Daily Sitka Sentinel

Panel Advances Review Of Comprehensive Plan

By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer

The Planning Commission Wednesday night continued its review of Sitka’s comprehensive plan and use tables.

This week, the commission focused on borough facilities and the historical, cultural, and arts sections of Sitka’s comprehensive plan, and discussed items from those categories to put on their short list for action. 

The panel also examined the zones in which cultural and recreational facilities and development are permitted.

In the meeting’s regular business session, members unanimously approved two final subdivision plats.

Brendan Jones and family, of Stowaway Enterprises, also attended the meeting and introduced themselves to the commission under Persons to be Heard. The Joneses, along with the LaRose family, recently purchased the old Presbyterian church on Sawmill Creek Road, and will soon be working with the city planning department on a major redevelopment plan for the property.

Comprehensive Plan and Use Tables

In their continued review of the plan, commission members brought up ideas for a joint session with the Historic Preservation Commission on the topic of historic signage.

The premise of the joint session is in Section HCA 5.1c of the comprehensive plan, which reads “Encourage the display of interpretive signs for historic structures through zoning code provisions and other appropriate means.”

Commissioners expressed interest in the item – which they believe falls under the purview of both the planning and historic preservation commissions – largely because of public input at previous meetings.

This item is one of two short-list action items identified by the commission in the sections reviewed at the meeting. The other is Section BFS 8.8e pf the comprehensive plan, which commits the city to continuing “ongoing crime prevention and personal safety education, including bicycle and pedestrian safety programs for children, driver education, and crime prevention through community and environmental design.”

Commission member Katie Riley, who’s also on the Sitka Climate Action Task Force, asked Ainslie about climate sustainability, which Riley noted is a subject not covered in the comprehensive plan.

Ainslie said it was her understanding that the city’s climate task force was created, in part, because there is nothing in city language that speaks specifically to sustainability.

Riley’s comment came after her observation that Juneau’s planning commission works with that city’s climate sustainability commission. No proposal was made for the Sitka planning commission to meet with the Climate Action Task Force, which Riley and Ainslie said is still working to define its role in Sitka‘s city government.

Changes to the city’s cultural and recreational use tables in the city code will likely include more concrete definitions, such as those for parks, resorts, and amusement and entertainment. 

The commission will also look at consolidating definitions and permitted zones for personal use docks. There are currently five different kinds of personal use docks defined in the city’s use tables, which range from “accommodating waterborne aircraft” to “no perimeter restrictions, no restrictions on liveaboards and float planes.”

Commissioners also suggested opening more zones to radio stations, conference centers, amusement and entertainment, indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, and community centers.

They also asked about a playground zone, which does not appear in the cultural and recreational use tables. Ainslie said that fleshing out playground guidelines might also help to encourage childcare facilities in places near playgrounds.

Other business

The commission approved two final subdivision plats.

One is for the subdivision of the previously merged lot at 230 and 232 Lance Drive in the R-2 multifamily district. The properties are owned by Hardshot Enterprises, LLC, and also are known as Lot 7A Niesen Addition No. 2 Resubdivision.

The lots contain two fourplexes, and were merged in 1992 so that there would be enough square footage for the buildings. Because the minimum lot size was changed from 8,000 sqare feet to 6,000 square feet in 2019, the fourplexes can now exist on separate lots without creating nonconformities.

The other final plat merges the properties at 4654 and 4658 Sawmill Creek Road in the GP Gary Paxton special district, also known as Lots 17 and 18, Sawmill Cove Industrial Park Resubdivision No. 1.

The property is owned by the City and Borough of Sitka, and is now the site of a UV water treatment facility. Ainslie said the merging of the lots will vacate an unused utility easement, create a smoother property line, and eliminate a Department of Transportation error. It will also take advantage of more usable space that is not likely to be developed otherwise.