By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
After about two hours of discussion and public comment Wednesday, the Planning Commission denied a request for a conditional use permit that would have allowed Youth Advocates of Sitka to operate a quasi-institutional group home at 3411 Halibut Point Road.
The vote comes two months after the commission turned down a previous request by Youth Advocates for similar use of a property on Dodge Circle. Each of the requests was opposed by a majority of the neighborhood property owners who voiced their opinions on the proposed uses of the property.
City staff recommended approval of the application, which would have allowed year-round use of the two-story duplex as a group home for up to 12 clients ages 16-21.
In other business Wednesday the commission heard a presentation on the Annual Short-Term Rental Report.
YAS Permit Request
Several neighbors and others voiced opinions on the permit request to operate a group home at 3411 Halibut Point Road, which is in the R-1 MH single-family, duplex and manufactured home district.
The house at 3411 Halibut Point Road is pictured today. (Sentinel Photo)
Youth Advocates of Sitka said the group home would be a pilot program under professional management that would operate year-round, providing treatment to youths who are at risk of or have experienced homelessness and trafficking. In its conditional use permit application the nonprofit youth advocacy program said it would like to purchase the waterfront lot with its 4,086-square-foot building.
Panel members Wendy Alderson and Katie Riley voted in favor of granting the request. Chris Spivey, Darrell Windsor and Stacy Mudry voted against. The denial was followed by the commission’s unanimous vote on findings denying the request on the grounds it would “adversely affect the established character of the surrounding vicinity due to the incompatible use with R-1 zoning, and the unified dissent of the neighborhood indicated high potential for neighborhood disharmony.”
As in January, the commission also found that the disharmony would “impact the ability of the proposal to meet its stated purpose.”
Along with 11 written comments, 19 members of the public provided in-person testimony at the Wednesday meeting.
This included several neighbors who opposed the permit request, and many community members who voiced support for it.
Those in favor of the permit request included Raylene Arntzen, the current owner of the property.
She said that — contrary to what some of her neighbors argued — the people who would be enrolled in this program are not criminals but victims.
“If not my home,” she said, the program needs to be established “somewhere, before the time runs out on these kids.”
Her arguments were similar to others in support of the permit request.
“The potential residents of this home are casualties of circumstance,” read a comment from the Sitka Woman’s Club. “They are not a menace to our community.”
Concerns from neighbors were the same as those voiced at YAS’s permit hearing in January: neighbors mostly feared that the presence of the program would make it unsafe for children and the elderly. Others said they were nervous about possible noise, police presence, and substance use near the property.
Jared Galanin, who lives a few houses down from 3411 Halibut Point Road, told the commission he used to live near a residential treatment program run by YAS.
“There were many disturbances,” he said. “The police were there frequently. (The clients) were loud.”
Galanin’s wife, Brit, also spoke in opposition to the request, and gave the commission a petition signed by 41 neighbors opposing the permit request.
The possible effect of the group home on property values was also brought up by several commenters.
Following public comment, the commission expressed interest in postponing action on the request and holding a town hall so that neighbors and YAS could have a more calm and direct dialogue.
But YAS executive director Heather Meuret said she felt that the group had already done plenty to engage neighbors.
“You’re hearing from people who are squeaky wheels,” she said.
Short-Term Rental Report
In other business, Planning Director Amy Ainslie reported on the findings of the Annual Short-Term Rental Report. In 2022 “total implied revenue” from STRs in residential zones was $1,066,617, producing $63,997 in bed tax for the city, the report said. It was the first year for the revenue figure to exceed $1 million.
Ainslie said a trend of “leveling off” has continued over the past few years: 2022 saw 62 total short-term rental permits, of which 48 were active and in use.
The short-term rentals included in the data set are only those operated as conditional uses. The city does not have figures on the number of short term rentals in zones where no conditional use permit is required.
At the start of 2023, 56 short-term rental permits were active, according to the report.
Ainslie said that this leveling-off — as well as a somewhat even distribution of short-term rentals throughout town — may mean that it’s not yet time to investigate density limits for short-term rental permits.
She told the panel she’s looked into what other communities have done to address the density of short-term rentals, but hasn’t found anything that could be especially useful to Sitka.
Solutions other communities have reached include proximity limits, limiting the number or percentage of units within a multi-family building, and overall caps on the number of short-term rental units within a given area.
2023 is the first full year in which those applying for short-term rental permits are eligible only if the unit is also their primary residence. Entering this year, 61% of units are the owner’s primary residence, and 39% are not.
“With the ‘natural attrition’ seen for conditional use permits, we expect to see a greater proportion of permits that are on the primary residence of the permit holder over time,” the report reads.
Ainslie said the average permit holder made around $22,000 from a short-term rental in 2022. That’s good news, she said, given that many applicants state that they hope a short-term rental permit will help them to afford homeownership.
Also included in the report is further financial information and airline data, given that most short-term rental customers arrive in Sitka by plane.
The full report can be accessed by going to Sitka.Legistar.com and opening the agenda linked under the April 5 Planning Commission meeting. It is listed under Item B.
