A plan for Winslow, last updated in 2006, is getting underway, and consultants said that work the city has done on other plans will help the process.

“We’re not starting from scratch,” Adam Amrhein, project manager for LMN Architects, said at a recent Bainbridge Island Planning Commission meeting.

He said BI has been busy putting together over the past several years the Climate Action, Housing Action and Sustainable Transportation plans, along with studies on water and sewer, and population and employment.

“They’re all interconnected,” Amrhein said, adding they will look at everything through an equity lens. “We will take that work and move it forward.”

City senior planner Jennifer Sutton said boundaries for the Winslow SubArea Plan will be looked at to make sure zoning is correct for residential and mixed-use.

During public comments, Bob Russell asked if community members could be on the steering committee. “People on the island need to be on that committee,” he said.

While not in the current plan, Amrhein said there will be “lots of opportunities for the public to weigh in.” He said there will be at least one public meeting, an open house and a public presentation. Many of the city’s advisory committees also will be involved.

“We want to keep those committees in the loop,” Sutton said, adding the city is on a tight deadline to get it done before the Comprehensive Plan is worked on starting in late 2024, so they want to keep the process moving.

Also at the meeting, planning director Patty Charnas explained what has caused the delays in public hearings regarding recent amendment requests to the city’s Comp Plan.

She said the city had planned to have separate public meetings on all five requests. However, law only allows one meeting for all five. Also, one of the amendments from PSE was appealed by a homeowners association. So the city has to wait for a decision from the city hearing examiner in late January to move ahead. The State Environmental Policy Act reviewed all five and gave each a determination of non-significance.

Finally, the planning commission made a decision to advise the City Council not to buy extra floor-area ratio from Kelly Samson of Madrona Way Investments. Samson offered to sell the city 8,190 FARs.

In explaining FARs, Sutton said think of it as unused floor area that is invisible because it was never built.

“It’s OK to use it elsewhere,” and it can be sold for various projects by different groups. The city used the designation in 2004 to assist a mobile home park to provide affordable housing downtown.

Since that time, the city did purchase 17,686 square feet of FAR, enough for 25 units of 700 square feet each. City staff recommended against that because there was “no shovel-ready project,” Sutton said.

City staff recommended against buying Samson’s FAR, too, for the same reason. Plus, things could change because work on the Winslow SubArea Plan is just getting started. Also, money is an issue. And if the city bought it, that would mean it would go off the market at a time when housing is needed. “Housing underproduction would carry weight” in any decision, Sutton said.

Planning Commissioner Sarah Blossom said Samson should be assured by the City Council that the leftover FAR has some value in the future.

During public comments, Michael Schwank said the city should not underwrite investments. “Whether it’s cryptocurrency or FAR there are no guarantees in life,” he said.