It is the responsibility of cities to maintain their roads, sidewalks and utilities. It is also a top tax priority of our community that the city provides safe, efficient utilities. Some have suggested recently that we should just fix the sewer main on Winslow Way and then in later years we can rip up the street again and repair the other utilities, road and sidewalks. The fact is that all three utilities on Winslow Way – water, sewer and stormwater – are cracked, failing or deficient. Significant sections of the sidewalk are also in disrepair. The current proposed Winslow Way project would correct all of these failing and deficient infrastructures.

Economics and efficiencies demand that when we go in to repair one utility we address the other elements that are failing as well. It makes no sense to tear up Winslow Way more than necessary. It would be more costly to our utility ratepayers and citizens as well as our local businesses, who would likely be destroyed the second time we tear up the streets. If your house had leaking pipes and faulty electrical wiring, you would not tear down the walls, repair the plumbing, put back the walls, and leave the electrical fire hazard repairs for another day. Instead, you would tighten your belt, focus on the most efficient and economical approach, and protect your home and fix the failing infrastructure.

The recent 2008 Community Priority Survey also shows maintaining safe bicycle lanes and walking areas on major roads as the third highest community tax priority. The Bainbridge Island Non-Motorized Plan calls out for improvements to Winslow Way bicycle lanes and sidewalks to make them safe and compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Currently, the Winslow Way sidewalks present a significant safety hazard. An inspection revealed numerous locations where there are step separations and badly cracked concrete. The sidewalks do not meet ADA standards.

Sidewalks remain one of Winslow Way’s great assets. They provide an informal meeting place for citizens and an opportunity for all ages and abilities to easily access their local stores, restaurants, and cafes. They also encourage people to walk in an energy-short society. With an aging population and an interest in supporting a diverse community, our city should make sidewalks on Winslow Way safe and ADA compliant. 

The Winslow Way project will also address the second highest tax priority in the survey: water quality in our shorelines and streams. Currently, stormwater from Winslow Way pours untreated into our island’s most polluted harbor. The largest source of urban water pollution in the Puget Sound is stormwater runoff. Our stormwater carries a toxic stew of oil, fertilizers, pesticides, pet waste, trash and mud into the Sound. It is one of the greatest threats to Puget Sound salmon, orcas and other marine life.

The solution is low-impact development techniques. Paved surfaces intensify stormwater’s pollution and overflow effect because they do not allow water to penetrate into the ground. The current Winslow Way design includes adding permeable surfaces, which allow the ground to absorb water, minimize runoff, and provide water to aquifers. The design could also include additional low-impact development components as originally planned, including rain gardens and biofiltration swales, which capture pollutants from streets, retain water, and attenuate flows. In our area, a rain garden that is about 20 percent of the impervious area draining to it can reduce the annual volume of stormwater from the impervious area by about 90 percent. With potential Department of Ecology funding, our city could protect water quality in its shorelines and capture its water on an island whose water source is limited.

We ask the City Council to:

•Look at the bigger picture and address all elements that are failing or deficient, including repairing the failing sewer and stormwater systems, eliminating the longstanding deficiency in water capacity, and fixing badly deteriorated sidewalks in our most traveled and used community center.

•Support sustainable, low-impact development features that were in the Winslow Way design and take responsibility for limiting our pollution into the Sound.

•Apply for Ecology’s Water Quality grant to fund the stormwater low impact development components, and Transportation Improvement Board grant to help fix sidewalk/road repairs.

•Develop a fair and equitable approach to funding the project.

There is no more basic responsibility of city government than providing safe, adequate and well-maintained utilities, sidewalks and roads. They are an essential foundation of a sustainable city, supporting its environmental, social, and economic functions and performance. Throughout this process, Council support has been largely unanimous for this project’s necessity and design. Now it is time we get the work done.

Debbi Lester is a member of Winslow Neighbors. Others supporting this column are; Karen Polinsky, Sarah Wen, Jan Stanton, Mary Terry, Trude and Michael Lisagor, Cara Cruickshank, Wes King and Andrea Roby-King, Cinnamon Harrington, Miluska Hill, Sandy and Larry Nakata, Klaas Hesselink, Maradel Gale, Paul Zaikin, Kibby MacKinnon, David and Kathleen Thorne, Karen Wolf and Eric Rehn