Podcasts: Community Cafe:
How to help update the City’s Comprehensive Plan

This is the first episode of a new podcast show called “Community Cafe Bainbridge”.  Each episode is like a conversation with a friend over coffee in a local cafe, where the subject is a community need or issue that your friend cares about.

In this episode, the conversation is about the process for setting the course for the future of our island city.  It’s time to embark on a two-year process to update the Comprehensive Plan for the City of Bainbridge Island.  The comp plan was initially drafted in 1994, shortly after we voted to establish an all-island city in 1991. The plan had a significant update in 2004 and some tweaks and adjustments from time to time.

BCB’s Barry Peters interviews Kathy Cook, the City’s Director of Planning and Community Development.  Kathy describes the various elements of our community life that are touched by the Comprehensive Plan.  And she describes the process for Bainbridge residents to take part in the review and update process that will eventually culminate in a City Council approval.

The City has named the Comp Plan long-term update process: “Navigate Bainbridge: Charting our Future Together”. The title emphasizes the City’s view that the process will benefit from many constituencies working together, including island residents, the Planning Commission (composed of citizen volunteers), City staff and the 7-member elected City Council.

Kathy describes the two public meetings that will mark the start of the process:

• Tuesday, July 22, 7-9pm, an open public meeting called “Comprehensive Plan 101”, located at Bainbridge High School Commons
• Thursday, Aug 28 (tentative date): Planning Commission public meeting to determine how the public process for the Comp Plan update should work, located at City Hall

Credits: BCB host and editor: Barry Peters; Theme music: Tim Bird; Ferry music: Dogfish Bay Studio; Logo art: artopia creative