It has been a busy week, with four City Council meetings over the past three days.  At the business meeting on Tuesday, the Council decided to discuss at a future meeting its options for reviewing the method used to determine the purchase price of the Harrison property, and whether it was industry standard method and the reliability of the current budget and cost projections. I encourage interested community members to review the Police-Court facility project page, where you can find detailed information about the history of the project, the extensive public process, as well as recent questions and responses. The next discussion of this topic is currently planned for March 9.

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, the City Council hosted an online event with City Manager finalist Blair King, during which King answered more than 60 questions drafted and submitted by community members. After that conversation, the Council met in Executive Session to continue its selection process.

On Thursday, Feb. 11, the City Council held a special meeting at which they discussed portions of the City’s municipal code related to affordable housing. The Council has previously identified improving access to affordable housing as a high priority for the City. Therefore, the Council decided to consider adoption of regulations to increase the duration of affordability described in the municipal code on a high-priority basis. The Council unanimously approved an ordinance which increased the duration of affordability of units from 30 years to 50 years for rental units and 99 years for home-ownership units. Watch the Feb. 11 meeting here.

In addition to these Council meetings, the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) met this week to review the process for this year’s LTAC awards; the Planning Commission and Utility Advisory Committee held standing meetings; and the Sustainable Transportation Task Force is hosting an educational session this morning with information on successful models from other locations. You can view any of these meetings real-time via Zoom, and many of them are posted on the City’s website for viewing at your convenience.

We are pleased to share that we are now able to provide real-time closed captioning to our live Zoom meetings. The City launched the new feature this week during the Council business meeting, which can be viewed at bainbridgwa.gov/1101. The closed captioning will now allow our meetings to be accessible to more people.

For more information on some of next week's topics and other items, please see below.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for our area until 4:00 p.m. Saturday, with heavy snow expected.

On Thursday, Operations & Maintenance crews began working 12 hour shifts to provide 24-hour coverage throughout the snow event.

The City has a Snow and Ice Control Plan that includes priority streets for response; crews focus first on the main roads and then on neighborhood streets.

Keeping sidewalks clear of snow/ice is the responsibility of abutting property owners. Only sidewalks on or abutting City property are maintained by City crews during snow/ice operations.

The City will not be operating the Severe Weather Shelter on Bainbridge Island due to the COVID-19 response. The Kitsap County Severe Weather Shelters will be open in Poulsbo at the Gateway Fellowship Church (18901 8th Ave NE) and in Port Orchard at the United Methodist Church (725 Kitsap Street). Check in is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at both locations. Subscribe to shelter activation notifications by texting KITSAPSWS to 898-211.

The City uses Nixle, a free text and email notification system, for alerts on road closures, downed power lines or other emergent issues. Sign up by texting 98110 to 888777 or at nixle.com.

Learn more about the City's inclement weather preparedness at bainbridgewa.gov/1133.

Information on Kitsap County's inclement weather response can be found here.

In the event there are any power outages, please see the Puget Sound Energy outage map for the status on restoration at https://www.pse.com/outage/outage-map

With snow in the forecast through the weekend, riders should prepare for the possibility of WSF operating on its severe weather schedules on some routes. WSF will continue to send updates to let you know if a route switches to its alternate timetables. Get WSF travel alerts here.

City Manager finalist Blair King met with the community and the City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 10 to continue the City Manager selection process. Mr. King addressed questions from the community in an online event that ran more than 90 minutes. The list of more than 60 questions were submitted by two dozen community members. The questions related to development, community engagement, sustainability and more. Watch the event here.

Next week, the Council will hold additional discussions of King's qualifications in an Executive Session scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 16.

Mr. King is the final candidate in a process that began last summer.

The City of Bainbridge Island is seeking two volunteers to serve on the Race Equity Advisory Committee (REAC) for three-year terms.

Applications are due by 4 p.m. Friday, February 26.

Terms begin immediately following City Council appointment and expire in June 2024.

For more information on the REAC and to complete the online application, please see the City's News Flash.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced yesterday evening that on Sunday, Feb. 14 (Valentine's Day), Kitsap County will move to Phase 2 of the "Healthy Washington - Roadmap to Recovery" plan, which is the state's phased approach for COVID-19 recovery.

The holiday weekend provides a large portion of a restaurant's yearly revenue, and by moving up the region's reopening date will allow dining establishments to benefit, according to an announcement from Governor Inslee's office.

"I know this creates more options for restaurants to make Valentine's Day special for couples who hoped they could have a night out," Inslee said. "I am confident people, young and old, will celebrate safely. And if it's a first date that doesn't go well, remind them to stay six feet away from you."

Based on the current weather forecast, we expect our vaccine clinics today (Friday, Feb. 12) and tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13) to be held as planned. However, please be aware that conditions may change.

If we must cancel the clinics due to inclement weather, a notice will be sent by Nixle. We plan to reschedule any canceled first dose appointments for next week.

At this time, we do not have an update on vaccines for next week. We will notify the community on Monday if we get any new doses and schedule any clinics for next week. Although Monday is the Presidents Day holiday, the emergency management staff and volunteers will hold a unified command planning meeting.

Follow the City's vaccine page at bainbridgewa.gov/COVIDvaccine for updates.

Supply from the federal government continues to be our greatest challenge. This week our providers requested more than 440,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 281,100 first doses and 165,750 second doses. In all, we received just over 200,000 doses from the federal government, which is less than half.

Although doses are not where we would like them to be right now, we are optimistic about the future. We have been told by the federal government that allocations for both Pfizer and Moderna will increase in the coming weeks and months.

The progress of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is also encouraging. Last Thursday, the company announced they submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) of its Janssen COVID-19 vaccine candidate. The FDA could decide on a EUA by the end of February.

For the first time, DOH received a 3-week allocation forecast from the federal government. Up until last week, we did not receive weekly allocation numbers until Tuesday morning, making it difficult for our staff, providers, and the public. The allocation forecast is a blend of first and second doses and is subject to change as vaccine availability from the federal government may change.

Read the full announcement here.

The City's COVID-19 test site will be closed Monday, Feb. 15 for the Presidents Day holiday. We will resume operations Wednesday, Feb. 17.

Due to the anticipated snow and cold temperatures, the Kitsap Emergency Operations Center is canceling COVID-19 testing today (Friday, Feb. 12) and tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13) for the safety of staff.

Testing will also be closed Monday, Feb. 15 for the Presidents Day holiday.

The regular hours will resume when the weather permits.

To learn more about community-based COVID-19 testing options, visit kcowa.us/covidtesting.

A subcommittee of Sustainable Transportation Task Force members will host the final educational session this morning for Sustainable Transportation Task Force members and the public to learn more about issues related to sustainable transportation. The public is invited to watch, but there will be no opportunity for public comment. The session will be held 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Zoom.

The topic is related to successful sustainable transportation systems in North America and worldwide, and will include:

Join the Zoom meeting at https://bainbridgewa.zoom.us/j/93593145249

The session is one of four events hosted by the STTF subcommittee to help the project team identify future projects, policies and programs and begin to evaluate and prioritize those items.

At the business meeting on Feb. 9, the City Council discussed questions related to the Police-Court facility project, specifically questions on the purchase of the Harrison building, and scheduled a future discussion on the topic for March 9. The Council has received many emails from interested community members related to this project.

The Feb. 9 discussion concluded with the decision to schedule a future agenda item to review process options for evaluating the following aspects of the police and court project:

To provide context for some of the information included in the Council packet, staff provided a memo by email to the Council and has posted this information to the project page.

Watch the Feb. 9 discussion here (click on Item 7B).

The City Council will hold a public hearing on Ordinance 2021-09 during the Feb. 23 business meeting to gather public input on the proposed six-month extension of the Bonus Floor Area Ratio (FAR) interim control.

Floor area ratio is a form of measurement used to determine the amount of square footage that can be constructed on a property. Each property in the Mixed Use Town Center and High School Road zoning districts has a base and bonus floor area ratio that is allowed for residential, commercial and mixed use projects.

The City Council approved the interim control on March 10, 2020 to study whether the applicability and use of certain types of bonus density options are meeting what is intended, including related to the Comprehensive Plan. As a result of Ordinance 2020-20, bonus density can only be obtained or used currently under the following circumstances:

The extension, which would last until Sept. 10, 2021, will allow staff and the Planning Commission additional time to work on an ordinance that limits the FAR program, including, but not limited to, the City’s pursuit of purchasing the remaining FAR from the Islander Mobile Home Park.

Below are some of the topics to be discussed during the Feb. 16 City Council meeting.

If you would like to receive the City Council agenda by email when it's published, sign up on the Council Agendas webpage.

Below are upcoming public participation meetings as part of the proposed land use actions process.

A public participation meeting provides an opportunity for the community to learn about a proposed project. The public participation meetings are held at Planning Commission meetings, which begin at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

Sign up to get email notifications on proposed land use actions, which includes legal notices for permit applications and related activities at bainbridgewa.gov/List.aspx.

Travelers are encouraged to plan for several days of significant daytime congestion approaching the State Route 305 Agate Pass Bridge. Washington State Department of Transportation crews will reduce the span to one-way alternating traffic during daytime hours for 5 consecutive days beginning Monday, Feb. 22.

Bridge maintenance crews will conduct an in-depth bridge inspection and perform maintenance.

8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, Feb. 22-26

WSDOT needs help from travelers

WSDOT does a lot of work at night to reduce congestion. This work requires daylight to allow crews to conduct the inspection safely. Crews maneuver a large mechanical arm of an Under Bridge Inspection Truck (UBIT) through, over and under the bridge.