The City Council voted unanimously at the business meeting this week to approve a two-year budget that would direct money to add two new police officers, support implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, and provide additional resources for natural resource staffing and planning, among other City programs and services.

 

The $89 million biennial budget for 2019 and 2020 was proposed by City staff in September and adjusted by the Council in recent weeks.

"I think it's been a good process," said Councilmember Ron Peltier after the vote. "I do think that together we came up with a really good way to mold this budget, so I really feel like the Council in the end was exercising its responsibility as the ones who approve spending at the City."

The budget also includes $1.5 million across the biennium for funding support to community service organizations, including human services, cultural funding, public art and public farmland.

 

Crews were planning to replace seven overhead steel bridge members that were damaged by an overheight load. The project is postponed to give staff more time to prepare for the project. WSDOT has not released information yet when the work will be rescheduled. 

A public hearing to consider extending the landmark tree ordinance for six months will be held 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11 in the Council Chamber. The landmark tree ordinance was adopted by the City Council on an emergency basis in June after the Council heard numerous concerns from residents about the loss of landmark trees on Bainbridge Island. Currently, anyone who violates the landmark tree ordinance could face a $25,000 penalty. 

In addition, new tree regulations take effect next Monday, Dec. 3.  The City Council approved new tree retention and tree removal permit regulations at a business meeting in October. Staff hosted a public meeting Monday, Nov. 19 to discuss these new regulations. If you were not able to attend, you can listen to the discussion on the New Tree Regulations project page (scroll to the bottom). 

A crowd filled the Council Chamber Wednesday evening to learn more about the progress of the City's Suzuki property development project.

The City owns a  roughly 14-acre property at the southeast corner of Sportsman Club Road and New Brooklyn Road, commonly referred to as the Suzuki Property. The property is currently undeveloped and wooded, except for walking trails and a pond along the south boundary.

The City hired Olympic Property Group (OPG) as lead consultant to take the project through formal site planning and preliminary project approval. During the Nov. 28 meeting, OPG shared studies and revised draft site plans with various options for the number of units. The meeting was recorded and will soon be available on  OPG's project page here .