To help the environment, Bainbridge Island leaders want more people to walk and ride bicycles rather than use cars.

The irony is the importance of one of the few car repair shops on BI, Green Light Garage, in building a nonmotorized path from Wyatt Way to Hyla.

The BI City Council Dec. 12 decided to do whatever it could to encroach on that business as little as possible.

The council brought up a number of ideas at its previous meeting, but city manager Blair King opened the discussion this time by saying city staff did not change the plan because, “We do not feel there’s time to make significant deviations from the plan because we do not want to lose grant funds.”

One such grant has a June 1, 2024 deadline. King said BI has lost grants in the past by not meeting deadlines, and it hurts its chances of getting future ones.

Commit to boardwalk

Despite that comment, Councilmember Leslie Schneider suggested three amendments. She talked with King and Public Works director Chris Wierzbicki and modified her thoughts to make the amendments “more in line with what’s possible.”

After a lengthy discussion, the council ended up supporting two of the three amendments.

The first was for the council to commit to building a boardwalk in the future so the nonmotorized path would take less space from the Green Light Garage. She realized it couldn’t be done in this tight timeframe, but she asked for a commitment for the future.

Wierzbicki said a boardwalk would lessen the impact on the garage from 2-5 feet.

Initially, councilmembers were concerned there wasn’t enough information about a boardwalk to make such a commitment.

Councilmember Kirsten Hytopoulos was concerned about building a boardwalk wider than 5 feet across wetlands.

Councilmember Jon Quitslund agreed. “That’s ambitious over wetlands,” from an engineering perspective. “It’s very hypothetical, and I’m uncomfortable with that.”

Councilmember Clarence Moriwaki also agreed. “It’s so conceptual.” He added that he’s been very involved with the boardwalk at the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial on BI, and it has problems every year with how slippery it is. He said the right materials would need to be used to make a safe structure.

Councilmember Michael Pollock alluded that the council was trying to make engineering decisions without having expertise. He said a boardwalk could be a solution, but for now, it wants to limit potential economic damage to Green Light Garage. He said he’d rather see the city work with the business to come up with a mutually agreeable solution.

Councilmember Joe Deets and Mayor Brenda Fantroy-Johnson supported Schneider’s first amendment from the start.

Deets said it would relieve the negative pressure on the garage and “provide the bike lane we need.”

Fantroy-Johnson said rather than “picking apart what it’s going to look like” they should work together and do what’s best for the garage and to have a safe bike path. “This is hard, but it is solvable.”

Hytopoulos suggested while they all seem to like the boardwalk idea to explore, the real question is what to do now. “Nothing in this project is optimal,” she said.

Hire a consultant

Schneider said that brings her to her second amendment, which was to defer what happens in front of Green Light Garage until the boardwalk is done. She asked the council to really make a commitment by adding funds to the budget to hire a consultant to do the work.

After another lengthy discussion, Schneider said, “I’m going to give up on this one.”

Moriwaki said it’s up to eight months too early for that discussion. He said that’s a different project and messes up the path of using the grants. “We have an obligation to use this money now,” he said. He added the council agreed in principle on the project months ago, and “doing stuff on the fly is not really the way to do business.”

Hytopoulos said she doesn’t want to vote to add to the budget when they don’t know specifics about a boardwalk. She said it could cost $4 million, rather than the estimated $750,000. She wants to keep talking with the garage owner because she wants “the temporary fix to be the best we can do.”

Deets called the boardwalk a “visionary, long-term solution,” but they shouldn’t “wrestle with other parts of the design, which is ongoing.”

Quitslund said, “We do have discord on the implications of the amendment.” He added he wants to support a boardwalk with a proper surface, “but there are so many unknowns.”

To help move talks along, Wierzbicki said the city needs to acquire property, which the council easily agreed to. As for the bike lane in front of the garage, “It’s a stripe. It’s paint.” If it doesn’t work it can be changed in the future. He said construction won’t start for up to 16 months, so by then the city should know more about a potential boardwalk.

Fix intersection

Schneider’s third amendment was to redesign the intersection at Finch, after talking with Wierzbicki. “That intersection is one of the biggest sticking points we have on this project,” she said. That concept passed easily.

Quitslund said that’s already a dangerous area from Finch to Winslow so it’s good to see a fix because more people will be living in that area in the future.

“I think it’s safer,” Fantroy-Johnson said of Schneider’s amendment.

Even though they ended up voting for it, Hytopoulos and Moriwaki had reservations. “Design from the dais is probable,” Moriwaki said. Hytopoulos didn’t like that the public didn’t get to weigh in. “We’re not the professionals,” she said, adding that she supported it because Wierzbicki backed it up “but it’s not good process.”

Public comments

A number of people showed support for the garage during public comments.

Alison Allen, one of the owners, said it would be tough for them to stay in business if the path takes so much of the property it uses. She said the path would move cars and bikes closer to the business, making it unsafe for all. She said it would take away parking, and also space in front of the building and service bays.

Martha Devereaux said she was at Green Light when an electric bike whizzed by and almost hit her. “Green Light needs more space not less,” she said.

Steve Johnson said he has been bike commuting in that area for 20 years. “Rather than fancy” stuff focusing on one area, he encouraged the council just to make shoulders on more areas of BI—a simpler system over a broader area. He said things like elevated levels “can be a real hazard.”

Concept history

For 20 years Bainbridge Island has been talking about a nonmotorized transportation project from Wyatt Way to Eagle Harbor Drive.

In reviewing the project, Wierzbicki said the council had approved lanes on both sides of the road from Wyatt to Eagle Harbor then extended that approval up Bucklin Hill to Hyla. The council also OK’d a change from curbs to mountable curbs. To reduce impervious surfaces and therefore pollution in a shoreline environment the project will use flexible post-safety barriers, physical separation and minimize wedge curbs.

Potential added costs could include $705,000 for more wedged lanes; $300,000 for more barriers to buffer bike lanes; and $500,000 for an added uphill bike lane on Bucklin Hill Road.