Session
10-05, a Regular Meeting of the Homer Advisory Planning Commission was called to
order by Chair Minsch at 7:07 p.m. on March 17, 2010 at the City Hall Cowles
Council Chambers located at 491 E. Pioneer Avenue, Homer, Alaska.
PRESENT: COMMISSIONER BOS, DRUHOT, HIGHLAND,
KRANICH, MINSCH, SINN
STAFF: CITY PLANNER ABBOUD
PLANNING TECHNICIAN
ENGEBRETSEN
DEPUTY CITY CLERK
JACOBSEN
APPROVAL OF
AGENDA
The
agenda was approved by consensus of the Commission.
PUBLIC COMMENT
The public may speak to the Planning
Commission regarding matters on the agenda that are not scheduled for public hearing or plat consideration. (3 minute time limit).
There
were no public comments.
RECONSIDERATION
No
reconsiderations were scheduled.
ADOPTION OF
CONSENT AGENDA
All items on the consent agenda are
considered routine and non-controversial by the Planning Commission and are
approved in one motion. There will be
no separate discussion of these items unless requested by a Planning
Commissioner or someone from the public, in which case the item will be moved
to the regular agenda and considered in normal sequence.
A. Approval of Minutes of March 3, 2010
The
consent agenda was approved by consensus of the Commission.
PRESENTATIONS
No
presentations were scheduled.
REPORTS
A. Staff Report PL 10-27, City Planner’s
Report
City
Planner Abboud reviewed the staff report.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Testimony limited to 3 minutes per
speaker. The Commission conducts Public Hearings by hearing a staff report, presentation
by the applicant, hearing public testimony and then acting on the Public
Hearing items. The Commission may
question the public. Once the public hearing is closed the
Commission cannot hear additional comments on the topic. The applicant is not held to the 3
minute time limit.
A. Staff Report PL 10-23 Conditional Use
Permit (CUP) 10-03, Amending CUP 04-13, Alaska Marine Highway System at 4667
Homer Spit Road
Chair
Minsch passed the gavel to Vice Chair Kranich and declared a conflict of
interest.
SIN/BOS
MOVED THAT CHAIR MINSCH HAS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST.
Chair
Minsch advised that she has a real estate sale pending on one of the Condominiums
that neighbor this property.
There
was brief discussion.
VOTE:
YES: BOS, DRUHOT, KRANICH, HIGHLAND, SINN
Motion
carried.
Chair
Minsch left the table.
City
Planner Abboud reviewed the staff report. He noted a letter that was presented
as a laydown from Land’s End regarding a specific budget for landscaping for
this project.
Cindi
Parsons Alaska Marine Highway System Terminal Manager and Reuben Yost, DOT
Southeast Region Design Project Manager commented. It was explained that the
building will store the ships supplies. They had wanted to have the building on
the terminal property but it did not work out with the City, and they agreed on
this proposed location. The size is necessary to accommodates supplies received
on a daily basis. It is oriented to provide the shortest route possible from
the ship to the warehouse. The size needs to allow for adequate room for a forklift
to maneuver and to have a 12x10 area where deliveries can be made to a secure
space, and the rest of the building will be secure. The apron will be paved and
they hope to have sufficient funds to work with the City to pave the access
road. A chain link fence with colored slats will surround the dumpster. They
are not specifying a building color but intend to select a neutral color. Mr.
Yost said he was unprepared to comment to the cost of the proposed landscaping
and is unaware of anything in City ordinance requiring them to commit to a
dollar amount. He explained there is already landscaping on the east side in
the right-of-way, which won’t be affected, that includes beach grass and about
7 small spruce trees. They can either increase the density of spruce trees on
that side or if an agreement can be made with the condo owners they could do
some landscaping. Along the south side of the property the landscape buffer
also needs to function as a drainage swale as the lot drains that way and the
drainage easement is off to the west. They need to be able to convey drainage
along that south line, which wouldn’t work well with planting spruce trees
there. However there is intent to contact the condo association to see if they
can do something with the mound that is on both properties. Mr. Yost corrected
that there is an 8 foot buffer for half of the length of the back 200 foot line
and then a 4 foot buffer for the remainder. In the environmental document and
the application they committed that they would not pave the lot, other than the
approach for the forklift so they would not change the drainage on the lot. The
roof of the building will be sloped so the high side is on the north and low
side is on the south.
There
was brief discussion with the applicants regarding the forklift accessibility
and confirming they are attempting to maintain the current drainage pattern.
Vice
Chair Kranich opened the public hearing. There were no public comments and the
public hearing was closed.
SINN/BOS
MOVED TO ADOPT STAFF REPORT PL 10-23, CUP 10-03 WITH CONDITION 1-3 AND FINDINGS
1-10.
There
was brief discussion clarifying that there is no provision in code that
requires a dollar amount specific to landscaping requirements. City Planner
confirmed that there is no such requirement and the landscaping proposed is
appropriate.
VOTE:
DRUHOT, HIGHLAND, KRANICH, SINN, BOS
Motion
carried.
Chair
Minsch returned to the table and resumed the Chair.
PLAT
CONSIDERATION
No
plats were scheduled for consideration.
PENDING BUSINESS
A. Staff Report PL 10-26, Homer Spit
Comprehensive Plan
KRANICH/BOS
MOVED TO DEFER DISCUSSION ON THE SPIT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UNTIL RETURNED FROM
STAFF AT A FUTURE WORKSESSION.
There
was brief discussion about the process of the plan that has brought the
Commission to this point.
VOTE:
NON OBJECTION: UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion
carried.
B. Staff Report PL 10-20, Appointment to the
Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)
Commissioner
Highland volunteered to participate on the TAC.
KRANICH/SINN
MOVED TO RECOMMEND COMMISSIONER HIGHLAND FOR THE SEAT ON THE TRANSPORTATION
ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
It
was noted that she would be reporting information back to the Commission from
the TAC meetings.
VOTE:
NON OBJECTION: UNANIMOUS CONSENT
Motion
carried.
C. Staff Report PL 10-17, Land Allocation Plan
KRANICH/BOS
MOVED TO DISCUSS THE DRAFT LAND ALLOCATION PLAN.
There
was no objection and discussion ensued.
Chair
Minsch noted that the Commission talked about the Land Allocation Plan at
tonight’s worksession.
The
Commission agreed that they would not forward a recommendation because they do
not appear to have a unified position. Other comments included:
·
Council
does not give the Commission information to make decisions on; they are
presented with a hundred pages of properties and their designations. They could
spend hours on the plan, but the Commission has seen that Council doesn’t do much
if anything with the Commissions input.
·
The
current structure of the review isn’t effective and is not a valuable use of
the Commission’s time.
Commissioner
Kranich said he plans to attend the meeting. It was noted that any of the other
Commissioners could attend if they are interested in the process.
NEW BUSINESS
A.
Staff
Report PL 10-22, State of Alaska Right-of-way Acquisition for East End Road
Planning
Technician Engebretsen reviewed the staff report and discussed the process of
the acquisition with the Commission.
The
Commission had no recommendations and no action was taken.
B.
Staff
Report PL 10-25, Dirt Work Ordinance
City
Planner Abboud reviewed the staff report.
KRANICH/BOS
MOVED TO BRING THIS TO THE FLOOR FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE REVISION.
There
was no objection and discussion ensued. Points discussed included:
·
Homer
has no building regulations, why regulate the fill.
·
Line
17, how does one define a large rock.
·
Most
excavators aren’t going to be filling with large rocks, stumps, or garbage.
·
The
ordinance needs to be enforceable.
·
Line
29/30 “retention ditches, silt fencing, and storm water settling ponds” change “and”
to “or” so it does not seem all inclusive.
·
When
developing in mapped wetland area the proper documentation is required by the
City.
·
Clarify
garbage on lines 17 and 44.
·
If
the City Engineer is going to be responsible for reviewing, a fiscal note
should be included so Council will be aware of the impact.
KRANICH/BOS
MOVED TO REQUEST STAFF SEND THE DRAFT DIRT WORK ORDINANCE TO LEGAL FOR REVIEW
AND THEN RETURN TO THE COMMISSION FOR REVIEW.
There
was no discussion.
VOTE:
NON OBJECTION: UNANIMOUS CONSENT.
Motion
carried.
INFORMATIONAL
MATERIALS
A.
Letter
Dated March 10, 2010 to Darren Williams, Refuge Room from Rick Abboud, City
Planner regarding Use of Refuge Room/Enforcement Order
COMMENTS OF THE
AUDIENCE
Members of the audience may address
the Commission on any subject. (3 minute
time limit)
No
audience was present to comment.
COMMENTS OF STAFF
Staff
had no comments.
COMMENTS OF THE
COMMISSION
Commissioners
Sinn and Druhot had no comment.
Commissioner
Bos wished everyone Happy St. Patrick’s Day. He said it was a good meeting.
Commissioner
Kranich said it was a good meeting and they covered a lot.
Commissioner
Highland said she would like to see about getting the storm water management
plan on the agenda for ordinance work to begin. There was discussion of the
process for the worklist. She will make a list to bring for the worklist
discussion. It was requested that she be provided with a copy of the worklist.
She thanked everyone.
Chair
Minch commended the group on their work tonight.
ADJOURN
Meetings adjourn promptly at 10 p.m.
An extension is allowed by a vote of the Commission. Notice of the next regular
or special meeting or work session will appear on the agenda following
“adjournment”.
There
being no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting adjourned
at 9:07 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for April 7, 2010 at 7:00
p.m. in the City Hall Cowles Council Chambers. There is a worksession at 5:30
p.m. prior to the meeting.
MELISSA
JACOBSEN,
Approved: