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REAC co-chair presents equity-focused edits to Bainbridge Island guiding principles; steering committee opts to merge and seek public input
Summary
The Race Equity Advisory Committee proposed expanded guiding principles that emphasize equity and community; the steering committee discussed merging the edits into existing principles, preserving environmental references (groundwater), and agreed to gather limited public input before finalizing language.
Caitlin Lombardi, co-chair of the Race Equity Advisory Committee (REAC), presented proposed edits to Bainbridge Island's comprehensive plan guiding principles at the steering-committee meeting on March 23, urging clearer language about equity, community and inclusion.
Lombardi told the committee REAC's draft aims not to replace existing principles but to broaden them and to make subjective terms like "small town atmosphere" less ambiguous and more inclusive. "Preserving and enriching a strong sense of community on Bainbridge Island where people care about and help one another, have their basic needs met, and are drawn to gather in neighborhoods..." Lombardi read from the proposed text.
She also raised a cultural-sensitivity example, citing lyrics from a widely circulated song and the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery to illustrate how "small town" language can be interpreted as exclusionary.
Why it matters: guiding principles shape values that inform comp-plan policies and future land-use decisions; members debated whether to fold REAC language into existing principles, move specifics into element policies, or pursue a broader public process before making wholesale changes.
Members broadly acknowledged the value of REAC's work but flagged concerns about losing environmental specificity (notably groundwater protections) if the draft replaces existing text. "The default should be to keep [existing principles] unless you identify there's no need for them," one committee member said, urging preservation of stewardship language while integrating equity language.
Several committee members recommended a pragmatic path: staff and REAC should merge edits where appropriate, identify language that belongs in element policies, and prepare a concise "punchy" set of principles for agendas. Given staff capacity and impending state deadlines, members advised limited targeted public outreach rather than a resource-intensive wholesale public process before submission.
Next steps agreed: REAC and staff will produce merged suggested edits, committee members were asked to send comments by mid-March for inclusion on the March 23 agenda package, and staff will flag which guiding policies are duplicative or already addressed elsewhere in the comp plan. The steering committee may broaden outreach when time and staffing permit.
There were no votes or formal actions taken during the discussion.
