Solutions to BI needs in conflict with GMA

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 20, 2026

When I was young, I was told it was important to learn how to do things right. It was important, but it never seemed complete.

In the 1980s, I was a guest editor at the Bainbridge Review. At the desk next to me was Walt Woodward, one of my heroes, also as a guest columnist. We had small talks as we worked.

He stressed in his quiet way that although it was important to do things right, it was even more important to do the right things. He did the right things in the 1940s.

In the 1980s, our remaining forests and farms were being bought out. Developers wanted the Bentryn and Suyematsu farms. With Gerard Bentryn and many others’ help, I founded Rural Bainbridge Island (RBI) in late 1982. After much struggle and not getting sufficient support from the county, we decided to form our own city. Since the existing laws weren’t helping, we changed the law.

Afterwards, our original Comprehensive Plan was developed to control growth. Although not perfect, Bainbridge has been successful in protecting significant forests and agricultural districts.

Now, we, like all those who have gone before, are confronted by a dilemma. The future for our current and younger generations is being threatened by housing that is beyond their reach. This is a national disaster in the making. At the moment, the national problem is beyond our control.

On Bainbridge, the solutions to our needs are in conflict with the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). The GMA is designed to control growth within the state. Cities are required to accept density; rural areas do not. Because we began formation of the city prior to the GMA, when the city was incorporated, the GMA gutted our original protections, removed the term “rural” (which has legal protection) from the Comprehensive Plan, and changed it to “pastoral”, which does not have protection. This is still true to this day.

City planners follow the GMA. They work very hard to do things right. The results: Unilateral increases in density. However, the unintended consequences of doing things right will be: Town & Country Market, the heart and soul of Winslow and the island, will be destroyed as we know it, as its parking will be overwhelmed by the GMA-enforced reduction in parking allowances for new construction elsewhere. Island population will eventually soar past 100,000 as every acre of the island’s 20,000 acres is forced to adopt R-2 or greater zoning, added roads, a strained aquifer, and more problems than this author can recite.

Allen Phillips is the owner and operator of Dolphin Place Open Space, a nature preserve on Bainbridge Island.