On Bainbridge, community questions how much a bike lane may impact a longtime business

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND — Drive down Eagle Harbor Drive toward the shore of Eagle Harbor, there's a small mechanics shop. Located between the beach and the heavily trafficked road that connects Winslow to Lynnwood Center, the repair shop, Green Light Garage, is charming if a bit worn — its red paint weathered from rain and age, the facade having clearly gone through several iterations from former uses as a convenience store and gas station, but auto repair since the 1970s. It is reminiscent of a different time on Bainbridge Island, one when a mechanic could sit right by the beach.

Current owner Nick Allen started working at Green Light Garage when he was 15 and a student at Bainbridge High School, back when the business was called Ray’s Automotive Service. In 2014, the Allen family bought the auto shop and opened Green Light Garage. Now it's is known for its dedicated customer base, as well as for the old billboard out front that features inspiring quotes or phrases, updated weekly by Alison Allen, Nick’s mother.

Now, Nick Allen and his family fear they are in danger of losing their business due to the city of Bainbridge Island’s plans to construct a bike lane along Eagle Harbor Drive. In order to create the bike lane, the road must be expanded, which Allen says will put him out of business because the bike lane would cut into where tow trucks pull through and where cars back in, as his storefront faces the road.

“The main concern that we have is that we can't pull cars in and out [while] being parked in a bike lane all day. And also where cars get dropped off where the lane is now, we can have a car get dropped off sideways, whereas that wouldn't be able to happen later on [with the bike lane],” Allen told the Kitsap Sun. “It wouldn’t be safe.”

Debate over a bike lane's impact on Green Light Garage

At the heart of the issue is a disagreement between Bainbridge Island City Council members who support the bike lane and do not believe Green Light Garage will be impacted, and the Allen family.

“I don't think it will shut down business,” said Council Member Jon Quitslund, the Bainbridge Island city council representative for the south ward, where Green Light is located. “I understand his concerns and I know he's accustomed to using the space in front of the garage. … They like to use the open air area for vehicle testing. ... And they may have to do things a little differently, but I don't think it's going to endanger their business.”

Council member Clarence Moriwaki agrees. When asked if he believed Green Light Garage would shut down as a result of the bike lane, he responded “absolutely not.”

He explained that while cars must be parked outside and perpendicular to the garage, where the bike lane would cut through, even if a car sits out there for an hour or so while it is being worked on it would not greatly impact riders. This is because the lane will be primarily utilized by commuters who go by before and after business hours, and there is not a high amount of bike traffic in the area to begin with.

“The bikes aren’t coming through every two minutes or every five seconds. That's what would make their business shut down, if it was that busy. But the bike lane is not going to be that popular especially during business hours. … The bikes can just kind of go around the [parked] cars.”

Allen’s worry is that “it's easier for people to assume things. … At the end of the day, the business is designed to function the way that we're using it. So unless you go and restructure the whole building and the way that you enter and exit, I think that it definitely makes it more difficult to operate.”

A bike lane's impact on safety, and timing for funding

The Allens themselves stated several times they are not against putting in a bike lane. They just don’t want it to impede their business. It is undeniable that the roadway along Eagle Harbor Drive up to Lynwood Center does not seem very safe for bicycles. The road is narrow, the bike lanes narrower, and cars go down Bucklin Hill, which is very steep, at 40 or 50 miles per hour. This makes working in the area difficult.

“It's a question of making things safe for the workers, the staff and customers of Green Light Garage and making things safe or as safe as possible for all of the traffic including trucks and cars and bicyclists and walkers, which is a big challenge,” Quitslund said.

Moriwaki emphasized that he wished that safety of bikers were more central to the conversation around the Eagle Harbor nonmotorized project: “I haven't heard very much, quite frankly, concern about biker safety.”

The proposed bike lane is a part of a project called the Eagle Harbor Nonmotorized Improvement project, funded by a grant from Washington state that expires on June 1, 2024. Council members have emphasized the need to use the grant money before the deadline as they are legally obligated to do so.

The Eagle Harbor Nonmotorized Improvement Project will create a protected bike lane on either side of the road along Wyatt Way and Eagle Habor Drive. The lanes will be raised and buffered in most segments of the project, but in front of the Green Light Garage it would transition to becoming a raised bike lane on the southbound side (the side across from Green Light). The bike lane directly next to the storefront will transition to be striped, marking it as a bike lane, rather than physically buffered. Overall, constructing the bike lanes will cause a 7-foot encroachment of the road onto Green Light Garage.

At a Dec. 12 City Council meeting, the council approved the 30% plan for the non-motorized project, meaning that the project will go forward. At that meeting, Council member Leslie Schneider put forth amendments to the plan that included adding a boardwalk to the side of the road opposite from Green Light Garage, which could function as a bike lane and lesson encroachment. She also suggested an amendment deferring the bike lane addition in front of the garage until the boardwalk was constructed. The City Council was largely in support of the boardwalk but noted that it would be unable to be constructed in the Eagle Habor nonmotorized project. Schneider’s amendment to commit to the construction of a boardwalk passed 6-1. Her amendment to defer a bike path directly in front of Green Light Garage until the boardwalk was completed was withdrawn after discussion with the council.

The council previously considered an option for the bike lane which would create a bidirectional bike lane with a curb, which would be 10-11 feet wide. This option was the preferred alternative but was voted down due to concern over safety. Moriwaki says the garage should be “grateful that the bidirectional lane didn’t end up happening because then the road would be really close [to the garage]."

The bike lane project is expected to largely be used by commuters biking to Winslow, and is a part of the Core 40 project, which seeks to install shoulders around 40 miles of roads on Bainbridge Island that currently do not have them. The project will also feature traffic calming features including a traffic island and a speed radar sign along Bucklin Hill road and Eagle Harbor Drive.

Along Green Light Garage, the city is seeking an easement to allow transportation via the the lane. The city has said it will not seek to seize Green Light Garage’s property through eminent domain. Rather, Moriwaki said that “if anything, Green Light Garage has encroached on the city's right of way”, and will utilize their right of way via the bike lane.

Bainbridge Island community's support for a beloved business

Allen ran Green Light Garage with his father and brother until his father passed a few years ago. For him, it’s home. Allen lives on the property, and says that he loves what he does.

“I love it. I mean, we have the small community [feel], knowing people when they walk in the door, and being able to help somebody who's having a bad day, that's what I live for. And it makes me kind of feel like a superhero, in a sense, to take someone's bad day, and you make it as good as you can.”

Allen’s attitude has earned him an outpouring of community support. A petition started by a patron of Green Light Garage, Crystal Rich, garnered over 700 signatures asking the city to reconsider the Eagle Harbor nonmotorized project due to its potential impact on the business.

Rich is a Green Light Garage customer who heard about the project from Allen during a conversation the two had while she was getting her car serviced. When Allen told her he felt stuck with whatever the city decided to do, Rich decided to take action, posting on social media and putting a physical copy of the petition in the garage.

“I'm just a concerned citizen that really wants small businesses to succeed,” Rich told The Kitsap Sun. “When we support small businesses, we're supporting our neighbors and we're supporting the people who basically make our community what it is, you know, the beautiful unique place that it is.”

A desire for trust to bring project to completion

The Bainbridge Island City Council has talked to the Allen family several times about how the bike lane would impact their business. Still, they don’t feel supported.

“I want to trust what they say. ... And I want to trust that they have our best interests at heart. But it's hard to believe that that's the actual case,” Nick Allen said.

His mother agree.

“We are family owned and operated small business. I mean, that’s what Green Light is," Alison Allen said. "And so the fact that the community members are backing us — that feels good. But unfortunately, the City Council isn’t.”

Moriwaki has suggested making changes to the building to adapt to how the bike lane would impact their business. “Something I have discussed with him [Mr. Allen], if they need more room is to … demolish the part that used to be the gas pumps … there's a planter and awning that is over it. .. It makes absolutely no sense for that to be there even now. Just remove that and you've got lots more room to put cars.”

Making physical changes like the planter move is something that Allen resists.

“It’s like, that’s where the old gas pumps where and that’s the history of how this place started. … Bainbridge is definitely changing and it's just about keeping the old timey, community spots that have been here for decades.”

When construction on the bike lane may begin

Construction will likely not begin until late summer or early fall 2024. The next meeting regarding the project will take place once the planning process has reached 100% completion. In the mean time, the City Council is hoping to look more into a board walk on Eagle Harbor Drive across the street from Green Light Garage, which would hopefully alleviate some of the encroachment into the garage’s property.

Something that the city of Bainbridge and the Allens are in agreement on, is that only time will tell how the bike lane will impact Green Light Garage.

“Let’s just watch, put the bike lane in and and see if they close the next day, if they close  in a month, if they close in a year, just because of the bike lane,” Moriwaki said. “I just don’t see how it [the bike lane] would impact them that much.”

Alison Allen echoes his sentiments about how time will tell what effects a bike lane may have.

“They're going to put the bike lane in and and we will try to continue to be in business. But once once it's in there's no going back from that. We'll have to see. We'll have to see if we are able to continue to do business.”

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Green Light Garage concerned about Bainbridge Island bike lane