Three agenda items discussed at the Bainbridge Island City Council meeting March 11 encapsulated the roadblocks, strengths and tangles that come with public entities’ work on affordable housing.

The city kept its 2023 promise to provide workforce housing for its emergency responders by approving the purchase of two prefabricated homes on city-owned plots in the Islander Mobile Home Park.

“We are really serious about affordable housing — it’s not one magic bullet, but it’s lots of tools,” Mayor Ashley Mathews said.

Also, the future of a federal grant program that has brought about $4 million to BI for affordable housing and social services projects since 2021, including two developments within a mile of each other, is uncertain after 2025.

And councilmembers questioned the aesthetics of sound-proofing structures around the Wintergreen townhome development, progress on which has slowed in part due to back-and-forth discussions between the City Council and Planning Department.

Home on Madrona

BI’s 2023 policy that approved the construction of housing for first responders came to fruition at the meeting, as the council unanimously approved the purchase of a pre-made three-bedroom home for one of its lots in the Island Mobile Home Park off of Madrona Way.

About 3/4 of city employees live off island, including nearly all first responders. Over 90% of BI’s police officers, emergency management coordinators, wastewater treatment plant operators, maintenance staff, and street and facilities technicians live off-island.

By providing employee housing, the city hopes to improve public safety and employee retention. There are about 50 homes in the park, and the city owns two. The first will be ready for occupancy by late 2025 to early 2026; the other city-owned parcel is currently occupied by a tenant. The city has budgeted $300,000 for the project, but is quoted for $169,000.

No place like HOME

In 2024, Kitsap County awarded BI nonprofits Helpline House and Housing Resources Bainbridge about $491,000 from two pots of federal funding earmarked to address housing and community needs, the Community Development Block Grant and the HOME Investment Partnership Program.

The county distributes the HOME and CDBG funding to agencies that meet community priorities. Now in its fourth year, both programs have become essential for Kitsap organizations that provide support for low-income residents, program manager Bonnie Tufts said.

“It is really the agencies and communities throughout the county that do that hard work and serve those lowest income folks, so that’s where we see the money go,” Tufts said. “Helpline is receiving it for their new facility, HRB has received it year after year for their housing projects. It’s not easy for these folks, getting federal funds — there’s lots of regulations tied to it.”

In addition to emergency funding from a HOME-related federal program from 2021, the American Rescue Plan, HRB’s 18-unit Ericksen Avenue affordable housing project received a total of about $1.98 million from the federal government.

Helpline House is a multi-year recipient of the CDBG, as part of the organization’s push to build a new community services center and food bank. In 2024, the nonprofit won $50,000 from the CDBG, and is on the list for $198,000 in 2025 — though rapid changes to funding allowances at the federal level may have thrown the numbers into jeopardy.

“It’s pretty certain that in 2026, we’ll see cuts,” Tufts said. The CDBG has more bipartisan support than the HOME program, due to the flexibility of funding, but “it’s just hard to know,” she added.

On the fence

In a 4-3 vote, the City Council approved an amendment to the required sound barrier at HRB’s Wintergreen housing development, situated next to Highway 305.

Part of the development’s terms of construction include a noise-reduction element, due to the housing’s proximity to the busy highway. Initially, that meant a 10-foot tall, 40-foot wide vegetated berm; instead, the organization will construct a shorter vegetated berm with a 10-foot tall sound-dampening fence.

“Staff found that the bulk and size of the berm had too much load on the ground below it, which presented a danger of mudslides and sloughs onto the highway,” planning director Patty Charnas said. “A modified noise barrier fence would be built entirely of wood, or wood composite, with noise attenuating material located inside the fence.”

Councilmembers Clarence Moriwaki, Kirsten Hytopoulos, Brenda Fantroy-Johnson and Joe Deets all expressed concern that HRB did not provide any images of the fence, or assess its aesthetic value. A berm “is more effective visually,” Hytopoulos said, and, “It was intended to be the appropriate solution.”

“All of the westernmost units are going to be fully enclosed in plastic wood, or maybe real wood, that has no gaps — no gaps at the bottom, no gaps anywhere that panels meet. I’m a little concerned about quality of life,” she added.

For some residents of Wintergreen, this property will be their first home, and they deserve to look at something nice, Fantroy-Johnson said.

Matthews and Deputy Mayor John Quitslund digressed. As projects like Wintergreen become more complicated, important staff time can get devoted to sorting out problems that are addressed multiple times, and, “I’m not inclined to question the judgment of the people who’ve done this work,” Quitslund said.

Mathews agreed, having originally reviewed the proposal as a member of the Planning Commission.

“Instead of asking them to come back once again and bring us pictures, what are the pictures really going to show us, that we don’t see?” Matthews said. “At some point we have to trust our partners and planning department and commission—that was the work that was asked to be done, and they’re doing it, and building this project.”