we have a limited and increasingly stressed water supply, which would only be further stressed by massive upzoning. Moreover, when we are planning for future growth, the State’s Growth Management Act specifically asks that we consider the availability of water.

The first two drafts of the Groundwater Management Plan raise serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of our water supply due to measurable annual declines in our groundwater aquifers.

I believe the City should complete the Groundwater Management Plan, and have it peer reviewed, prior to completing the Comprehensive Plan. We must be good stewards of our precious natural resources and make sure they will still be there for future generations to come.

The current plan to massively upzone Winslow will also cause significant strain on our existing infrastructure. In particular, I am concerned about the Winslow Sewer System, which is already maxed out. In order to accommodate the significant amount of population growth proposed, Bainbridge Island would need a new wastewater treatment plant, which would be extremely costly.

The traffic on Bainbridge Island is already out of control. Increasing the population by another 40% would significantly increase traffic and congestion on our roads. The simple fact is that these are two-lane country roads, which were not designed for massive growth. 

There are no two ways about it, the massive upzoning of Winslow would cause a significant increase in taxes. 

First, for those who live on lots that get upzoned, the assessed value of your property will go up and so will your property taxes. This is problematic for those that don’t want to sell their property to developers, and especially for those on fixed income.

Second, taxes will rise for all Bainbridge Islanders to pay for the infrastructure and road improvements that will be needed to handle massive growth. People are already being taxed off the Island. Enough is enough.

The City is considering replacing Bainbridge Disposal, which has served our community for nearly 60 years, with a national corporation. The City already gets 5% of every dollar Bainbridge Disposal receives. Bainbridge Disposal is a beloved local business and should be not be replaced with a national corporation.  

The City is also considering creating its own utility district to take control of our waste management services. I oppose this. This would just be another way for the City to further tax residents, whether or not they use the services.

The current plan to massively upzone Winslow would fail to produce any meaningful amount of affordable housing. 

The plan would be to massively upzone, then to trade additional floor area ratio and height to developers for a few affordable units in each development. At most, this approach would lead to 5%, maybe 10%, of units being affordable. The rest would be market rate, and they will not be affordable. My question here is why are we relying on developers to build affordable housing instead of partnering directly with Housing Resources Bainbridge?