Design for the future — please | LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Published 11:27 am Sunday, October 11, 2015

To the editor:

The Bainbridge Review stimulates diverse debate — thank you. I applaud the frank and open discussions of development on the island.

One crucial aspect of new housing, however, is being ignored. As my lively boomer cohort grows old, ideally many of us will age in place. Yet, new housing primarily plans for Peter Pan — as if we’ll never grow up. Be it hubris, denial, or short-sighted greed, too much new housing makes it impossible to live on one floor and ignores basic principals of universal design, even though there are many excellent books and websites on design for aging in place.

On Sunday, Sept. 20, the Seattle Times did a marvelous job covering the mini-development of three accessible homes on Bainbridge designed to age well. Kudos to architect Jim Morss. As a gerontologist in my 60s, I profoundly wish there were more people building and designing homes like him.

JEANNETTE FRANKS

Eagle Harbor Condos