Bainbridge Island Planning Commission Regular Meeting - February 26, 2026

The Bainbridge Island Planning Commission held a regular meeting on Thursday, February 26, 2026, starting at 6:05 PM in the Council Chambers and via Zoom. Commissioners discussed and voted on numerous amendments to the Comprehensive Plan Update, focusing on the Utilities, Water Resources, and Transportation elements. The meeting adjourned at 9:39 PM.

Consent Calendar

• Approval of Agenda: Motion by Garcia/Schaab to approve the agenda as presented. Carried unanimously 6-0.
• Meeting Minutes (February 12, 2026): Motion by Preudhomme/Garcia to approve minutes as presented. Carried unanimously 6-0.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Benjamin Harrison (Rolling Bay resident, Environmental Technical Advisory Committee member) expressed general support for the Water Resources element text but called attention to a change in development regulations (policy WR 2.4) that may need further explanation. He noted that the strikeout of a requirement for professional hydrogeologic assessments could undermine water quantity and groundwater recharge protections.
• Christy Carr (urban planner and former resident) commented on the Transportation element. She urged the Commission to: (1) ensure consistency with the Land Use element, (2) retain language about community character and balancing community needs, (3) include Island Center in the Connecting Centers approach of the Island Wide Mobility Plan, (4) reconsider adding federal design standards for non-motorized facilities that may not suit island roads, and (5) evaluate whether the $95 million price tag of the Island Wide Mobility Plan is cost-effective for achieving greenhouse gas reduction goals, given the city's own consultant's doubts.

Discussion Items

• Planning Director’s Report: Director Patty Charnas announced her retirement effective May 1, 2026, stating the department's leadership team is solid and it is a good time to leave. She also noted a planned absence from March 5-17 for family reasons.
• Regular Business – Comprehensive Plan Update:
  • Utilities Element: Public Works Director Chris Wierzbicki presented summary slides on updates to the Utilities and Water Resources elements, developed by the Utility Advisory Committee. The Commission debated and voted on numerous amendments to the Utilities Vision, Goals, and Policies (see Key Outcomes). Key topics included clarifying the vision for water utility connections, coordinating with KPUD on Fort Ward wastewater treatment plant, adding language on ferry electrification and EV charging, replacing “cell phone” with “network”, standardizing adjectives across utility goals, adding a PFAS monitoring policy, and strengthening undergrounding requirements for electric lines.
  • Transportation Element: The Commission voted to include the community vision from the Island Wide Mobility Plan into the Transportation Element introduction, and amended Policy TR-10.2 to read "Seek opportunities to expand public parking, prioritizing off-street parking." Further discussion was deferred due to time constraints and Commissioner absences.
  • Water Resources Element: The Commission approved several amendments, including directing staff to draft policies on discouraging non-native/non-drought tolerant landscaping, considering irrigation in conditional use permits, correcting the vision title from 2036 to 2044, replacing “high-water” with “high-volume” water users, changing “use” to “utilize” in Policy WR 2.14, and adding a pie chart of water usage by category.

Key Outcomes

All motions below passed as indicated. Vote tallies reflect commissioners present at the time.

Utilities Element (all 5-0 or 6-0 unless noted):

• Motion (Blossom/Garcia) to redraft vision language to recognize the city wants to work towards connecting homes to utility systems. Carried 6-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Preudhomme) to amend Policy U 13.9 to read: “Study how the City and KPUD can best coordinate and partner for services provided to the City by the Fort Ward wastewater treatment plant.” Carried 4-0 (Commissioners Deines and Sullivan abstained).
• Motion (Preudhomme/Garcia) to rewrite Utilities Vision opening sentence to include “in the year 2044, the City of Bainbridge Island …”. Carried 6-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Garcia) to remove a new line and restore “electric power, telecommunication services, solid waste and recycling services” to first sentence of Vision. Carried 6-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Deines) to amend next-to-last Vision sentence to include outages: “Hardened utility infrastructure serves emergency neighborhood hubs and disaster response facilities, enabling rapid and sustained response to natural disasters, other emergencies, and outages that may interrupt the utility and transportation infrastructure.” Carried 5-0 (Sullivan absent).
• Motion (Deines/Schaab) to craft language addressing expanded electrical infrastructure for ferry electrification and EV charging, either in Vision or Electrical section. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Schaab) to replace “cell phone” with “network” in second paragraph of Vision. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Deines) to restate Goal U-1 to include “reliable, equitable, adequate, cost effective, reliable and safe” utility services. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Garcia) to amend Goal U-12 to include “adequate, cost effective, reliable, safe, equitable, and sustainable” to align with U-1. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Garcia) to amend Policy U-12.1 last sentence to read: “Lead and inspire those entities to cooperate in a manner that recognizes water resources as a public necessity.” Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Blossom/Garcia) to amend second sentence of Policy U-12.3 to read: “New systems may be dedicated to the City, at its discretion.” Carried 3-0 (Deines and Preudhomme abstained; Sullivan absent).
• Motion (Deines/Garcia) to rewrite Policy U-12.8 to read: “Study how City, regional, and private water purveyors can best coordinate and partner for services on Bainbridge Island. Pursue management and ownership models that maximize opportunities for water conservation measures and enforcement.” Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Deines) to ensure utility-specific goals include concepts of reliability, equity, adequacy, safety, sustainability, and cost effectiveness. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Deines) for staff to come back with a suggested policy to monitor PFAS (“forever chemicals”) and pursue removal technologies, and encourage same for non-city owned systems. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Preudhomme/Schaab) to amend Policy U-15.6 to read: “Study strategies to require undergrounding new and existing electric distribution power lines to reduce wildfire risk and power outages. Encourage the electric energy provider to develop a long-term strategy for future undergrounding, maximizing opportunities with new construction.” Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Preudhomme/Schaab) to adopt new Policy U-15.11: “Pursue City-owned renewable energy generation to minimize City facility energy costs and/or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.” Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Schaab/Garcia) to amend Policy U-15.10 to read: “Work with electricity provider to ensure disaster and climate resilience is being addressed for electrical equipment and infrastructure on the island.” Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Preudhomme) to recommend the utilities element be updated by City staff as provided in the updated meeting materials to reflect current and planned conditions and updated references, as amended. Carried 5-0.

Transportation Element (all 5-0 with Sullivan absent):

• Motion (Garcia/Deines) to include the community vision from the Island Wide Mobility Plan into the Transportation Element introduction. Carried 5-0.
• Motion (Blossom/Garcia) to amend Policy TR-10.2 last sentence to read: “Seek opportunities to expand public parking, prioritizing off-street parking.” Carried 5-0.

Water Resources Element (all 4-0 with Sullivan and Deines absent):

• Motion (Blossom/Schaab) to direct staff to draft a policy supporting code that discourages or prohibits non-native or non-drought tolerant landscaping. Carried 4-0.
• Motion (Blossom/Garcia) to direct staff to create a policy supporting code language that takes irrigation requirements into consideration when reviewing conditional use permits. Carried 4-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Schaab) to correct the Water Resource Visions title from 2036 to 2044 for consistency. Carried 4-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Schaab) to replace “high-water” with “high-volume” in Policy WR 2.12. Carried 4-0.
• Motion (Garcia/Schaab) to change the word “use” to “utilize” in Policy WR 2.14. Carried 4-0.
• Motion (Preudhomme/Schaab) to ask City staff to add a pie chart showing water usage by category to the Water Resource Introduction. Carried 4-0.

Adjournment at 9:39 PM.