Planning Commission

CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Minutes - Final Planning Commission Wednesday, November 2, 2022 7:00 PM Harrigan Centennial Hall I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Present: Chris Spivey (Chair), Darrell Windsor (joined 7:06 PM), Katie Riley, Stacy Mudry, Thor Christianson (Assembly liaison) Absent: Wendy Alderson (excused) Staff: Amy Ainslie, Kim Davis Public: Rachel Jones, Shannon Haugland (Sentinel) Chair Spivey called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM. II. CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA III. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES A PM 22-19 M-Mudry/S-Riley moved to approve the October 19, 2022 meeting minutes. Motion passed 3-0 by voice vote. IV. PERSONS TO BE HEARD V. PLANNING DIRECTOR’S REPORT Ainslie gave the Commission some information regarding next steps on planning for the 2023 tourism season following the Assembly joint work session. Ainslie envisioned a special Planning Commission meeting held in order to compile recommendations and then a regular Planning Commission meeting to finalize the report and send it to the Assembly for review. Commissioners discussed availability for the special meeting which staff would coordinate. VI. REPORTS VII. THE EVENING BUSINESS B MISC 22-15 Public hearing and consideration of a parking plan review associated with CUP 22-14 (a conditional use permit previously approved allowing for five short-term rentals on the property) at 505 Sawmill Creek Road. The property is also known as Lots 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, Block 20, Sitka Townsite, U.S. Survey 1474, Tract A. The request is filed by Rachel Jones. The owners of CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 1 Planning Commission Minutes - Final November 2, 2022 record are Brendan Jones, Rachel Jones, Tripp LaRose, and Sherry LaRose. Ainslie introduced options for a parking plan which was a condition of approval for CUP 22-14, a conditional use permit that was previously approved allowing for five-short-term rentals on the property at 505 Sawmill Creek Road. The multifamily structure planned to have a total of 16 dwelling units. A final parking plan for the multifamily development was required to mitigate parking and traffic impacts identified during the permit review. The main considerations in the plans were the egress and ingress of traffic and the number of parking spaces. The 16 dwelling units would require 24 parking spaces per zoning code requirements. The applicants had prepared a few different parking plans for the Commission to review. Option A had ingress from the Baranof Street driveway which was enter only, egress from the Sawmill Creek Road driveway which was exit only, right turn only. Option B had ingress from the Sawmill Creek Road driveway which was enter only, egress from the Baranof Street driveway (exit only), and a right turn only on to Baranof Street. The rear parking lot was only accessed via the driveway on Baranof Street. In an effort to address traffic concerns from neighbors, the applicants had suggested making egress right turn only. Staff did not recommend requiring a right turn only for egress from the rear parking lot. The Planning Department had also received neighborhood concerns regarding visibility when exiting Baranof Street on to Sawmill Creek Road and by requiring a right turn only from the rear parking lot more traffic would routed through the intersection in question. DeGroff Street was also a recently improved, municipal right-of-way and there was no reason to route traffic away from it. Staff also shared there had been some public comments regarding concerns about the extra noise, traffic, and trash that had been generated over the summer. Staff recommended Option A. The applicant, Rachel Jones, was present. She agreed with staff on the summary of issues they were trying to mitigate by having a parking plan. She stated they were moving forward with financing from the bank and would be getting an appraisal soon since they had 60 percent plans for the building finalized, which they hoped to have to the Building Department by January 2023. They were aiming for an eco-friendly community and on the short-term rental side would be providing a car and bike share to guests. Their goal was to have shared resources as much as possible to reduce the need for parking. They were fine with the code required amount of parking. Riley asked if there had been considerations for guest parking with long-term renters. Jones anticipated the code required amount of parking of 1.5 spaces per unit would be enough, and that their lease agreements would be limited to one vehicle per unit. Riley also asked how enforcement of parking would be done. Jones stated there would be an full-time onsite property manager, 40 hours a week with duties to be on call after hours. Public comment was read into the record from Deuce Audette regarding concerns about vehicles parking on the sidewalk and in the road. There was also a lack of trash management and overflowing trash cans. Audette's concern was enforcement; if the property owners were unable to enforce the rules now, he had concerns for how would they would be enforced once the conditional use permit was actually being used. Commissioner Riley was in favor of keeping as much green space as possible and the code required minimum of 1.5 parking spaces. Spivey stated enforcement was going to be an issue the property owners would have to handle. The more parking, they had available the better and he agreed that egress from the Sawmill Creek Road driveway had to be right turn only. Windsor and Mudry also agreed with maintaining the code required minimum of 1.5 parking spaces. M/Riley-S/Mudry moved to find that condition eleven of the CUP 22-14 had been satisfied by the applicant. The parking plan as approved shall include the CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 2 Planning Commission Minutes - Final November 2, 2022 code required number of parking spaces for short-term and long-term rentals, ingress from the front parking lot via the Baranof Street driveway, egress from the front parking lot via the Sawmill Creek driveway and recommended that egress from the back parking lot be either Baranof Street to DeGroff Street or Baranof Street to Sawmill Creek Road. Motion passed 4-0 by voice vote. C P 22- 10 Ainslie introduced the final plat for a minor subdivision at 1190 Seward Avenue. The property would be divided into two lots - CBS was working to acquire the larger lot which would be approximately 1.8 acres with water frontage for the new seaplane base. The smaller lot would accommodate the U.S. Coast Guard right of way (ROW) grant and in the future could be merged with the rest of the U.S. Coast Guard property. A platting variance had already been granted to waive access and utility requirements for the smaller lot. The plat notes had been updated per the condition of approval of the preliminary plat. The lot was densely vegetated, and the subdivision of the property would open up more level terrain that would be useable for development of parking and other upland amenities for seaplane base users, as prior to the platting action much of the flat terrain was reserved under the ROW grant. Staff recommended approval. There was no public comment. Windsor asked if there would be a dock and staff clarified yes, a dock would be developed off the tidelands. M/Mudry-S/Windsor moved to approve the final plat for a minor subdivision to result in two lots at 1190 Seward Avenue in the P public lands district subject to the attached conditions of approval. The property was also known as Lot 15A, US Survey 1496. The request was filed by the City and Borough of Sitka. The owner of record was the State of Alaska, Department of Education and Early Development. Motion passed 4-0 by voice vote. M/Mudry-S/Windsor moved to adopt the findings as listed in the staff report. Motion passed 4-0 by voice vote. VIII. ADJOURNMENT Seeing no objections, Chair Spivey adjourned the meeting at 7:48 PM. CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 3