As real estate deals go, this was a good one.

The city in 2000 paid just under half a million dollars for the 14-acre Suzuki property, at the intersection of New Brooklyn and High School roads. Originally the land was to house a new police and court facility. Much has changed since.

For one thing, the city says the property was recently appraised at over $5 million. For another, leaders discovered it would be illegal to site the police station so close to neighboring schools.

What hasn’t changed is that the land still sits in waiting. Several groups would love to make use of its bounty, which includes a wetland and a prime location. Still, short on money and long on needs, leaders looking to raise funds may end up selling the property.

“Slow down, step back and listen to the land,” affordable housing advocate Kat Gjovik said Wednesday at a public hearing to help determine the parcel’s fate. “There’s something in that property for everyone.”

City Councilors will hold off on any sale of the property until more study is done and a firm process for surplusing city land is in place.

The council in December voted to sell the Suzuki property and use the proceeds to pay for some of the costs of a new police and court facility, which for now would be built at the existing site near the ferry terminal. Last year the cost of a new building was estimated at $9 million. Now it could cost more than $12 million, according to Finance Director Elray Konkel; costs haven’t been finalized since the city is still studying alternative configurations and sites.

Many don’t think the city should sell the Suzuki property at all.

“That should be the very last resort,” Wini Jones said. “It is the only place that is perfect, and I mean perfect, for community housing.”

Jones owns property across the street from the Suzuki property. She’d like to combine both parcels to build housing for city and other workers essential to the island’s continued functioning.

Affordable housing, open space, school district use – even a land exchange with Washington State Ferries for the purpose of securing a public boatyard – were among the alternative suggestions offered by speakers Wednesday.

Like Jones, Housing Resources Board Executive Director Carl Florea said affordable housing would be an ideal use for at least part of the land. He said there are better ways to raise funds than a hasty sale.

“Land is as permanent as it gets,” Florea said. “It’s a huge asset that the city is holding because it’s irreplaceable. Don’t just go and give it to the highest bidder.”

Affordable housing suggestions came on a night when two members of the city’s Housing Trust Fund Committee – Chairman John de Chadenedes and Joseph Honick – announced they were resigning their posts due to a lack of progress and financial support from City Hall.

de Chadenedes said the city’s commitment to affordable housing, the cause around which the HTF’s efforts revolve, has fallen off sharply since a deal to buy and preserve the Quay Bainbridge Apartments fell through earlier this year.

“It hasn’t gone well,” he said, pointing to a lack of city money committed to the cause. “Whatever the city might say in its plans and policy documents its budget is the clearest and least ambiguous statement of its policy and intentions.”

As for the Suzuki property, school district officials are interested in its use, said School Board President Mary Curtis.

“It’s a natural corridor between our schools,” she said. But I also think that if we get creative there might be some way that we can look at what properties are available on the island, what we might be able to look at as trades, what we might be able to think about if we get creative and look at all the needs of schools, affordable housing and also the parks.”

Some neighbors of the Suzuki Property said that if the land is eventually sold, the city should take care to protect a wetland and other environmentally sensitive areas on the parcel from development.

Several said they would prefer to see the land used as open space, rather than be turned into housing or some other use; park officials are among those recommending the city hold onto the land. 

Former open space commissioner Andy Maron was on the City Council in the 1990s when discussions about a new police and court facility were ongoing. He said finding a place to site the building was a difficult task, and urged councilors to let that piece guide any decision they make about the Suzuki property.

The city studied possible locations last year, eventually settling on the current site. Now another property, near the Madison Avenue fire station, may also be an option, Konkel said.

Police and court employees remain hopeful that any plan includes a replacement for their undersized and outdated facilities.

“If we can make everyone happy then I’m all for it,” Police Chief Matt Haney said. “I have a lot of employees that would probably like to live on Bainbridge Island, so I’m not completely insensitive to the affordable housing needs.

“But I’m also not willing to step aside and say that public safety should take a back seat.”

In general, City Councilors on Wednesday agreed with those who urged caution; they voted to wait until they have more information.

City Administrator Mark Dombroski has been inventorying city-owned land and will eventually make a recommendation to the council about which, if any, parcels should be divested.

Dombroski on Wednesday said a better process will aid councilors, but he can only do so much.

“I’m not sure any process I build for surplusing property will ever get around the fact that you’re going to have to make a decision on what you want to do with this piece of the property,” Dombroski said.

“I can provide you with information, but ultimately it’s going to come down to you and you’re going to have to make that decision.”