Bainbridge Island Planning Commission Special Meeting: Winslow Subarea Plan Recommendations – December 4, 2025
Bainbridge Island Planning Commission Special Meeting: Winslow Subarea Plan Recommendations – December 4, 2025
Chair Sarah Blossom called the special meeting to order at 6:03 PM and read the Suquamish land acknowledgment. Commissioners Blossom, Garcia, Schaab, Preudhomme, and Sullivan were present at the start; Commissioner Deines arrived at 7:03 PM; Commissioner Birtley was absent and excused. Council Liaison/Deputy Mayor Jon Quitslund, Planning & Community Development Director Patty Charnas, Acting Planning Manager Darron Buchanan, and Senior Planner Jennifer Sutton also attended. Vice Chair Chris Garcia later took over chairing so Chair Blossom could make and second motions. The commission approved the agenda 5-0, disclosed no conflicts, and adjourned at 8:55 PM.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jon Quitslund, Council Liaison/Deputy Mayor, was the only public commenter. He read from the 2005 Winslow Tomorrow executive summary, including its goal of planning for 7,000 additional residents by 2025 with half in downtown Winslow. His position was that past planning shows the community must adopt and implement recommendations decisively and promptly, not just leave them as planning documents.
Discussion Items
- Agenda-setting process: Chair Blossom and Vice Chair Garcia reviewed proposed improvements to agenda-setting, including seeing draft agendas and staff memos before distribution, keeping the work plan schedule in view, framing motions as clearly as possible, and limiting repeated speeches. Commissioners welcomed the clearer agenda packet.
- Inclusionary zoning: Staff framed the first question as voluntary vs. mandatory inclusionary zoning. Commissioner Schaab, who moved the voluntary recommendation, cited the groundwater management plan peer review and the precautionary principle, arguing that base zoning should remain market-rate and any bonus capacity above it should produce affordable housing. Commissioner Blossom said mandatory inclusionary zoning would require a much larger upzone and supporting analysis, and she supported retaining the city’s voluntary program. Commissioner Garcia noted that the mandatory option studied in the DEIS produced very few units at 50% or 80% AMI. Commissioner Deines said he would still support mandatory requirements for very large developments.
- Winslow Subarea boundary: The commission first adopted staff’s draft preferred alternative for the outer boundary, then amended it to add the west-side area within the purple line along Finch Road and Sportsman’s Club, in part to match the sewer service area and include Finch Green.
- Ferncliff District and Madison/Connection: The commission rejected a comprehensive Ferncliff amendment, then approved adding the R8 parcels between Highway 305 and Cave Avenue and the Gateway-district parcels east of 305 to the Madison District. A proposal to move R4.3 land west of Ferncliff Avenue and south of Wing Point Way failed on a tie. A cyan-highlighted parcel shown at 7:33 PM was added to Madison/Connection, with a follow-up directive for staff to study and draft an exclusive ingress/egress requirement using the easement north of the property through the ACE parking lot. The remaining Ferncliff Zone areas were moved to R8. A naming vote then changed a zone to the Connection zone; see the discrepancy note below.
- Building height incentives: Using a common template, the commission recommended keeping base heights but allowing taller buildings when tuck-under parking and affordable units are provided:
- Ferry Zone and High School Road Zone: 3-story base, 5-story maximum; one extra story for tuck-under parking, one for 25% of residential units affordable to households earning at or below 80% AMI, and both together yield two extra stories.
- Connection Zone: 2-story base, 4-story maximum; one extra story for tuck-under parking, one for 20% of residential units affordable at 80% AMI or below, and both together yield two extra stories.
- Central Core Zone: 3-story base, 5-story maximum; same 25%/80% AMI incentive structure as the Ferry and High School Road zones.
- FAR and parking: The commission discussed replacing floor-area ratio with lot coverage and height but made no motion, with Commissioner Preudhomme suggesting it belonged in a future phase. Discussion on parking standards included reducing residential minimums and counting on-street parking; no vote was taken, and staff was asked to prepare FAR and parking material for future meetings.
Key Outcomes
- Agenda approved 5-0; no conflicts declared.
- Recommended voluntary inclusionary zoning for all Winslow mixed-use zones, R8, and R14: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Deines absent).
- Asked staff and consultants to bring back a mandatory inclusionary zoning proposal for large-scale development: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Deines absent).
- Recommended the Winslow Subarea outer boundary be staff’s draft preferred alternative: passed 5-0.
- Amended the western boundary to include the purple-line area along Finch Road and Sportsman’s Club: passed 5-0.
- Comprehensive Ferncliff District amendment: failed 2-4.
- Added R8 parcels between Highway 305 and Cave Avenue and Gateway parcels east of 305 to Madison District: passed 5-1.
- Moved R4.3 area west of Ferncliff and south of Wing Point Way to Madison/Connection: failed 3-3.
- Added cyan-highlighted parcel to Madison/Connection: passed 4-2.
- Directed staff to study and draft exclusive north ingress/egress through the ACE parking lot easement: passed 6-0.
- Moved remaining Ferncliff Zone areas to R8: passed 4-1 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- Renamed a zone to Connection zone: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- Ferry Zone height incentives: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- High School Road Zone height incentives: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- Connection Zone height incentives: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- Central Core Zone height incentives: passed 5-0 (Commissioner Sullivan absent).
- Commissioner Deines arrived at 7:03 PM; Commissioner Sullivan excused himself at 7:50 PM; Commissioner Birtley was absent and excused.
- Deferred FAR, parking details, and remaining boundary/parcel questions to subsequent meetings, including the December 11 session.
Note on record discrepancy: The minutes record the naming motion as changing the Ferncliff Zone to the Connection zone, while the transcript indicates the motion was to change the Madison zone name to Connection. The two records are inconsistent on which zone was renamed.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, calling to order the Planning Commission special meeting for Thursday, December 4th, 2025. We would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is within the ancestral territory of the Sequamish people of clear salt water, expert fishermen, canoe builders, and basket weavers. The Sequamish live in harmony with the lands and waterways along Washington Central Salish Sea, as they have for thousands of years. Here the Sequamish live and protect the land and waters of their ancestors for future generations as promised by the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855. Has everyone had a chance to review the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the question? I move to approve the agenda as presented. Second. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Any conflicts of interest to disclose. Seeing none. Members of the public are encouraged to submit written public comment to the planning commission at any time by emailing PCD at BainbridgeWa.gov. Members of the public who wish to provide public comment in person at a planning commission meeting should sign up to speak on the sign-in sheet by the chamber doors. The planning commission chair will call the people signed up on the sign-in sheet, and speakers will have up to three minutes to speak from the podium. Please speak directly into the microphone, which is adjustable. A timer on the screen will indicate when three minutes or such other times set by the chair has elapsed. Orderly behavior and civility and remarks is expected with no clapping or booing and no yielding of one person's time to another. Guidelines for public comment are provided. Remote public comment is allowed with advanced notice to the planning and community development department by noon on the date of the meeting at PCD at Baymridge Wa.gov, provided that all remote commenters shall be required to display their true name and to keep their camera turned on to show their true uncovered face while delivering their comments. Public comment is not accepted during the balance of the planning commission meeting unless a public hearing or uh public participation meeting is on the agenda. The first person I have signed up is uh Deputy Mayor Quitslin. I live in the Coastal Springs neighborhood. Name is John Quitsland. I have some words for you, mostly not my own. This is from a document published in November 2005 in connection with the Winslow Tomorrow Planning process. It's uh the document is 25 pages. It's an executive summary of recommendations coming out of that process. And it's it's a cheerful document and one that I look upon with irony and uh uh appreciation for what was uh what was done back then the perspective that we can get from this historical perspective, this historical document. I want to begin with a uh quotation that's used at the very end of the document on the page devoted to next steps. And here's what the the uh the document the what the quotation says. Places have a way of claiming people. When they claim very diverse kinds of people, then those people must eventually learn from each other. They must learn to inhabit their place together and nurture the old-fashioned virtues of trust, honesty, justice, tolerance, cooperation, hope, and remembrance. No, here's a quotation from the very beginning of the document. In good faith, the Congress and the community have worked together. We'll continue our collaboration, working to support implementation of these recommendations. Moving forward will require the city council and the planning commission to adopt the recommendations decisively and promptly and remove regulatory obstacles. Failure to act decisively means we will def we will forfeit perhaps forever many opportunities. Here's another passage from uh the end of a paragraph that summarizes a set of recommendations. Recommended policies and projects encourage higher density, a mix of uses, more downtown residences, and expanded services to serve the growing island population. Another passage from this same page of recommendations, summarizing recommendations. Many participants questioned whether we should plan for growth, citing the island's fragile ecology and limited groundwater resources as constraints. Most of us faced the challenge of finding the best solution given the growth pressure and the changes underway on Bainbridge and in the greater Puget Sound region. Page 15 among the recommendations. Provlexibility for height and density to be exceeded where unique public benefit and public support is provided. Now here's the last thing from a paragraph that's devoted to island growth strategy. Today our challenge is to plan for 7,000 additional residents by the year 2025. One half of them in downtown Winslow.
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