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Bainbridge Island, WA: City buys land for open space
10/25/02 - The Bainbridge Island City Council agreed with the city's Open Space Commission recommendation to spend $790,000 once an environmental assessment is complete for an 11.8-acre parcel on the northeast end of Eagle Harbor. The purchase is part of the $8 million open space bond approved by Bainbridge Island voters in November 2001. The Eagle Harbor parcel is the second property the city has purchased using the bond measure. In August, the city paid $585,000 for a half-acre Rockaway Beach property near Blakely Harbor. In both cases, the city is holding open the option of selling off pieces of the properties, since it has now spent nearly one-fifth of the money it has available to add public open spaces. The property the council approved Wednesday is between Wing Point and the Hawley neighborhood and offers views of Mount Rainier and the ferries passing in and out of Eagle Harbor. According to Mary Hall, a member of the family selling the property, 15 percent to 20 percent of the island's population lives within a mile of the site. The family has had the parcel up for sale for several years. Hall said she hoped the city's purchase would make waterfront access more available for the public. Waterfront access "has become a condition of the wealthy," she said. Christine Nasser Rolfes, a member of the Bainbridge Island City Council, said the property could be available to the public sometime in December. Meanwhile, the commission will get back to considering more properties. Leonora Cross, a citizen member of the commission, said 70 properties have been submitted for consideration, of which 21 have been eliminated and 18 have been studied. Cross said that although the first two properties purchased had waterfront access, future purchases could include pure farmland, forests, more waterfront sites or properties with combinations of the three. The Hall property's features include a sandy beach, cattail marshes and a variety of flora. Hall said the water near the site is warm enough to swim in, but also holds an appeal for those seeking quieter pursuits. "The beach is a wonderful place to sit and watch Mount Rainier," she said. |