The Bainbridge Island Planning Commission met in Council Chambers and via Zoom on Thursday, February 12, 2026, from 6:03 p.m. to 9:11 p.m. to continue work on the Comprehensive Plan update. Chair Sarah Blossom called the meeting to order, read the Suquamish land acknowledgement, and presided with Commissioners Criss Garcia, Alex Preudhomme, Ben Deines, and Sean Sullivan. Senior Planner Jennifer Sutton staffed the meeting, and City Council Liaisons Ashley Mathews and Lara Lant attended via Zoom. Climate and Sustainability Manager Laura Reeser participated remotely for the Environmental Element portion. All motions carried unanimously; Commissioner Sullivan excused himself at 8:00 p.m., so later votes were 4-0.
Calling to order the planning commission regular meeting for Thursday, February twelfth, two thousand twenty-six. 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's 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. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? I move to approve the agenda as presented for February twelfth, twenty twenty-six. Second. Okay. Motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. That motion is unanimous. Are there any conflicts of interest to disclose? Seeing none. Uh is there a motion to approve the minutes for January twenty-second. Move approval of the minutes from the planning commission session January twenty-second. Second. Okay, there's a motion and a second. All those in favor, aye. Uh that motion passes unanimously. It's now time for public comment. Members of the public are encouraged to submit written public comment to the planning commission at any time by emailing PCD at Bainbridge Wa.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 time 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 person. Guidelines for public comment are provided.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 bounce of a planning commission meeting unless a public hearing or public participation meeting is on the agenda. The first person to sign to speak is Kim McCormick. Good evening, planning commissioners. I'm Kim McCormick representing the Hagger Scribner properties. I just have a brief comment to let you know in case you didn't receive it that I sent in this morning to well, actually, probably around noon, a red line with some comments on the housing element that you'll be discussing this evening. There are really just two substantive uh suggestions that we have uh for additional policies. They're uh for policy uh HO 4.10 uh underneath goal H04 and policy HO6.1A underneath call H06. And these are both to support the both the comprehensive plan amendment application of Hagger Scribner properties, but also just in general the development of affordable housing and workforce housing on the island. Thank you very much. Thank you, Kim. John Quitsland, good evening, planning commissioners. I've uh sent you some comments in writing that I hope they've been helpful in one way or another in connection with the housing element. I expect that you'll be completing that work. And I have a comment tonight uh just on one of the uh the last pieces of the uh housing element, the implementation uh language at the end. Um there are six high priority actions listed, and one of those uh in that's six in six actions listed in the 2016 uh comprehensive plan. And uh one of those has been counseled. Uh and there's a good reason why action five was set aside or set aside uh eliminated. It called for creating a short-term 60 to 90 day citizen affordable housing task force to consider the revised housing element and provide specific recommendation for near-term action. Obviously, that's over and done with. Why does the planning staff see no need for some kind of follow-up? Uh some task force when we come to the end of the all of this work on the comprehensive plan, there is so much more work to be done. Uh one good reason of out of several that I could give you. Uh one of the policy statements, page uh 17 in the housing element uh that's before you says conduct a review of zoning codes, development regulations, permit procedures to identify and remove regulatory barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized communities, low-income households, and other historically excluded groups.