Meet the New Council Members as Lara Lant and Mike Nelson
to be Sworn in January 13, 2026
The newly elected Bainbridge Island city council members, Lara Lant (North Ward) and Mike Nelson
(South Ward), will soon be sworn in on 1-13-26. They’ll be filling positions previous held by Joe
Deets and Jon Quitslund.
Here’s what the Urbanist—a publication promoting the densification of cities—has to say about
Bainbridge Island’s comprehensive plan and the addition of Lara and Mike: Bainbridge Island
Struggles to Update Growth Plan, Months Behind State Deadline
https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/11/25/bainbridge-island-struggles-to-update-growthplan/:
“Pushing the plan’s completion into next year is also poised to introduce another major variable:
two new councilmembers, both of whom are likely to represent a change in direction when
it comes to growth issues. Lara Lant, who handily trounced incumbent two-term Councilmember Joe Deets,
has spoken about the need to take ‘creative approaches’ to housing growth that don’t
‘mean cookie-cutter solutions or sacrificing local character.’
“Mike Nelson, who won the race for an open council seat against current planning commission
chair Sarah Blossom, has been even more clear about where he stands on the idea of increasing
housing capacity in Winslow to comply with HB 1220.
“ ’I oppose the City Council’s plan to massively upzone our historic downtown Winslow. The
most recent Planning Commission recommendation was for a Winslow characterized by 6 story
buildings and ultra-density, including ultra-dense condo-complexes like you see across Seattle,’
Nelson’s campaign website stated, despite the fact that the planning commission hasn’t yet
released a recommendation. ‘I believe the upzoning plan will destroy the special character of the
Island, strain our natural resources, strain our infrastructure, cause congestion, and increase
taxes, all without meaningfully addressing housing affordability.’
“Both candidates opposed the city’s most high-profile move on affordable housing, a plan to
build 90 units of workforce housing at the site of a former police station at the Island’s front
door. They are likely to form a bloc with Kirsten Hytopoulos, who has often been the sole no
vote on council in recent years on housing issues. While not a full majority, their addition to the
council is likely to leave the body more fractured.”
Mike Nelson has a plan for meeting state housing requirements without massive upzoning
Mike Nelson grew up in Ballard and saw its small town feel ruined by massive upzoning, while housing
costs only continued to rise. A relative newcomer to Bainbridge Island, Mike is married to someone who
grew up here. He doesn’t want the same things happening to Bainbridge Island that he saw happen to Ballard.
Mike’s campaign slogan was “Keep Bainbridge Bainbridge” and he has crafted a plan for doing just that, unveiled
in a presentation at the Lynwood Theater in October. We’ll be hearing more about Mike’s plan soon.
As Bainbridge Islanders have woken up to the City’s big push for massive upzoning as part of the comprehensive
plan update, Mike Nelson’s message resonated with a majority of voters. His opponent, Sarah Blossom,
also appealed to a desire among residents for sensible growth that respects the Island’s limited carrying
capacity (mainly its finite groundwater) and local control.
Kirsten Hytopoulos is the one returning council member whose views most closely align Lara Lant
and Mike Nelson. Even if these three find common ground, they will still be a minority on the city council.
To influence important decisions coming before the city council in 2026, these three council members
would need to show political savvy to avoid being steam-rolled by the other four.
To do that they will need consistent community support.
Here’s a list of important issues coming before the city council in 2026, followed by the four
returning council members, and their history on the city council:
The most important issues
The Future of Winslow
The Planning Commission approved 22 motions related to expanding and densifying Winslow
during their Dec. 11, 2025 meeting. Four out of the Commission’s seven members have a history of
pushing for expansion and maximum density increases in Winslow, or wherever they can get it.
Collectively, they argue that a big increase in density will reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
promote sustainability, equity, and housing affordability, and make Winslow more “vibrant”. Some
in this majority have indicated they wouldn’t issue a final recommendation until the Island’s
groundwater management plan has been completed. In spite of that assurance, they approved 22
motions to add significant density to Winslow at their Dec. 11th meeting.
Now that the Planning Commission has made their final recommendation, the draft Winslow
Subarea Plan will be “fleshed out” by city staff and LMN Architects, a consultant that has
enthusiastically supported the City’s push for massive upzoning.
A Final Groundwater Management Plan for Bainbridge Island
An action item from the Island’s 2016 comprehensive plan, creation of a groundwater management
plan (GWMP) for Bainbridge Island, has been a long time coming. The $64,000 question: will the
new groundwater plan prioritize the sustainable management of the Island’s aquifers as a control
over growth, and will it factor responsible groundwater management into final versions of the
Winslow Subarea and Comprehensive Plans?
There’ve been some encouraging development with work on the GWMP. First was a decision by
the City Council almost a year ago to commission a peer review of the draft GWMP. With that peer
review now completed—a review that was pretty critical of the draft GWMP—the city council has
approved hiring the peer reviewer, KETA Waters, to help complete the GWMP.
Bainbridge Island’s Updated Comprehensive Plan
Supported by a majority of the city council, including those being replaced by Lara Lant and Mike
Nelson, the City has been doing its best to promote massive upzoning while supporting efforts to
undermine local control. This has included misrepresentation of the Growth Management Act’s
requirements by City staff and the City attorney that focus only on those requirements related to
housing; attempts by City staff to water down the groundwater management plan; and the City’s
widely panned draft environmental impact statement that understates environmental impacts and
grossly overstates mitigation measures associated with massive upzoning. Will this change with
the addition of two new council members? With community support it’s looking more and more
possible.
Factoring into all of this is a unique plan by new council member Mike Nelson for addressing the
State’s requirement to plan for specific types and quantities of affordable housing by focusing on
subsidies for affordable housing with no upzoning for market rate housing and no increase in
taxes.
Hiring a New City Manager
Blair King is retiring at the end of January and the search for a new city manager has begun.
There’s a long list of policies and actions that have happened over the past four years that
shouldn’t be repeated with the next city manager. More on that in another article in this months
BCC’s January newsletter.
Will the City Council Start Having Ward Meetings Again?
During Blair King’s tenure as city manager there have been far fewer ward meetings, including
none in 2025. The excuses given include that 2025 was an election year and ward meetings are
expensive and require staff support. These excuses are not acceptable. If the City can afford to give
$80,000 to the Chamber of Commerce for a business study, it can afford to have ward meetings
every year. The reduction in ward meetings seems to have been a way of protecting council
members from uncomfortable questions from members of the public in the relatively intimate
setting of ward meetings. This is part of a bigger pattern of fewer city council meetings and less
opportunity for citizen input over the past four years.
Returning Council Members: Their History on the Issues
The following history may help provide insights into positions likely to be taken by returning
council members on important issues. Also worth considering is the next round of city council
elections in 2027. The positions of councilmembers Mathews, Fantroy-Johnson, Schneider, and
Hytopoulos will all be on the ballot. Some of these council members are likely to seek re-election.
Public sentiment on important issues will matter to them.
Ashley Mathews
Ashley was elected in 2023 and served as council elected mayor in 2025. Of all the returning
council members Ashley has probably been the most responsive to emails, phone calls, and her
willingness to meet with citizens. Ashley’s positions on the issues listed above are somewhat
nuanced but she has said from the dais that other jurisdictions are “on to us” regarding what she
sees as Bainbridge Island’s failure to address the issue of affordable housing. Ashley also appears
to be somewhat partial to development community, including realtors, builders, and architects.
Brenda Fantroy-Johnson
Brenda was appointed in 2021 to fill the open North Ward position when Kol Medina resigned and
moved to Walla Walla. Brenda was then elected and re-elected in 2023. She served as the council
elected mayor in 2023. Brenda is somewhat of a one-issue council member, with a focus on
affordable housing and a very limited interest in environmental issues. Brenda has stated from the
dais that she believes Bainbridge Island has not been “doing its share” when it comes to housing. In
regards to House Bill 1220’s housing requirements, and the City’s push for massive upzoning,
Brenda says, “We have to do it”.
Brenda supports development of the City’s Suzuki property as a dense affordable housing project.
Suzuki is a fully wooded 14-1/2 acre property located at the SE corner of New Brooklyn and
Sportsman Club Road. Affordable housing advocates want to see the property mostly cleared to
make way for housing. The last plan, in 2019, proposed 100 units of housing on Suzuki, with its
pond converted into a stormwater retention facility.
Along with council members Moriwaki, Matthews, Deets, Quitslund, Schneider, and Hytopoulos,
Brenda Factory-Johnson supported the upzoning of the Bethany Lutheran church property on
Finch Road in 2021 for affordable housing. Bethany Lutheran’s property is currently located in the
Island’s Conservation Area, though city planning staff and the planning commission have proposed
pushing the Conservation Area back by extending the boundaries of Winslow to include
Bethany Lutheran’s property.
Clarence Moriwaki
Clarence is a protégé of former Governor Jay Inslee, who has endorsed Clarence twice. Clarence
was elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2025. He generally supports all decisions and policies related
to the loosening of zoning regulations for housing. While calling himself an environmentalist, other
than owning an electric car, riding a bicycle, and supporting funding for Land Trust projects,
Clarence appears to many as an “environmentalist” in name only.
Kirsten Hytopoulos
Kirsten has a history of treading a sometimes fine line between being an environmentalist and a
supporter of affordable housing. Kirsten has been a consistent advocate for a good groundwater
management plan. In 2022 she voted against ordinance 2022-02, which upzoned the Bethany
Lutheran Church property (Finch Green) for affordable housing in the Island’s Conservation Area.
Kirsten has raised concerns about the capacity of the Winslow sewage treatment plant to serve
massive upzoning, while also supporting transformation the City’s Suzuki property—a densely
forested 14-1/2 acre property with a pond used by wildlife—into a dense urban development of
affordable housing. Recently, Kirsten opposed a big upzone for the City’s affordable housing
project at 625 Winslow Way, site of the Island’s former police station. Representing herself as an
environmentalist, Kirsten’s votes don’t always reflect an overriding concern for the environment.
With more support from new like-minded colleagues and the community this could change.
Leslie Schneider
Appointed to fill a position vacated by Michael Scott in 2018 when he was appointed as a judge on
King County Superior Court by Governor Inslee, Leslie was elected once in 2019 and re-elected
unchallenged in 2023. Leslie has never claimed to be an environmentalist and her record shows it.
Leslie voted against tree protections in 2018:
Schneider voted against an ordinance updating
the Island’s critical areas regulations in 2018. The ordinance was controversial because of its new
Aquifer Recharge Protection Requirement (ARPA) that is now protecting trees and native vegetation
on single-family lots. Before ARPA, developers were allowed to completely clear residential lots.
ARPA now requires developers to retain up to 65% of lots as native vegetation in the R-1 and R-0.4
(2-1/2 acre) zones. R-2 lots (1/2 acre) are allowed a development an area of 13,500 sq. ft. out of
approximately 20,000 sq. ft.
Leslie supported a massive development on the City’s Suzuki property:
Later in 2019 Leslie supported a plan to develop 100 units of affordable housing on the City’s
14-1/2 acre Suzuki property. Suzuki is heavily wooded, with a grove of very large trees and a pond utilized by a
variety of wildlife. The 100-unit plan would have mostly clear-cut Suzuki and used the pond
as a storm water facility. Schneider renewed her commitment to developing the Suzuki property during
a Housing Resources Bainbridge candidate forum in 2023. She was joined in supporting the Suzuki
affordable housing project during that forum by fellow candidates Kirsten Hytopoulos and Brenda
Fantroy-Johnson.
Leslie appears to support massive upzoning in Winslow: All signs are that Leslie Schneider is onboard
with a massive transformation of Winslow into a bigger and much denser urban center. Her main emphasis
has appeared to be on new zoning for middle housing. To deflect concerns over the impacts of massive
upzoning Schneider has offered the assurance that “It won’t get built right away”.
What Should We Take Away From All of This?
Ordinary Bainbridge Islanders, are to Bainbridge Island as the 12th man is to the Seahawks. Most of us don’t
want to see our island ruined by irresponsible development and when we are mobilized we make a difference.
It’s why BCC is working to empower Bainbridge Islanders with knowledge on important issues like groundwater
management and the inner workings of our city government. It’s why the City has been doing the opposite by using
disinformation to undermine local control and grease the skids for massive upzoning. To get positive outcomes
in 2026 enlightened citizen participation will be essential. Without it the city council’s pro growth majority will get what they want: massive upzoning, a weak groundwater management plan, and a continued lack of transparency.