By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly will consider an ordinance at tonight’s meeting adding residency requirements and other rules for short-term rental conditional use permits.
The ordinance, co-sponsored by Kevin Knox and Kevin Mosher, is intended “to discourage the removal of long-term housing stock,” Knox said today.
The regular Assembly meeting starts at 6 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall.
Other business on the agenda includes the establishment of a sustainability commission and an update of city building codes. The Assembly also will vote on allocation of federal secure rural schools funding.
Assembly approval will be sought on two grant proposals, each requiring a local match. One is for a $500,000 U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads grant to the city, and the other is for a $50,000 state historic preservation grant requested by the Sitka Maritime History Society for improvements to the boathouse on Japonski Island. The Sitka Historic Preservation Commission has recommended approval of the grant. The local share for the grants will be city staff time and “in-kind and donated resources.”
Short-Term Rentals
The proposed ordinance received “general approval” by the Sitka Planning Commission on a 3-1 vote at last Wednesday’s commission meeting. Knox and Mosher proposed the ordinance in response to public comments at an April Town Hall meeting on short-term rentals.
“A lot of people at the town hall meeting asked for these three things,” Knox said, listing the provisions of the ordinance: the short-term rental must be on property that is the owner’s primary residence for at least 180 days a year, and the permit will end with transfer of the property to a new owner, or when the property is no longer the owner’s primary residence.
The ordinance applies to residential areas where a conditional use permit is required for a short-term rental. Those are R-1 and related zones, and R-2 and related zones.
The ordinance says the section related to primary residence requirements should be “strictly followed,” but notes:
“However, exceptions may be granted in cases of extreme personal hardship to the applicant, determined by the Planning Commission,” the ordinance states.
“The hardship can’t be for purely financial reasons,” Knox said.
He said if residents need examples for how the ordinance would apply, they should consider what transpired at the most recent Planning Commission meeting.
“There were two short-term rentals approved – with this (new ordinance) one would have been allowed and the other would not,” Knox said.
The ordinance would add a new set of boxes to the table in the city code, clarifying the initiation and termination periods for short-term rental conditional use permits. In the boxes answering “whether permit is transferable upon sale or transfer of ownership of subject property,” it says “No” for STRs.
Permits aren’t transferable for B&Bs, either.
If the ordinance passes tonight without major changes, it will be up for second and final reading September 12. The proposed effective date is September 14.
Secure Rural Schools
At the end of the agenda, the Assembly will take up the question of secure rural schools federal funds – formerly called “timber receipts” – provided to municipalities for schools and roads.
The state sent Sitka a letter, telling the mayor and staff that the city needs to elect an allocation for its FY23 secure rural schools payment, as current allocations have expired. Sitka has not been asked for an allocation since 2013.
“Currently 85% (the maximum) goes to Title I, which is the annual payment that we have historically shared with the Sitka School District, with what isn’t given to the schools supporting roads. The city must allocate a maximum of 20% and a minimum of 15% to either Title II or Title III program categories, or we can choose to return the funding to the federal government,” the memo from City Finance Director Melissa Haley said.
The recommendation from city staff is to “Maintain the status quo Secure Rural Schools allocation of 85% Title I funding and 15% Title II funding.”
Title II is given to the U.S. Forest Service and projects are recommended by the Resource Advisory Committee with members from Sitka, Yakutat, Lynn Canal, Icy Strait and Juneau.
Title III funds are restricted to projects on federal lands for such uses as wildfire protection, some telecommunications services in schools or emergency services on federal land. Haley noted the city still has some $513,000 in Title III funds, with no imminent plans to spend them. In the past it’s been used for reimbursement of search and rescue costs on federal lands.
Once the city receives word on the total it expects to receive through SRS, the Assembly and School Board decide how to split the Title 1 funds.
“This year we said up to $500,000 would go to schools,” Haley said. Anything above that would go to the city, for roads.
