The city of Bainbridge Island is updating its Comprehensive Plan. As part of that process, COBI’s Planning Department is promoting a draft “Preferred Alternative” Winslow Subarea Plan that, if enacted, would destroy the small-town character of Winslow.

The plan would “urbanize” Winslow and promote population growth far beyond what is required under the state Growth Management Act.

It would:

• Expand Winslow to the west and as far north as Murden Cove;

• Significantly “upzone” most neighborhoods to increase population density, building heights and lot coverage, producing greater traffic congestion, noise and light pollution, and reduced access to parking;

• Permit high-rise buildings of six stories (65 feet) in the Ferry and High School road districts;

• Dramatically “upzone” the wooded, city-owned “Suzuki Property” on Sportsman Club Road, and other open space on New Brooklyn, to allow clear cutting for high-density housing;

• Promote the conversion throughout Winslow of single-family home neighborhoods into urban neighborhoods of multiplexes, townhouses, high-rises, etc.; and

• Fail to even come close to affordable housing targets that COBI uses to justify the upzones, producing market-rate density rather than AH.

COBI claims that its high-growth Winslow Plan is mandated by the GMA, but that is a misinterpretation of the statute that has not been tested in court. In reality, it is based on an ideological agenda that, if accepted, would impose an unfunded mandate on the city, which is itself a violation of state law.

COBI’s “Preferred Alternative” for Winslow is part of the Comp Plan. For that update, COBI has issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement listing three alternatives for growth.

• Alternative 1 would plan for 4,524 new residents by 2044, conforming to the growth allocation for BI under the GMA. Our current zoning already accommodates that level of growth. COBI staff disfavor that alternative.

• Alternatives 2 and 3, which COBI staff are promoting, each plan for over 11,000 new residents (more than double the GMA requirement, increasing BI population by about 45% in 20 years). COBI’s “Preferred Alternative” combines Alternatives 2 and 3, pushing Winslow “out” and “up.”

The DEIS is a flawed, incomplete analysis and should not be approved in its current form. Despite purporting to address “environmental impacts,” the DEIS fails to recognize our status as a Sole Source Aquifer with a limited and increasingly stressed water supply. We are completely reliant on precipitation and stormwater management to recharge our aquifers. Even at current levels of population and development, excessive water extraction already threatens our aquifer recharge and sustainability.

Well and stream monitoring data show diminished water levels and streamflow. Several watersheds on BI have already been closed by the state Department of Ecology to further water extraction. A further drop in aquifer levels could result in sea water intrusion and contamination of the BI water supply.

Those facts are being ignored in the rush to urbanize Winslow and upzone for large population increases. COBI staff are pushing for quick approval of their “Preferred Alternative” for Winslow before COBI has even completed a Groundwater Management Plan, which is an indispensable prerequisite for any responsible planning.

The high-growth alternatives will also lead to:

• Major tax increases for residents to fund increased sewage treatment capacity, transportation improvements, new wells and water distribution facilities, new stormwater facilities, as well as other costly infrastructure;

• Unfair displacement effects as the upzones inflate property values and current residents pay higher property taxes to fund substantial new infrastructure. These higher property taxes will drive out low- and fixed-income residents; and

• Degradation of BI aesthetics and quality of life due to loss of open space, natural settings, biodiversity and overcrowding of recreational and park facilities. Increased population and density will inevitably erode the small-town quality of life on BI.

If you want to keep our small-town feel, contact the City Council and Planning Commission to request a revised Winslow Subarea Plan and DEIS that includes a peer-reviewed GWMP and rejects population increases beyond the 4,524 new residents allocated to Bainbridge under the GMA.

Joe McMillan is a longtime BI resident who practiced law in Seattle for 25 years, retiring in 2020.