By ARIADNE WILL
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly has asked the Planning Commission to create a tourism master plan, Planning Director Amy Ainslie reported at Wednesday night’s commission meeting.
Panel members agreed with Ainslie’s suggestion that they kick off the process by holding a joint session with the Assembly. The meeting is scheduled 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 13 at Centennial Hall.
In other business Wednesday, the commission continued its review of the Sitka Comprehensive Plan, and use tables, and received the annual short-term rental report.
Tourism Master Plan
The Assembly memo requesting the creation of a tourism master plan is in reaction to forecasts that Sitka will receive around 400,000 cruise ship passengers in 2022.
Sitka’s biggest tourist season so far was in 2008, when around 280,000 passengers visited.
Work on a master plan has not yet started, but questions about transportation and dispersal of cruise ship passengers throughout the community have already arisen.
Scott Saline – who spoke under persons to be heard – mentioned a plan that was crafted by Sitkans in the early 2000s. He suggested that the commission look to it for information.
“Your tourism plan has already been written by the community,” Saline said.
Others speaking from the public – Joel Hanson, Kent Barkhau and Adrienne Wilber – requested the consideration of electric buses, as opposed to the diesel vehicles currently used to shuttle tourists from the Old Sitka dock to downtown.
Rachel Roy, executive director of the Sitka Chamber of Commerce and Laurie Booyse, director of Visit Sitka, introduced themselves and expressed interest in working with the commission on the tourism master plan.
Roy said she hopes the Chamber will act as a bridge between the city and the cruise ship industry, and Booyse said Visit Sitka is already talking about infrastructure as related to the 2022 cruise ship season.
Assembly member Thor Christianson — the Assembly’s liaison to the commission — pointed out that the tourism master plan will have to work with what the city can control.
“We can’t control how many boats come in because we don’t own the dock,” he said, adding that options such as electric buses will be something that the city can request.
Commissioner Katie Riley said she thinks the challenges associated with the projected 400,000 passenger season go beyond just transportation.
“I think the problem is a lot bigger than passenger and traffic dispersal,” Riley said. “We’re talking about an influx in seasonal workers and the housing that they’re going to need.”
She noted that housing is already a problem in Sitka, even without taking the needs of seasonal workers into account, and expressed interest in a more long-term plan.
Riley also called into question why a tourism master plan is only now being requested, since projections of a 400,000 passenger summer in 2022 have been available since 2019.
Comprehensive Plan and Use Tables
The commission reviewed allowed uses in Residential zones, but adjourned before finishing their review of the use table.
They made changes to where ADUs (accessory dwelling units) and bunkhouses for transient workers are permitted, and also fixed a clerical error that prohibited duplexes in R-1 Residential 1 Low Density - Mobile Home district.
Barth Hamberg, in a written comment, asked the commission to allow ADUs in more zones.
The commission didn’t open more zones to ADUs, but voted 4-1 to remove them as allowed uses in zones where they were previously permitted. Riley cast the opposing vote.
The zones in which ADUs previously were allowed – R-1 and R-2 – required the structures to meet 14 standards or else have a conditional use permit. With the change, all ADUs must now receive a conditional use permit, and can be constructed only in R-1, R-1 MH, R-1 LDMH, R-2, and R-2 MHP zones.
The commission voted informally to allow bunkhouses for transient workers in industrial and commercial zones.
The bunkhouse definition was changed to refer to “seasonl” workes instead of “transient” workers. “Transient” refers to workers present for no more than 30 days, and “seasonal” applies to those who come, in Sitka’s case, to work all summer.
The commission reviewed the Comprehensive Plan sections on transportation, parks, trails, recreation, and land use.
The body identified action item PTR 6.1 of the comprehensive plan as something that should be added to their shortlist. The item resolves to “develop use permitting procedures for commercial use of recreational facilities, including but not limited to temporary food vendors and recreation equipment rentals.”
Under comments, Joel Hanson and Adrienne Wilber requested changes in the number of animals allowed on property. Both had in mind animals such as chickens, ducks, and rabbits.
The comprehensive plan and shortlist items can be found in the agenda for the Wednesday meeting, at sitka.legistar.com. The comprehensive plan is also posted on the city website under the Planning Department tab .
Comments regarding the tourism master plan, the comprehensive plan, or the review of the city’s use tables can be submitted by email to planning@cityofsitka.org, or by calling (907) 747-1814.
Short-term Rental Report
Ainslie and Planner 2 Ben Mejia delivered the annual short-term rental report.
It shows 57 active short-term rental permits currently are in Sitka. But Ainslie said this isn’t quite representative. Because of the pandemic, permit holders were not required to rent their short-term units the minimum of one night required to keep a permit active.
The data also show a substantial increase in vacancy rates between 2019 and 2020, though there was some questioning about whether this data is reliable.
Ainslie noted that in 2020 the data was collected in mid March, before the start of the summer season, when many units are empty. But the commissioners said the number should be reliable if the data is collected at that time each year.
The report showed that, despite the pandemic, short-term rentals generated $21,293 in bed tax revenue for the city, and an average of $6,695 in income for conditional use permit holders.
Mejia said short-term rentals are scattered throughout Sitka, with a higher density in the downtown area.
Riley said she would like to see an ordinance or legislation limiting short-term rentals to properties that are also the primary residence of the property owner.
This was also supported by a written comment from Robert Schell. who said he does not want to see “hotels in residential areas.”
