Just in case the city’s budget and the community eventually support affordable housing on the island, the Bainbridge Island Planning Commission continues to plug away on the creation of an inclusionary housing ordinance. It appears that sometime this summer a draft will be pulled together and presented to island developers for their input.

The administrator probably will be the Community Land Trust, a creation of the island’s Housing Resources Board. It’s job would be to administer the ordinance and the city’s whims, not to mention acting as a referee occasionally between the city and developers.

This is tricky ground for the city and its Planning Commission, especially when it comes to deciding who should be allowed to buy the new houses — whenever and wherever that might happen. Considering the combination of the current economic plight of many island residents and people who work here and live elsewhere, mixed with some of the most expensive land in the Puget Sound region, the line for signing up for such housing would seemingly be way out of sight. So, how will we choose? CLT currently establishes a waiting list of qualifiers and then chooses on a first-come-first-served basis for its affordable housing units, but the city might do it differently.

The commission’s brief discussion of the “who qualifies” issue during a Thursday night work session indicated how delicate the issue could become if the city ever got to that point. Generally, its agreed that the affordable housing issue has gained momentum primarily because some professionals such as police officers, teachers and even city bureaucrats can’t afford to live on the island with their middle-class incomes — especially if they have families.

In that case, should such service-oriented people be the first in line, and should that be spelled out in the ordinance? And should only people who work or live on the island qualify, excluding some Seattle resident who has always wanted to live here but couldn’t afford it? Well, neither scenario may be legal, not to mention fair. Diversity? That may happen, with a store clerk or two being allowed to slip in the name of diversity. But this seems to be more about taking care of the people we want living here, not to mention making sure we are servicing the people who already live on the island.

What could be legal, the commission was told, would be if the ordinance were based on an average median income (AMI) that allows such people to qualify for affordable housing. The commission has two choices on AMIs, either Kitsap or King counties. Brent Butler, the planner working the commission meeting, said the 2006 numbers for Kitsap would qualify anyone making under 80 percent or less of a household (family of four) AMI of $51,192. He didn’t have King County’s numbers, but obviously they would be higher. He said the commission could pick whichever it wanted. If it chooses King County, that would probably allow teachers and cops to qualify, while Kitsap may not.

So, if the clerk who works at Town & Country and the teacher who schools eight-year-olds at Ordway both qualify, who’s going to rise to the top of the list? The first-come scenario may lose out when it comes to such choices. Plus, partnerships could occur that target certain professions. For example, the school district might provide some property that it owns for affordable housing, as long as teachers are the people buying them.

It also sounds very political and certainly dicey. with legal issue popping up on several fronts. And the developers have barely gotten invovled.