FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

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Daily Sitka Sentinel

Short-Term Rental On a Boat Proposed

By SHANNON HAUGLaND

Sentinel Staff Writer

The Sitka Planning Commission deferred action Tuesday night on a short-term rental permit for a boat in Crescent Harbor.

Panel members said they liked the proposal but needed some questions answered first about what safety standards the city planned for short-term rentals on boats. They also wanted the Port and Harbors Commission to weigh in.

If approved, the permit sought by Bruce and Ann-Marie Parker would be the first the Planning Department has granted to designate a boat for a short-term rental.

The Parkers sought a conditional use permit to allow them to rent out five guest cabins in their boat in Crescent Harbor. The boat has bathrooms and a large galley, they said.

“I think this is a great thing to try,” commission member Randy Hughey said. “If this doesn’t meet the standards, what will? ... It’s a question of what is safe and appropriate housing.”

The city requires fire and life safety inspections by the building department before residents can open their homes as short-term rentals and bed and breakfast establishments. Commission members wondered how that would apply to a vessel, which is much different from a house.

They agreed to bring together “a consortium” of interested parties to weigh in, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the building department, the fire marshal, the harbor master and the Port and Harbors Commission.

“We should have something in place saying that’s what they’re going to use,” Chairman Chris Spivey said of the safety standards.

The item will come back with recommendations for life and safety standards aboard boats that are used as short term rentals.

Attending Tuesday night’s meeting were Spivey, Hughey, Debra Pohlman and Darrell Windsor. The city is advertising for applicants for appointment to the vacant fifth seat on the commission.

Another issue that received quite a bit of discussion was a proposal for a short-term rental and bed and breakfast conditional use permit at 1948 Dodge Circle, by Patricia and Brock Bauder.

The commission voted 4-0 to approve the combination permit, allowing the four-bedroom home to be either a bed and breakfast or a short-term rental, but not both at the same time.

A few letters from residents in the R-1 neighborhood were read to either show support or express concern.

Mary Todd Andersen, who also lives on Dodge Circle, told the commission Tuesday she was concerned with the poor maintenance of the street, and about traffic, safety, parking and road conditions in icy and snowy weather. She said the road was not built to handle its current uses, and she was concerned about anything that might increase traffic, safety and parking issues.

“The road is in horrible shape,” she said. “It’s a very narrow road – drive up there and you’ll see.”

Patricia Bauder said she didn’t believe the operations would increase traffic or parking because there will be fewer people since her children are grown and no longer living in the home.

“There will be a lot less traffic than there has been in the Bauder home,” she said. Access to the Bauders is from Halibut Point Road to Cascade Creek Road, up Dodge Circle then onto an private easement.

The commission approved the conditional use permit, and pointed out two conditions in particular allowing the commission to schedule a public hearing to resolve issues as they arise. The Bauders are required to present clients with a “brief rental overview including respecting the residential neighborhood and regarding directions and traffic circulation patterns to mitigate any potential traffic impacts.”

In other business the commission approved a major amendment to a nonconforming use, to allow the Pacific Learning Center to operate in the First Baptist Church at 514 HPR. The church is located in an R-1 zone and doesn’t have a conditional use permit to operate because the church pre-dates the zoning, the planning department said.

“The proposed daycare facility is required to seek a conditional use permit to allow a major amendment to the nonconforming use, and the daycare is unrelated to the church’s operations,” the planning department said in a memo. “The R-1 zone only permits daycare operations in homes; however the nonconforming use of the church provides the opportunity to establish a daycare as an incidental use on the property.”

The daycare serves 30 kids from birth to age 12, from 7:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“I can’t think of a better place for this,” Spivey commented.

The commission also approved a variance reducing a side setback from 5 to 4 feet, the rear setback from 10 to 4 feet and the front setback from 20 to 5 feet for property at 702 Etolin Street owned by Justin Olbrych.

The motion also allows construction on a substandard lot. In a second motion, the commission approved a conditional use permit for an accessory dwelling unit.

Olbrych took down the small house on the site, and plans to build a new home, with a garage and a home above it.

Senior Planner Mike Scarcelli read a number of letters in support of Olbrych’s plans and his skill as a home builder, as demonstrated by his current residence at 700 Etolin Street.

Neighboring property owner Nancy Yaw Davis testified against the proposal, saying the location of the proposed house is too close to her property line. She said she had a number of issues to discuss about her neighbor’s past actions, but was told by the chairman to stick to the request at 702 Etolin Street.

In other business, the commission:

– approved a final plat of a four-lot minor subdivision to Barth Hamberg at 211 Shotgun Alley. Hamberg’s plans had been reviewed extensively at previous Planning Commission meetings. Scarcelli said the subdivision would have “minimal impacts” on the drainage to downhill property owners, that it complies with all codes and drainage regulations, and exceeds minimum lot sizes and standards. The vote was 4-0 to approve staff’s findings of fact, and final plat. Pohlman suggested taking out a section that she felt implied that the current property owners created drainage problems. Others agreed to remove it and the findings were aproved unanimously.

– approved a final plat for a two-lot minor subdivision at 211 Jeff Davis Street, behind the Hames Center. The subdivision would create two lots for single family homes off Jeff Davis Streets.

– approved a preliminary plat for a three-lot minor subdivision to David Russell, on a five-acre piece of property owned by John Williams on Whale Island. Russell plans to buy two of the three lots. The item will come back for final approval.

– approved a preliminary plat on Whale Island to divide one five acre lot into two. Don and Penny Lehmann, and Eric Speck, who own the property, requested the preliminary plat. It was approved 4-0, and will come back again for final approval.

 

 

 

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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