BI city manager gives wrapup of year’s accomplishments

By Staff report • January 4, 2025 1:30 am
Raised bicycle lanes have been completed north of High School Road on Madison Avenue. Bike lane painting and striping will occur this spring. The mountable curb improves bike and pedestrian safety, allowing bikers to enter the vehicle lane for passing and turning. COBI courtesy photo
Raised bicycle lanes have been completed north of High School Road on Madison Avenue. Bike lane painting and striping will occur this spring. The mountable curb improves bike and pedestrian safety, allowing bikers to enter the vehicle lane for passing and turning. COBI courtesy photo

Bainbridge Island city manager Blair King gave a wrap-up of some of the year’s accomplishments at a recent City Council meeting.

The council purchased public art and made progress on several affordable housing projects, along with lobbying for $300,000 in state funds for the new Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Visitors Center. It adopted a short-term rental registration law, along with new parking standards for downtown Winslow. It OK’d several capital projects, such as the $20 million high-water tank and 1 1/4-mile bundled Madison Avenue project.

Overgrown vegetation at the roundabout on High School Road is being removed for safety reasons and is being replaced to help with sight distance issues.

Looking ahead, in 2025 the city’s Comprehensive Plan will be completed, construction will take place on the Eagle Harbor Drive/Wyatt Way Non-Motorized Improvement Project, and the implementation plan for the Americans with Disabilities Act will be completed.

Improvements will be made to the water and sewer systems. That will include a $3.5 million project at the wastewater treatment plant in Winslow to improve secondary treatment and replace aging ultraviolet disinfection to prevent discharge risks during power outages. Construction will start mid-year and finish by the end of 2026. It will increase capacity by 1,000 residential units. It currently has 2,000 customers.