REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
Friday, October 17, 2014 | Vol. 114, No. 41 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Water polo team turnaround: A16
Bainbridge council OKs marina rezone
Just two tuckered out
20-year-long property dispute brought to an end BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Marina
Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review
Paxton DeJong, 4½, rests on his father Paul DeJong’s shoulders with his brother Ashere, 2½, after a busy day at the Bainbridge Island Fire Department’s annual fundraising flapjack breakfast.
Fun at the flapjack feed Hundreds and hundreds of Bainbridge Islanders came out to support the volunteers of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department at the annual pancake breakfast on Oct. 11. The fun day included fire truck rides, displays and firehouse tours. At right, Reese Gray waits for her pancake to finish cooking at last week’s pancake feed. Reese was wearing a tiara to celebrate her sixth birthday. Below, islanders line up for a ride on a Bainbridge fire truck.
Nearly a year after it was first brought before the Bainbridge Island City Council, two pieces of land owned by Bainbridge Island Marina were rezoned this week. The council voted to change the property from “Residential” to “WaterDependent Industrial” at its Tuesday meeting, allowing the marina to expand its boatyard along the south shore of Eagle Harbor where it operates next door to the Bainbridge Island Yacht Club. Darrell and Vannie McNabb, owners of the marina, submitted a rezone request to the city in February 2013. The land dispute has been ongoing since 2005, however, and stems as far back as the city’s incorporation. After purchasing the four parcels in 1977, the McNabbs went through two years of public process to obtain county permits to develop the land. By 2005, those permits were no longer applicable. With the city’s incorporation, the two remaining parcels yet to be developed were residentially zoned. Each required a comprehensive plan amendment and rezone to again be considered for an expanded marina. That wasn’t the only thing standing in the way. Residents in the area argued expanding the marina would disrupt the view of Eagle Harbor and devalue shoreline properties.
And the construction of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial brought up questions about property lines. The McNabbs contended the memorial wall encroached on their land and prevented further development.
“This should not be waterfront industrial zoning.” Charles Schmid Nearby property owner
The boundary dispute went as far as a lawsuit that involved the city of Bainbridge Island and the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park & Recreation District. In the end, a new westerly boundary was drawn up and the McNabbs agreed to allow crews to maintain a vegetative buffer between the memorial wall and the marina property. But the debate came to a head in 2013, when the city and McNabbs entered a legal agreement to get the rezone request off the shelf. According to city documents, the city agreed to process the rezone request in good faith once the comp plan was amended to include the land-use change. The amendment was made last fall. During Tuesday’s meeting, the council heard from one resident who opposed rezoning the properties to TURN TO REZONE | A8