Planning Commission

CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Minutes - Final Planning Commission Wednesday, January 15, 2025 7:00 PM Harrigan Centennial Hall I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Present: Darrell Windsor (Chair), Katie Riley, Wendy Alderson, Stacy Mudry, Robin Sherman Absent: Thor Christianson (Assembly Liaison) Staff: Kim Davis, Ariadne Will Public: Cathy Li (Sitka Sentinel) Chair Windsor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. II. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Commissioners voted to re-elect Chair Windsor and Vice Chair Riley. M-Mudry/S-Alderson moved to elect Darrell Windsor as Chair. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. M-Alderson/S-Sherman moved to elect Katie Riley as Vice Chair. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. III. CONSIDERATION OF THE AGENDA IV. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES A PM 25-01 Approve the December 18, 2024 meeting minutes. M-Mudry/S-Alderson moved to approve the December 18, 2024 meeting minutes. Motion passed 5-0 by voice vote. V. PERSONS TO BE HEARD VI. PLANNING DIRECTOR’S REPORT Davis said that the planning director had nothing to report. VII. REPORTS VIII THE EVENING BUSINESS B MISC 25-01 Discussion of Annual Short-Term Rental Report. CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 1 Planning Commission Minutes - Final January 15, 2025 Davis asked commissioners if they wanted to add any questions to the annual short-term rental report, which was to be sent out to permit holders by February. Commissioners did not propose further questions to add to the survey but did request staff look into tax data to try to estimate the median income per permit. Commissioner Sherman said the median might be a better indicator than the mean income per permit, which was prone to skew due to luxury rentals. Davis reminded the commission that only short-term rental permits with a reporting requirement had to answer the questionnaire. Chair Windsor requested staff look into older permits for short-term rentals and bed and breakfast's to see about adding reporting requirements retroactively. Commissioner Sherman said that she wanted to be careful about adding requirements to older permits and said that she didn't want to cause anxiety for longtime business owners. Staff would research to see how many of those permits were still in operation. C MISC 25-02 Discussion of Sitka General Code Title 21 and 22 amendments. Davis introduced a discussion item that asked commissioners to consider which sections of Title 22 Zoning and Title 21 Subdivision code they would like to review first. Will mentioned staff had created a list of code sections that could benefit from clarification. She said that reviewing zoning use tables for docks was a priority. Chair Windsor and Commissioner Mudry said they had begun a review of zoning use tables in 2020 and 2021. Chair Windsor said that he believed the commission had taken action to change some use tables at that time, and requested to begin review where they had left off in 2021, when the body was tasked with the creation of the Short-Term Tourism Plan. Commissioners agreed that clarification of the zoning use tables related to docks should take priority. They said they also wanted to flesh out definitions for rooming houses, dormitories, and related uses. Commissioner Sherman asked that staff include in code amendment discussion the different types of a use, how the use was defined, and where the use was allowed. Will said that in addition to staff's list of code sections there were good candidates for amendment, staff had grouped together different parts of code on the list that could be packaged and brought to the Assembly for adoption. The commission requested access to the list of code sections and the groupings. No motion was made but Commissioner Riley informally requested staff bring a discussion item to the March 5, 2025 planning commission meeting, which would include discussion of docks and possibly rooming houses and related uses. IX. ADJOURNMENT Chair Windsor adjourned the meeting at 7:54 p.m. CITY AND BOROUGH OF SITKA Page 2