New Council Members Lara Lant and Mike Nelson to be Sworn in January 13, 2026

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.    

Continue reading