COBI’s request for housing regulation extension denied by Commerce

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 13, 2026

After the Department of Commerce denied the City of Bainbridge Island’s request for a 120-day extension to meet both the housing element of the Comprehensive Plan and housing development regulations, the City Council at its Aug. 11 meeting approved a motion for staff to put together draft development regulations to be submitted to Commerce as part of the 60-day review process to comply with requirements of the Housing Accountability Act audit.

The motion also included mandatory inclusionary zoning and scheduling consideration of those regulations for adoption on an interim basis at council’s Aug. 25 meeting.

Interim city manager Ellen Schroer said the city will communicate with Commerce and bring it back to council on Aug. 25 for council consideration. “This will be an emergency interim control, which means that it would go into effect right away. It will also entail scheduling a public hearing within the next 60 days for…review and to hear from the public,” she said.

Previously, on July 27, COBI had asked Commerce for a 120-day extension until Dec. 19, as the city was unlikely to meet both the housing element of the Comp Plan and housing development regulations by an Aug. 21 deadline.

Commerce said it was unable to grant an extension based on the indicated unforeseen circumstances.

1) COBI has been a sole source aquifer since 2013, and the Growth Management Act requirements to plan for growth with critical area constraints have not changed substantially in the past several years.

2) Although the city has pursued a Subarea Plan and Comp Plan concurrently, the city has already had an additional 18 months past its periodic update due date to complete this additional work.

3) Updates to state law requirements since the periodic update due date are minimal and have been sufficiently drafted by the city. “In our review, the draft development regulations submitted for 60-day review (Submittal ID 2026-S-12820) are consistent with the state HAA requirements,” Commerce documents state.

“If the city cannot adopt interim regulations consistent with the HAA requirements by Aug. 26, the Builder’s Remedy in RCW 36.70A.835(11) will go into effect in the City of Bainbridge Island. It will remain in effect until the city submits an adopted comprehensive plan and development regulations that are consistent with the HAA requirements and Commerce issues a decision of compliance,” per documents.

The Builder’s Remedy is a legal rule allowing developers to bypass local zoning limits when cities fail to meet state housing development requirements.

“We can adopt interim development regulations and submit those by Aug. 26, which allows sufficient land capacity to meet our allocated housing needs based on the Comprehensive Plan and provide a supporting land capacity analysis,” she said.

Council approved the motion 6-1, with Councilmember Mike Nelson the sole no vote.

Nelson said he doesn’t support the motion due to market rate upzoning being included in the interim development regulations. “I don’t support the overall motion because I don’t support this direction. I actually think we should go a different way, and I really wouldn’t mind a court weighing in as to the extent to which the Builder’s Remedy applies to Bainbridge Island because I’m quite certain that we’re exempt because the entire island is a critical area. That said, I really want to throw in my strong support for the fact that, in addition to doing the baseline that Commerce is asking for here, we have layered on top of it the mandatory inclusionary zoning that was recently recommended by the Planning Commission. That I very much support,” he said.

Schroer said COBI has limited staff members who may be available to work on the Comp Plan, and city staff will update council on timing and if a consultant would be needed to complete the work.