Bainbridge Island residents want the city’s police station to stay in downtown Winslow — or within a short walk from the downtown core on nearby Ericksen Avenue.

That was the general consensus from a community meeting recently held by city officials to pare down a list of seven potential locations before a more extensive analysis is launched.

Bainbridge officials hit the reboot button for the new police station project late last year after Proposition 1, a $15 million bond measure to pay for a new public safety building, fell in a landslide loss during November’s General Election.

Residents roundly rejected Prop. 1, which would have seen a new facility built just north of city hall in what officials viewed as a chance to create a municipal campus.

That Madison Way location found lackluster support, however, and enthusiasm for the spot soured even more after city officials acknowledged the site was highly polluted from the dry cleaning business that was once located there.

City Manager Doug Schulze told the nearly three dozen people at his recent police station update meeting that the city had just seven options still on the table, but also admitted that some of those locations did not appear to be feasible.

There have been four new locations under consideration by the city since the failure of Prop. 1 at the ballot box. They are: 9191 Moran Road NE; 9657 NE Yaquina Ave.; 8954 Madison Ave. North; and 600 Ericksen Ave. NE.

The three other options left over from last year’s discussion include the station’s current location on Winslow Way; in the Wintergreen Way commercial development on High School Road next to Highway 305; and on New Brooklyn Road next to the Bainbridge Island Fire Department’s Station 21.

Schulze noted that a few of the new locations didn’t seem like a good choice for a police building.

The property at 8954 Madison Ave. North, for example, was not large enough for the new station because of its residential zoning, and would also require a conditional use permit.

The parcel at 9657 NE Yaquina Ave. suffers from the same problems.

Building a police station on land next to Fire Station 21, Schulze explained, would mean police cars traveling through school zones for emergency calls on the island’s south end. It would also consume some of the island’s already limited supply of land that’s zoned for light manufacturing businesses.

The Moran Road location would require a conditional use permit as well, and the existing building on the property, a church, isn’t big enough to house the police department.

Wintergreen Way, which is home to the controversial commercial center being built by Ohio-based Visconsi Companies, would mean a lease that would cost more than the $15 million bond put before voters last year. Officials are also critical of that location because the public safety facility would be built at the back of the commercial center, leaving police cars to navigate through the shopping center before reaching High School Road.

That leaves just the existing location, near the Bainbridge ferry terminal, and the Ericksen Avenue option.

Schulze’s opposition to retaining the current location continued at the community meeting.

He noted that two previous site studies indicated that the current police station site on Winslow Way was not large enough for a new police station.

Building on the site, he said, would require a three-level structure with “extremely small footprints on each floor.”

He also said the city has had discussions with real estate appraisers and developers, and noted the current police station property has a greater value as a commercial property than a public one.

When asked if purchasing adjacent land was a possibility for expanding the new building’s footprint, Schulze said a nearby property owner, as well as three real estate agents, said the owner wasn’t interested in selling at this point in time.

“But everything is for sale at the right price,” Schulze added.

Bainbridge has been expecting to build a 21,500-square-foot public safety building — slightly larger than city hall — with a total of 47 parking spaces. Officials have said at least one acre of land is needed if the station is built with underground parking, or 1½ acres if parking is not underground.

The amount of space needed increases if the police station is put on land zoned for residential housing. City regulations require that development on residential land can only cover 25 percent of the parcel; that means between four to six acres would be needed for the police station.

As far as the existing property goes, Schulze said it’s an odd-shaped parcel, and said he tried to diagram, without success, how a 21,500-square-foot facility would fit onto the land. Setbacks from the new building, parking and driveway access were the big issues.

“Anything that is on Olympic Drive or Winslow Way has to have a 230-foot setback from the intersection,” Schulze said.

But residents were quick to challenge Schulze on his assumptions.

Community members disputed the commercial potential of the property, and said it would not be a good fit for a retail store. Some added that other commercial businesses that have located near the police station have come — but quickly gone.

Attracting foot traffic from the downtown core, or keeping those coming from the ferry terminal interested in visiting businesses west of Highway 305, has proven problematic. The central core of Winslow Way is a magnet, while businesses on the periphery of downtown, not so much.

Andy Maron said the city should look at buying the parcel just south of the current police station if more room was needed.

“My hunch is, it would work,” he said.

Beyond the current location, the Ericksen Avenue option also found favor with the crowd.

Schulze said the building currently on the site could be converted into a police station within a “relatively quick turnaround.”

State transportation officials, he added, were willing to allow emergency access from that property to Highway 305.

It’s also for sale, he noted, and after minor improvements, it would be ready for a “pretty quick occupancy,” Schulze said.

The chief agreed.

“Can it be done? It’s going to take some money,” Hamner said.

“From what I’ve seen so far, it looks pretty good,” he said.

The crowd gathered for the meeting included several off-duty officers. One, Sgt. Trevor Ziemba, supported the Ericksen option.

With the police department’s current location near the ferry terminal, he noted that there are times when traffic has him “locked in” at the station.

Bainbridge officials will continue to consider a preferred location in the coming weeks, and the city council is expected to get an update at its meeting on June 7.