Letters to the editor

Published 1:30 am Friday, June 26, 2026

Affordable housing and public trust

To the editor:

Our neighborhood is not opposed to affordable housing. In fact, our subdivision was intentionally approved with two affordable housing lots as part of a density-bonus program.

The issue is whether the conditions used to create those lots still matter.

The recorded plat and approval documents repeatedly describe the affordable lots as being provided for purchase by qualifying moderate-income households. Those conditions were part of the legal framework under which the lots were created.

Today, Housing Kitsap is constructing a four-unit rental project on those same lots.

For months before construction began, neighbors asked Housing Kitsap and the city to address the conflict between the proposed rental project and the recorded approval framework. Public records show the issue was known and being discussed long before residents became aware of it. Those records also reflect city discussions regarding the need for a plat amendment.

No plat amendment was pursued.

Instead, Housing Kitsap moved forward with construction, and the city allowed it to proceed.

This should concern every Bainbridge resident.

If recorded conditions can be ignored, if public agencies can continue despite acknowledged conflicts, and if the city declines to resolve those conflicts while construction continues, what confidence should residents have that future approval conditions will be honored?

Affordable housing depends on public trust.

Leah Lease

Bainbridge Island

Council needs to be transparent

To the editor:

On June 16, during a special session, the Bainbridge Island City Council passed a significant upzone for the Ferry, Core, and High School Road zones. The vote exceeded Planning Commission recommendations and moved forward without the completed Land Capacity Analysis, without impact studies on infrastructure, groundwater, or displacement, and without advance public notice of what would be decided.

The motion wasn’t included in the agenda packet. Most residents had no way of knowing a vote of this consequence was coming.

I’ve lived on Bainbridge for 50 years. Whatever your view on housing density, most of us share a basic expectation: that decisions reshaping our community happen in the open, with the analysis complete and the public informed. Transparency isn’t a courtesy; it’s what makes local government legitimate. When consequential votes happen without proper notice, without complete data, and without time for public input, trust erodes. And on Bainbridge, that trust has already been stretched thin.

The council can still make this right by re-noticing the item, completing the Land Capacity Analysis, and providing proposed motions in advance. That’s not obstruction; it’s due process. This process is more likely to happen if residents engage.

Please contact your councilmembers and attend the next meeting. This decision will shape what Winslow looks like for generations. It deserves a process we can stand behind.

Beth Crittenden

Bainbridge Island