Growth case study about change in Island Center

One thing that Bainbridge Island officials and residents agree on is that change is hard to wrap your head around.

The city Planning Department invited residents to an open house Sept. 14 at the Island Center Community Hall to encourage people interested in the all-island Comprehensive Plan update to learn about potential changes to their neighborhood and share thoughts about pathways forward.

“When we look at the trends of housing that’s been built here over the last ten years, it’s a couple hundred units per year, and we would not anticipate that changes significantly. However, the decisions made as part of this update will, to some extent, dictate if there’s a little bit of an increase or not,” said HB Harper, city planning manager. “So I think in Island Center, I would not expect a significant change.”

IC residents Mark Shaffer, Susan Shaffer and Jerry Tonnessen were skeptical. Tonnessen pointed out that an opportunity to rezone part of IC may raise property taxes; additionally, they expressed concerns about the lack of a formal septic system. Mark Shaffer asserted that he’d like IC to remain “the same, except with the garden tool rental place back.”

Amelia Leak, a lifelong IC resident interested in building her own home there, said, “It’s just hard to imagine it being something different than it’s always been.”

Over her lifetime, Leak has seen the benefits and drawbacks of growth-focused city planning. The microeconomy of Lynwood has improved quite a bit, she observed, whereas Winslow seems to have more empty businesses. Considering the future of IC will require a balance of several management styles. “A good mix is probably best, because there’s no one right answer,” Leak said.

Patty Charnas, city planning director, explained that increased density does not come in the same form in every location. Because of limited septic and other restrictions on IC, multi-family housing would not be feasible; more likely, higher density in IC may mean more accessory dwelling units on existing lots.

“Our target population numbers are reflected by the island as a whole, but the actual density is only in the centers. That’s why it looks high,” Charnas said. “People don’t want to wake up one day and see that everything is different.”

But change is not the only obstacle for IC residents. Micah Strom, member of the IC Subarea Planning Committee from 2018-21, expressed concern that city consultants had not been made aware of prior research and priorities that the committee established. “We, meaning this community, spoke and expressed our feelings [at the open house], but it feels like the city is not listening to its residents,” Strom said.

Through intensive research, Strom said the ICSPC was able to independently meet much of the same targets set by the state: increased housing, both affordable and market rate; zoning that incorporated growth; traffic alleviation strategies, including non-motorized options; and a dedicated common space.

“When you take three years to study one small area like Island Center, you understand the feel of the area, the possibilities and the limitations of the area,” Strom said. “We created a new zoning and called it IC — short for Island Center — Zoning, which captures the desires of the neighborhood, meets the state requirements and keeps the neighborhood center rural. The current zoning does not capture what we, as a neighborhood center, need, or what was required by the state and what we heard from our community.

“We took into consideration the public wishes and, I quote, ‘We don’t want another Lynwood Center,’” Strom said.

During the Q&A session, Harper explained how the Comp Plan is different from the plan Strom mentioned, which was only on IC.

“We’re not doing a subarea plan for Island Center. We’re tasked with doing a comprehensive plan,” she said. “Comprehensive planning is more of an umbrella; a subarea plan is one thing that can implement a comprehensive plan, so the work that was done previously as steering committee is a slightly different exercise.”

Molly Hetherwick/Kitsap News Group photos A posterboard titled ‘Accommodating Future Growth’ in a public information and comment session in Island Center.