No zoning change for downtown Bainbridge pot shop

Downtown Winslow. Thousands of tourists coming off the ferry and headed toward the city’s main drag. Now add in Bainbridge police and a pot shop.

What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, downtown residents told the Bainbridge council Tuesday.

Amid fears that a zoning change would allow a retail marijuana shop to open up on Winslow Way — and bring with it pot smokers, traffic, noise, declining property values and marijuana smoke wafting through the windows of downtown’s waterview condos — the council decided against giving the suggestion a closer review by city staff.

Two Bainbridge residents, Bevan and Peter Brian, have been lobbying city officials in recent months for a zoning change that would allow retail marijuana businesses in neighborhood centers on the island, including Winslow, Island Center, Rolling Bay, Lynwood Center and Fort Ward.

Currently, Bainbridge’s sole legal marijuana business — Paper &Leaf — is located on land zoned for light industrial uses near Day Road.

The Brians are the owners of High Mountain Green, the business that hopes to open a retail pot shop, and the pair have lived with their family on Bainbridge for more than 20 years.

Bevan Brian told the council at its meeting this week that worries about increased crime and traffic were unfounded, and pointed to the success of Paper &Leaf as proof.

He also reminded the council that more than 70 percent of Bainbridge voters agreed with the ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana.

A downtown cannabis store, he said, could bring more tourists to Winslow’s retail shops.

“We think that times have changed and Winslow could use the shop to help with foot traffic,” he said.

Peter Brian agreed, and said that much misinformation had been circulating about the possible impacts of a retail marijuana operation in the heart of Winslow.

The shop could become a downtown destination for visitors, he noted.

“We think a lot of the tourists would be able to have that novelty of walking off the boat and being able to stop by the shop,” Brian said.

Nearby residents did not share their enthusiasm, however.

Roughly a half dozen residents of the Harbor Square condominium complex told the council they were worried about potential impacts on their quality of life, as well as traffic, noise and parking problems.

The shop has been proposed for property across Winslow Way from Harbor Square, near the Bainbridge Island Police Department. Some residents said that was too close to a bus stop used by schoolchildren.

Others raised concerns about patrons to the pot shop smoking their new purchases on the sidewalks nearby, with the smoke of marijuana drifting into nearby homes. Others also warned of a decline in property values, and said a zoning change would allow retail marijuana stores in other places on Bainbridge besides Winslow.

Few on the council were willing to explore the idea further.

Councilman Kol Medina was one exception, and said it might not take city staff much time to review the idea.

Medina also noted he wasn’t on the council when it struggled to find appropriate places on the island for legal marijuana businesses after voters OK’d the idea in 2012.

“My gut feeling is times have changed a lot since then,” Medina said.

“I wonder if it would be a big deal this time around. I think it might not,” he said.

Councilwoman Sarah Blossom said the zoning review shouldn’t be a city priority.

Her council colleagues agreed.

“It’s a dead issue for now,” Mayor Val Tollefson said.