By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Planning Commission granted a variance to Travis Vaughn at the regular meeting Wednesday night.
The variance will allow Vaughn to expand deck areas on a duplex at 1904 Cascade Creek Road into the front setback of the property.
The variance takes into account the existing one-foot encroachment by the building foundation and the additional three-foot encroachment by the existing decks. By authorizing a seven-foot variance, the commission allowed Vaughn to extend the decks an additional three feet.
The decks on the property are necessary for people to enter the building, and Vaughn said his planned extensions would make it easier for renters to move furniture in and out of the building.
There was no public comment on the issue and the commission members voted unanimously to grant the variance.
“It’s going to be much safer to move things in and out of this property,” Vaughn said.
The commission also reviewed two existing land use policies in the city code, but no motion was made to amend either one.
One concerned the issue of permitted and conditional uses in Sitka’s commercial and industrial zones, particularly in relation to residential development in those zones.
The commission also talked about the C-1 and C-2 zoning designations, and the possibility of combining them into one classification.
Members of the panel expressed interest in protecting C-1 and C-2 zones from residential development, but also suggested changing areas – such as the one off the 1300 block of Sawmill Creek Road that includes Lillian Drive – from commercial and industrial to residential.
In other business, the commission reviewed – but took no action on – the zoning code’s required setbacks on land bordered by tidelands.
There was confusion as to the origin of the tideland setback standards, but some members speculated that they were put in place to keep structures from being built on coastal land subject to erosion.
