Whither the ferry terminal district?

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, September 27, 2006

That sprawling parking lots are a waste of good land, most islanders would certainly agree.

Whether Bainbridge Island is willing to do something creative with its most egregious lots – those asphalt wastelands on the north side of the Winslow ferry terminal – that’s where the real debate begins. As design work on a new terminal building and transportation center continues apace (construction is expected to break ground in 2009, the state says), city planners are starting to consider what might be done with the neighborhood around it.

As reported elsewhere in this issue, the community will be briefed on the planning efforts this Thursday at City Hall. Various preliminary designs for the ferry terminal and its connections with surrounding areas will be presented. Coincident with that forum, a new city website dedicated to the project (www.cobifgud.com/inovem/inovem.ti/communityFGUD/groupHome) offers a wealth of background materials that actually make pretty good reading. Bite-sized case-studies offer insights into what other communities as far-flung as Sausalito, Calif., and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, are doing with their own ferry and transit hubs.

In all instances, one finds an emphasis on public open space, boardwalks and esplanades, and non-motorized connections as the area densifies. It underscores the Bainbridge community’s own opportunity – nay, imperative – to take better advantage of the terminal zone’s priceless connection to the water and the views beyond. Among the case studies is downtown Bremerton – yes, that Bremerton – which has seen major revitalization with high-rise condominiums, hotels and a conference center. While redevelopment didn’t hinge on what happened at the ferry terminal there, the massively revamped ferry facility introduced there six years ago anticipated the improvements about to spring up around it. Bainbridge can follow that lead as our own downtown grows.

In several of the case studies, the revitalization efforts are well beyond the scope of opportunity on Bainbridge Island. The Alameda Point project in California involves revelopment of an entire 700-acre former air base; by contrast, our ferry terminal district offers perhaps 20 acres of potential retooling. But the question of new housing and commercial development will surely enter discussion, informed in no small part by the 180-unit mixed-use project nearing completion across the street from the terminal. Might similar projects make sense in the long-term vision of our gateway district? We now have a standard against which to measure such proposals.

Wherever one falls along the growth/no growth continuum, islanders should take part in the discussion for no other reason than its implications for traffic flow. As a recent report by the city notes, backups of a mile or more along the highway are routine as cross-island traffic queues up for the Seattle-bound ferry; more than 2 million vehicles crossed the island’s threshold at the terminal in 2004.

Even the most isolationist among us still passes through that corridor for their own travel at some point. That’s reason enough to speak up.