Planning Commission

CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Minutes - Final Planning Commission Wednesday, October 5, 2022 7:00 PM Harrigan Centennial Hall I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Present: Chris Spivey (Chair), Darrell Windsor, Stacy Mudry, Wendy Alderson, Katie Riley, Thor Christianson (Assembly liaison) Staff: Amy Ainslie, Kim Davis Public: Marty Johnson, Devin Johnson, Amanda Chambers, Klinton Chambers, Becky Martello Chair Spivey called the meeting to order at 7:04pm. II. CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA III. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES A PM 22-17 M-Mudry/S-Alderson moved to approve the September 21, 2022 meeting minutes. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. IV. PERSONS TO BE HEARD V. PLANNING DIRECTOR’S REPORT Ainslie reported a joint work session between the Planning Commission and the Assembly would be held on October 27, 2022 at 6:00PM at Harrigan Centennial Hall on tourism. Feedback would be given from the public tourism survey and other city departments on how the season went. This would be the start of the planning process for next year. The appeal for V 22-15 would be published on October 7, 2022 for any commissioners who would like to review the documents and attend the meeting. Spivey stated he would be at the appeal. CBS had hired Bri Gabel as the Sustainability Coordinator, a new position within the Planning and Community Development Department. This position would be the staff liaison to the newly created Sustainability Commission. VI. REPORTS VII. THE EVENING BUSINESS B VAR 22-17 Ainslie introduced a variance request for an increase in height of an accessory CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 1 Planning Commission Minutes - Final October 5, 2022 structure to 21’ to build a detached garage to fit between the house and the side setback. Garages are expressly named as an example of an enjoyment of property right that should be preserved through the variance process when necessary/appropriate, and a common accessory use. This would have a low impact on the neighborhood which was low density and there were no private property owners behind the structure. There was also a lot of vegetation around the property which created visual buffer. The existing house and its placement constricted the building area and that was one of the special circumstances which could be considered when justifying the request. Staff recommended approval. Applicants Marty Johnson and Devin Johnson stated they did not want to attach the garage to the house, because the house would likely be torn down in the future due to its age and construction. The applicants also wished to create dry space between the home and the garage, which the taller height allowed for as the garage eave would overhang the roof of the house. Commissioners had no questions for the applicants and there was no public comment. M/Mudry-S/Windsor moved to approve the zoning variance for an increase in height of an accessory structure to 21’ at 4202 Halibut Point Road in the C-2 General Commercial and Mobile Home District subject to the attached conditions of approval. The property was also known as Lot 2 Bowen Subdivision. The request was filed by Marty Johnson. The owner of record was Devin Colliver-Johnson. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. M/Mudry-S/Windsor moved to adopt and approve the required findings for variances involving major structures or expansions as listed in the staff report. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. C CUP 22-25 Ainslie introduced a request for a conditional use permit for a short-term rental. The applicants wanted to use their primary residence for a short-term rental during vacations from the Sitka School District. The house had 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, and was just over 1500 sq ft. There were two parking spaces at the front of the house. Applicants had listed a maximum of 6 guests, and quiet hours from 10pm-6am. They would be using the garage for trash storage and there would be no fish or game processing allowed. The house was well buffered by vegetation, a rock wall and lawn areas. There was also a privacy fence under construction along the south and west property line. Staff recommended approval. The applicants came forward. Amanda Chambers worked at the school district and Klinton Chambers was a charter captain. They would be renting their house out during the summers and when on vacation. In answering a question from Alderson, they stated that they would not have charter guests staying at the rental from K. Chamber's chartering business. The house was accessed by an easement, but they had not heard any concerns from their neighbors regarding the application. There was no public comment. Commissioners thanked the applicants for the thorough directions listed on the renter handout and clear provisions for how guests would handle garbage (including the prohibition on fish processing). M/Riley-S/Alderson moved to approve the conditional use permit for a short-term rental at 102 Lance Drive in the R-2 multifamily residential district subject to the attached conditions of approval. The property was also known as CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 2 Planning Commission Minutes - Final October 5, 2022 Lot 2, Lance Drive Planned Unit Development. The request was filed by Amanda and Klinton Chambers. The owners of record were Amanda and Klinton Chambers. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. M/Riley-S/Alderson moved to adopt and approve the required findings for conditional use permits as listed in the staff report. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. D CUP 22-26 Ainslie introduced a request for a conditional use permit for a short-term rental. The applicants wanted to use their primary residence for a short-term rental when they were at their island cabin, which was primarily in the summer months. The house had 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, and was just under 1200 sq ft. There were two parking spaces at the front of the house, but the renter handout limited guests to 1 vehicle. Quiet hours were listed from 10pm-8am. The neighborhood was dense with many STR’s; however, the property was well buffered by vegetation, green space, and fencing. Staff recommend approval. Applicant Becky Martello stated they would be living at their island cabin during the summers, and this would help with the increasing costs of living in Sitka. They would be managing the short-term rental by themselves since they would still be coming into town most days and it was a 10-minute boat ride. Martello stated they keep the trash in the fence back yard and they could always construct a better container if there are any bear related problems. There was no public comment. Alderson stated the density in the area was somewhat high, but this was exactly what the new ordinance providing for primary residence requirements was tailored for. Spivey and Riley agreed with Alderson about the density of short-term rentals in the neighborhood and said that the density of STR’s in this neighborhood would be a factor they would continue to review for impacts. M/Riley-S/Mudry moved to approve the conditional use permit for a short-term rental at 202 Jeff Davis Street in the R-2 multifamily residential district subject to the attached conditions of approval. The property was also known as Lot 16, Sheldon Jackson Campus Subdivision of U.S Survey 407B. The request was filed by Rebecca and Michael Martello. The owners of record were Rebecca and Michael Martello. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. M/Riley-S/Mudry moved to adopt and approve the required findings for conditional use permits as listed in the staff report. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. E MISC 22-14 Ainslie reported on the upcoming Assembly and Planning Commission joint work session on the short-term tourism plan. Ainslie stated there had been over 500 responses so far on the tourism survey which would close on October 15th. Staff wanted to make sure commissioners had all of the information they needed for the joint work session. Riley asked about the type of outreach that was done to reach downtown businesses. Staff had an email list which the survey was sent to, and they also canvassed downtown businesses to hand out flyers. Windsor asked if staff made the survey ourselves and why would age be collected. Staff did create the survey and by collecting the data on different age groups provided staff with the data to track our demographic changes and to see how different demographics were affected during the CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 3 Planning Commission Minutes - Final October 5, 2022 season. The data was also collected to help inform the traffic study and was a best practice to get certain markers when conducting a survey. Staff was also collecting data on locations of where people lived to see how traffic was impacting different parts of town, but all demographic or personal information questions had a 'prefer not to answer' option. There was also discussion about the Walk, Bike, Win program, a campaign designed to reward and incentivize people to walk or bike downtown instead of driving. Riley asked about how the work session would be structured and what would be discussed so commissioners could be prepared. Ainslie stated Visit Sitka and other organizations would be invited to provide feedback and staff would be getting feedback from other CBS departments to understand what worked and what didn’t work. Staff would also be sharing some of the data from the cost allocation study to better understand the fiscal impacts to CBS infrastructure and whether CBS could be using passenger funds to transfer into the infrastructure fund. Riley suggested reaching out to Chris McGraw from the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal to see if he would be interested attending/presenting. After the joint work session, the Planning Commission would be able to come back together to make plan recommendations to the Assembly for next summer. There was no public comment. VIII. ADJOURNMENT Seeing no objections, Chair Spivey adjourned the meeting at 7:44pm. CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 4