On Bainbridge Island, your building permit is reviewed by the City of Bainbridge Island, not Kitsap County. The Planning and Community Development department takes every application through its Public Permit Portal, and the City’s own target for the first review of a building permit is about 30 days from the date the application is deemed complete. Before that clock starts, shoreline and critical-area rules decide what you can submit at all.
Bluefoot Architecture & Design prepares permit documents for island homes from our studio in Poulsbo, twenty minutes over the Agate Passage Bridge. If you want a Bainbridge Island architect who designs with City review in mind, this guide explains what the City will ask for, in the order it asks.
Bainbridge Island is an incorporated city, so it runs its own building department. The City of Bainbridge Island Planning and Community Development department (PCD), at 280 Madison Avenue N, administers building, planning, shoreline and tree regulations for the whole island. Its Building Division enforces the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2021 Washington State Energy Code, as amended by the state, which the City says have been in effect since March 27, 2024.
That matters if you have built on the mainland. The county’s Department of Community Development handles unincorporated areas such as Silverdale, Kingston and Hansville, and its forms, portal and process do not apply on the island. Our guide to the county building permit process covers those areas; this one covers the City.
Almost always, yes. The City’s handout When Do I Need a Building Permit? (revised May 2023) says a building permit is required before any work involving framing, sheetrock, insulation or other remodel or new construction. Demolition needs its own permit, and replacing or relocating plumbing fixtures or mechanical equipment needs a plumbing or mechanical permit. Electrical work is permitted and inspected by Washington State Labor & Industries, not the City.
The same handout and the City’s Work Exempt from Permitting bulletin list the residential work that does not need a building permit:
| Work | Exempt from a Bainbridge Island building permit when |
|---|---|
| Detached shed, playhouse or similar accessory structure | One story and 200 square feet of floor area or less |
| Fence | Not over 7 feet high |
| Retaining wall | Not over 4 feet from the bottom of the footing to the top of the wall, and not supporting a surcharge |
| Deck | 200 square feet or less, not more than 30 inches above grade, not attached to the house and not serving a required exit door |
| Prefabricated swimming pool | Less than 24 inches deep |
| Window awning | Supported by the exterior wall and projecting no more than 54 inches |
| Finish work | Painting, papering, tiling, carpeting, cabinets, counter tops and similar |
| Sidewalks and driveways | Exempt, though driveway work at a public street needs a Public Works right-of-way permit |
Read the exemptions carefully, because they are narrower than they look. A 200-square-foot deck that is attached to the house needs a permit. A 4-foot wall holding back a driveway cut is supporting a surcharge and needs one too. And the City is explicit that exempt work must still meet zoning setbacks, critical-area rules and every other City regulation.
This is the step that separates an island permit from most mainland ones. Bainbridge has 53 miles of shoreline, and much of its interior is steep, wooded or wet. Three sets of rules can apply before the building code does.
Our view: on Bainbridge, the lot writes the first draft of the house. We look up the shoreline designation, mapped critical areas and tree constraints before we draw a floor plan. A design that ignores them does not get rejected at review; it gets redesigned at review, and the 30-day clock starts over.
For a lot you have not bought yet, that work is a feasibility study. For the island’s lot-coverage, setback and geotechnical rules in detail, see our guide to custom home design on Bainbridge Island.
The City no longer accepts paper. Every building permit application is submitted electronically through the Public Permit Portal, and the same account is used to schedule inspections and manage the permit afterward. The City’s Residential Building Projects page lists the checklist for each permit type: new single-family residence, addition or remodel, deck (B204), demolition (B205), retaining wall (B007), grading (B213), reroof (B207) and solar (B211).
The City says an application is not considered complete unless all required submittals are included, and incomplete applications are not accepted. Nothing else starts until that sentence is satisfied.
The City’s Building Division states that the initial review of a building permit application is generally 30 days from the date the application is deemed complete. Planning projects, such as a shoreline permit or a variance, run on a longer first cycle of about 60 days. Both are targets that depend on permit type and staff availability, not statutory deadlines. The City notes that resubmitted information and project revisions add review time.
From submittal to final, the City describes the process in seven steps:
In practice, the schedule is decided at steps 1 and 3. A complete set that answers the reviewers’ questions on the drawings can clear in one cycle. A set that draws a deficiency report goes back in the queue, and the 30-day figure applies to the first cycle only. That is why we treat the submittal set as the project’s most important deadline.
A new island home must do more than meet the energy code’s prescriptive insulation and window values. Under WAC 51-11R-40620, each new dwelling must also earn additional efficiency credits, chosen from options such as a higher-performance envelope, heat pump heating and water heating, and renewable energy. The permit drawings have to identify the selected options and their point values.
| Project (2021 Washington State Energy Code) | Efficiency credits required |
|---|---|
| Small dwelling: under 1,500 sq ft of conditioned floor area, with under 300 sq ft of windows | 5.0 |
| Medium dwelling: everything between small and large | 8.0 |
| Large dwelling: over 5,000 sq ft of conditioned floor area | 9.0 |
| Addition of 150 to 500 sq ft of heated floor area | 2.0 |
On a wooded island lot, the easy credits are not always available. A roof shaded by mature firs the tree code will not let you remove is a poor place for solar, so the credits have to come from the envelope and the mechanical systems instead. We settle that during design development, not after the plans examiner asks.
The City takes part in the countywide Pre-Approved ADU program, which offers five approved plans from 480 to 834 square feet, with a 1,000-square-foot three-bedroom plan pending. A homeowner requests the stamped set from the City and applies with it.
The City is clear, though, that pre-approved plans are still required to undergo the necessary review process: zoning, critical areas and shoreline designation are all checked for the lot. We design ADUs that fit island lots from the start, and adapt a pre-approved plan where one is the right fit.
The City reviews drawings, so the drawings decide the outcome. Bluefoot’s permit documents and management service covers the construction documents the Building Division reviews, coordination with the engineers whose stamped sheets the City requires, the energy code worksheet, and the responses when a reviewer asks a question. Bluefoot Architecture & Design was named Best Architect in the 2026 Best of Kitsap awards. We design; licensed contractors build.
Yes. Bainbridge Island is an incorporated city, and its Planning and Community Development department reviews and issues building permits for every property on the island. Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development does not handle island permits.
The City says the first review of a building permit application is generally 30 days from the date the application is deemed complete. Planning projects such as shoreline permits run about 60 days for the first cycle. Resubmittals and revisions add time, and the figures depend on staff availability.
One-story detached sheds of 200 square feet or less, fences up to 7 feet, retaining walls up to 4 feet that support no surcharge, detached decks of 200 square feet or less and no more than 30 inches above grade, prefabricated pools under 24 inches deep, and finish work such as painting, tile and cabinets. Exempt work must still meet zoning, critical-area and shoreline rules.
Any development within 200 feet of the ordinary high water mark is in shoreline jurisdiction. The City requires a Shoreline Substantial Development Exemption to be submitted before the building permit, and larger projects need a full shoreline permit under the Shoreline Master Program.
No. The City accepts building permit applications only through its Public Permit Portal. All documents must be PDFs, and plan sets are split into architectural, civil and structural sets.
Tell us the address and what you want to build. Bluefoot Architecture & Design will check the shoreline, critical-area and zoning rules that apply, design to them, and prepare the submittal set the City reviews. Contact Bluefoot Architecture & Design or call 360-602-2965 to start the conversation.