Memorandum 14-037 2014 Land Allocation Plan

Memorandum 14-037

TO:                      Mayor Beth Wythe and Homer City Council

THROUGH:      Walt Wrede, City Manager

FROM:                Julie Engebretsen, Deputy City Planner

DATE:                 March 4, 2014

SUBJECT:         2014 Land Allocation Plan

Background

Each year, the City Council reviews and approves which city properties should be made available for lease through the Land Allocation Plan. The Council requests the Commissions provide comments on which lands should be offered for lease.

Page 5 of the Property Management Policy and Procures Lease Policy, states, “The City Council shall identify which City properties are available for lease through its annual land allocation workshop process which includes the Lease Committee, the Planning Commission, the Port and Harbor Commission, and the Parks and Recreation Commission.”

In previous years, Commissions and bodies have reviewed all the City lands, and there is is usually a joint work session between the Council and Commissions. This year, in an effort to streamline the process, no joint work session was scheduled. Instead, each Commission provided comments via memorandum. Comments from the Economic Development, Planning, Parks and Recreation and Port and Harbor Commissions are attached. In general, the Commissions are interested in the opportunity to comment on City lands, but not specifically interested in leases. The Port and Harbor Commission is the exception; they have historically been an active in deciding what lands should be leased and which reserved for port facilities.

Recommended future process

1. The Port and Harbor Commission will recommend which lots to lease on the Spit. Those recommendations will be shared with the other Commissions for their comments, and forwarded to Council. Council will continue to pass an annual resolution for lease properties.

2. The full land allocation plan will be published after Council’s annual review. The plan will be available on the City website and through the clerk’s office, like the annual report. If the Commissions want to review more of the plan, or have questions about a specific lot, they can place the plan on their agenda. Otherwise, the Commissions review of the plan will pertain only to which lands should be available for lease on the Spit.

Staff recommendations: Council decide which lands be made available for lease during the work session. This will be brought back in a future resolution.

Attachments

1. Commission recommendations and minutes

2. 2014 Draft Land Allocation Plan