The city will lower speed limits on several island roads this month, public works department officials said.
A portion of Fletcher Bay Road will be lowered to 35 mph from the current 40 mph. The affected area stretches from just north of the High School Road intersection to the end of the first curve south of that intersection. Tree branches will also be trimmed to improve sightlines for drivers.
Motorists will also see a change on Hidden Cove Road, on a mile-long stretch from the highway east through a series of curves toward Phelps Road. The limit in that zone will be lowered to 25 mph, from the present 35 mph.
Limited sightlines through the curves made the present limit too high for safe travel, city engineer Jeff Jensen said.
The changes were approved by the council’s public works committee at its Dec. 30 meeting.
They will be effective as soon as the revised signs are posted. The revisions will also be announced with orange flags for 30 days to help alert motorists.
Also announced were revisions to several island school zones. Most of changes stem from a requirement to locate “School Zone” signs 300 feet from school crossings and school grounds.
Schools zones will be extended to include the intersections at Madison Avenue/High School Road and Sportsman Club Road/New Brooklyn Road. Signs are expected to go up this month. Information: 842-2016.
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***Signs point to trail flora
The Bainbridge Island Park District board Thursday gave the go-ahead to a plan to create an interpretive nature trail in a section of the Grand Forest.
Saying the feedback received from the public had been “overwhelmingly positive,” the board unanimously approved the proposal submitted by a West Sound Academy student to place signposts along an existing trail near the Grand Forest Bridge and Miller Road, with sign numbers relating to an informational brochure.
A kiosk at one of the trailheads will include tri-fold pamphlets with information on the trees, ferns and other plants found along the route.
The pamphlets will be provided and regularly restocked by academy students.
A similar interpretive trail, maintained by local Boy Scout troops and the park district, exists at Ted Olson Nature Preserve on North Madison Avenue.
Installation is slated this spring.
Although project organizers and park district staff have yet to work out the exact placement and design of the signs, West Sound Academy head Nellie Miller Klinikowski was enthusiastic about the project’s potential.
“It will be very well done, I assure you of that,” she said.
– Review staff
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***Democrats tap 4 islanders
Islanders Tom Kilbane, Bob Burkholder, Leonard Rolfes and Marilyn Boynton are among the new officers and board members elected by the Democrats of the 23rd Legislative District for the coming year.
New officers include Sari Perlow, chair; Kilbane, vice-chair; Marlene Richards, treasurer; Tom Loushe, secretary; Jim Sharpe, state committee man; and Martha Lynn-Johnson, state committee woman.
Newly elected executive board members include Burkholder, Rolfes, Boynton, Sherry Appleton, Mel Dietz, Joan Dingfield, Lillian Crawford and Jim Sommerhauser.
The 23rd Legislative District includes Bainbridge Island, North Kitsap, Central Kitsap and parts of Bremerton.
Information: (360) 692-2966 or see www.kcdem.home.donobi.net
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***March for peace slated
A group calling itself Bainbridge United for Peace will hold an anti-war rally and walk in Winslow this weekend.
The event begins at 12 p.m. Jan. 18, in the town square next to city hall, with a half-mile walk through downtown.
“Why travel to San Francisco or Washington DC for big city rallies on Saturday?” the group said in a news release. Participants will “stand up and walk for peace and non-violent resolution to conflicts right here on Bainbridge Island.”
Marchers are asked to bring signs, candles and voices.
Co-sponsors include Bainbridge Island Women in Black and Kitsap-CAN.
Information: 842-0223
