REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
MAMA, WHAT A MONKEY: Author shares inspiring tale. A12
FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2013 | Vol. 113, No. 12 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Manager: Getting a line on Easter Outside utility will be more expensive
The Sound, the fury, and the confusion: Bainbridge SMP has shoreliners worried
BY RICHARD D. OXLEY
BY RICHARD D. OXLEY
Bainbridge Island Review
In a major twist to an ongoing saga, Bainbridge Island City Manager Doug Schulze said this week that it will be more costly to outsource management of the city’s water utility than to operate it in-house. Schulze was charged with looking into a proposal from the Kitsap Public Utility District to manage the city’s water utility. He returned to the city council at its meeting on Wednesday night and said that the cheaper option is to keep the water utility under the city’s purview. “It would cost the city about $100,000 more to contract with KPUD,” Schulze said. While the announcement did not create much debate on the dais, it drew an immediate reaction from those in the audience. Former Councilman Bill Knobloch was present and ready to comment on the matter. Knobloch has been a vocal proponent of divesting the water utility. “While I have the upmost confidence and respect of our city manager, much of his information has been provided to him by city staff,” Knobloch said. “I’m hearing a lot about the impact on city staff, city organization and city administration…council, this is about the ratepayers, not the impact to the city.” “The economy of scale that KPUD offers cannot be matched by the city of Bainbridge Island,” Knobloch said. “What I heard tonight from our city manager and our staff were SEE UTILITY, A25
Bainbridge Island Review
A line has been drawn in the sand on Bainbridge Island, between rights and regulations. Some say that line is drawn along the waterfront, while others say that the brewing battle over the city’s Shoreline Master Program is merely the result of misunderstandings and misleading. At the heart of the argument is Bainbridge Island’s update to the plan, more commonly referred to as simply the “SMP.” Refinements to the program have taken nearly a decade to get to this point, traveling through “We don’t outright a state agency, city comprohibit docks on the mittees and the Planning outside of the island.” Commission while drawing considerable comRyan Ericson munity criticism along Bainbridge Island Shoreline Planner the way. Coming in at more than 300 pages, the Shoreline Master Program update is a considerable read, seeped in regulations and planning department jargon. As such, it has been difficult to decipher for Joe Public. Take the issue of docks, for example. “It’s a prohibition on docks on the outside of the island,” said Bainbridge Island activist Gary Tripp, who has championed the opposition to the updated program. Looking through new rules for the answer can prove difficult. The short answer is that, no, docks will not be banned, city officials said. The long answer is more along the lines of limitations. “We don’t outright prohibit docks on the outside of the island,” said city shoreline planner Ryan Ericson. “We limit locations due to physical limitations. We have areas of high winds, waves and currents, and areas of shallow bottoms where you have to have to build a long dock to get out to deep water,” he said.
Critics of Shoreline Master Program raise alarm on potential impacts of new regulations
Brian Kelly / Bainbridge Island Review
Barry G. Schuler hangs plastic Easter eggs from the trees at the entrance to the Chatham Cove as part of his annual efforts to spruce up the neighborhood for the holiday. Schuler is known for his festive displays throughout the year. The pole, he said, helps him reach the higher branches. “Don’t tell my wife I have the ladder, she gets worried about that,” he added.
Such debates have inspired a pushback from shoreline homeowners concerned their properties will take a hit. They have also raised concerns that water views will also be harmed due to requirements that preserve vegetation on the shoreline. Tripp said the program would mean the eventual loss of the island’s coastal homes. “It deprives citizens of normal water dependent uses and eventually forces them off the waterfront,” Tripp said. Not all agree with that assessment, however. “I know there are some fears — because the seeds of fear have been sewn — that this will have some kind SEE SMP, A10