Washington state transportation officials are considering a change to the Highway 305-Day Road roundabout project that would create an approximately 450-foot-wide detention pond on the hillside and field next to the Day Road Animal Hospital.

Mark Swaney, a veterinarian who has been the owner of Day Road Animal Hospital for 20 years, said he was told by Bainbridge city officials Wednesday that revisions to the proposed roundabout have resulted in stormwater facilities being shifted to his property from land on the western side of Highway 305.

The Washington State Department of Transportation had earlier considered putting the stormwater detention infrastructure that’s necessary for the proposed roundabout on the undeveloped land near the southwest corner of Highway 305 and Day Road. But that plan was strongly opposed by the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, which owns an easement on the pastureland that protects it from development.

A preliminary map of the new detention pond plans shows the state’s right of way for the highway being extended up to the animal hospital building, with the southern and eastern edges of the stormwater detention pound extending to the right-of-way boundary.

Swaney said he would lose about half of his property for the stormwater pond project, and noted it would have a significant impact on the clinic, which has been located on Day Road since 1981.

The stormwater pond would ruin the rural aesthetic look of the property, he said, which features a large grassy field and hill at the corner of the interchange, with the vet clinic tucked into the trees at the southern end of the triangle-shaped parcel.

“It’s going to have a significant impact on this property and the business,” Swaney said.

The hospital property along the highway, near the intersection, was never fully developed, with a large portion left as open space to create a welcoming, somewhat “homey” entrance to the animal clinic. It’s since become a part of the hospital’s identity in the community.

“We intentionally kind of left that area as is,” Swaney said, adding that installing a stormwater detention pond would completely change the character of the land, as well as people’s impression of his business.

The animal hospital has 17 employees, and their reaction was disbelief when Swaney told them of the state’s current plans for the roundabout.

“‘Oh, my God!’ That’s been the reaction,” he recalled. “‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’”

The state has been studying potential projects to improve safety and the flow of traffic along Highway 305 between the Bainbridge ferry terminal and Hostmark Street in Poulsbo for years.

The highway has been the subject of study since 1997, but a more detailed look at possible highway improvements was jumpstarted roughly two years ago.

A series of 11 roundabouts along the highway has been proposed, with a total budget of $36.5 million, and the Highway 305-Day Road project has been listed as one of the higher priorities in the budget for the improvements.

The sketch of the Day Road roundabout that’s currently posted on the 305 improvement website does not show where stormwater facilities would be placed.

A preliminary map of the new scheme for Day Road that was given to Swaney shows two smaller water quality treatment facilities in addition to the stormwater detention pond on the clinic’s property; one is on the western side of Highway 305 within the existing right of way, and the other is also within the existing right of way next to the park-and-ride lot.

A timeline that was provided to Swaney at his meeting with city officials this week notes that the stormwater pond on the clinic property would cost “considerably more” than the previous proposal for one on the opposite side of the highway.

The timeline also notes that building the stormwater pond on the clinic property “leaves the package of priority projects short by $2.7 [million], which would not allow the Suquamish roundabout to move forward.”

Public presentations by the Washington Department of Transportation on the 305 improvement project last March did not include a roundabout at the Suquamish Clearwater Casino, but the most recent overview of the 305 improvement project now includes a roundabout at the intersection of Highway 305 and Suquamish Way NE where a stoplight now controls traffic. That project would include a multi-lane roundabout, stormwater facilities, transit stops, and pedestrian and bicyclist crossings and access. A WSDOT spokesman said Thursday the proposed roundabout at Highway 305-Suquamish “has long been included in the suite of proposed improvements for the entire corridor” and was included in a 2017 “needs and opportunity” study.

The preliminary estimate the casino roundabout is $9.4 million.

Swaney said Thursday he hoped that WSDOT would take another look at putting the stormwater facility on the opposite side of the highway from his clinic, where more land is available to better blend the pond into the landscape of undeveloped land.

WSDOT and local elected officials who are part of a working group that is reviewing the evolving plans for the 305 project are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the Day Road roundabout.