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2014-10-29 Special Meeting I R CEIVED Kodiak Island Borough MA 13 - 4 2015 Planning & Zoning Commissi In Code Update Speciial Public He �1101JGH Ci FRICS OFFICE Minutes KODKK�A' S October 29, 2014 6:30 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers CALL TO ORDER VICE CHAIR SCHMITT called to order the October 29, 2014 special meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission at 6:30 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE VICE CHAIR SCHMITT led the pledge of allegiance ROLL CALL Requested to be excused is Pat Olsen. Commissioners present were Alan Schmitt, Kathy Drabek, Jennifer Richcreek, Maria Painter, and Scott Arndt. Excused was Pat Olsen. A quorum was established. Community Development Department staff present was Director Bob Pederson, Martin Lydick, Sheila Smith, and Jack Maker. COMMISSIONER RICHCREEK MOVED to excuse Pat Olsen. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY APPROVAL OF AGENDA COMMISSIONER RICHCREEK MOVED to extend public comment from 3 minutes to 5 minutes for Titles 16, 17, & 18 and to combine the comments for Titles 16, 17, & 18 for one hearing, VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY COMMISSIONER RICHC�REEK MOVED, to approve the October 29, 2014 Planning & Zoning Commission Special Meeting agenda as amended. VOICE VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY CITIZEN COMMENTS Dennis Symmons complemented the public for such a great showing. He said he liked the end of the pledge to allegiance, for liberty and justice to all. He remembered when Barbara Williams ran for assembly. She ran on one thing and it was resounding. It was to reduce the size of government in Kodiak. Since then the government has expanded quite lengthy. This code revision has turned into a complete code rewrite, it isn't just a few things this is something completely new. Our borough spent almost $4001,000 on this rewrite and now the contract expired around a year ago. Now that rewrite is here in house. This is a warning to whoever cares to hear it, there's going to be an uproar, there already is but when Kodiak realizes what got passed he thinks the fan is going to get stopped when the public realize what's entailed in this. He only sees a: couple of members of P&Z that's even attempted to oppose this majority of this rewrite. He said a friend told him this was coming and Symmons didn't believe it, he told me a coup�l�e of years ago,to expect things being put down our throat. If you think there's a large governing force in Kodiak now just stick around because it's going to get a lot worse. We're about to find out what our newest assembly members are made of real soon. Thanks again for a great turnout tonight. 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 1 of 14 Kyle Crow stated he recently experienced an attempt to request a variance. He feels it was an unfair process. It was sprung on him at the hearing that he only had 3 minutes to speak and he had spent a week preparing a presentation. When he asked where that three minute rule came up he was told it was in the bylaws. He spent the last 2 weeks ripping out 2 years of work and he'll spend another year working to relocate that 3 % feet. He wants to appeal to the commission for the next person in line that he doesn't have to experience the same difficulties. He found out about the packet and what that was 2 or 3 days after the hearing and found out he wasn't even on the same page as the commission. He submitted an application with a letter containing a lot of details about why he requested the variance and he thought that was the packet. He discovered after the fact that the packet was in fact much more information and included some glitzy drawings and photos from staff that appeared to show that it would be very easy for him to move that structure which was not the case. The process itself was a moving target for him to hit because whenever he talked to staff or he heard you discuss this at the work session the objection seemed to be one issue. When he went to address that issue there were other targets to hit and he couldn't address those. Looking back he could have addressed every one of them. When he received the final letter that denied his request with details why, every one of those reasons he could have addressed. He spent 2 years hauling 5 gallon buckets of gravel up the hill to cure a water drainage problem. With those kinds of issues he thinks the communication was poor and for a guy like me, an average homeowner, it's builder beware that there's quite a mine field out there. It's a difficult, frustrating process. He hopes this code revision can correct some of those problems. He will speak exactly to the code revision issues that he thinks can correct some of those. Bill St. Clair stated the flag is being displayed inappropriately and told the commission what position it should be in. PUBLIC HEARINGS Limited to five minutes per speaker. Local Telephone Number: 486-3231 Toll Free Number: 855-492-9202 Continued from the October 22, 2014 Special Meeting A) Case: Update of KIBC Titles 16 (Subdivisions), 17 (Zoning),& 18 (Borough Real Property'. Request a review of the recommendations for amendments to Titles 16, 17, & 18 of the Borough Code. The applicant is the Kodiak Island Borough and the agent is the Community Development Department. The location is borough-wide and zoning varies. Director Pederson stated he doesn't have any additional reports. We are continuing to assemble each week the comments received and get them into the packets. There will be another packet of comments prepared at the end of this week. We are continuing to keep track of all the comments in a supplemental staff report and will forward in the process. The motion on the floor from the October 1, 2014 Special Code Update Meeting is: COMMISSIONER ARNDT MOVED to advance Titles 16, 17, & 18 to the Assembly for passing. Close regular meeting & open public hearing: Mary Nelson, Larsen Bay Tribe, called to listen in. It was explained to her that she couldn't stay on the line to listen in because no one else could call in to give testimony. Kathy Simpler stated she and her husband live in Woodland Acres and spoke opposing the rezone. She wonders who stands to benefit from this change. It would appear that only 1, 2, or 3 property owners out of the 60 parcels involved stand to benefit from it. The first page of a memo dated August 29, 2014 from Robert Pederson, AICP, Director states that Title 17 has not been comprehensively updated since the late 1960's. That may be true but, in fact, in 1989 there was a request put before the assembly to change the area of Woodland Acres zoned RR1 at the time to be zoned RR. People living on Woodland Drive and Seabreeze Circle were unhappy with the subdividing that was happening so close to them and the neighboring streets off of Puffin Drive. 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 2 of 14 They rejected the proposed change because they wanted to maintain the rural neighborhood. The assembly adopted an ordinance at the request only after the Community Development Department at the time found that a rezone was necessary and just because it was not substantially less consistent with the Comp Plan and the existing zoning from 1968. We agree with the findings in the memo addressed to the assembly from the Community Development Department dated October 10, 1989 under the subject of Ordinance 89-32-0. Their findings state that a rezone to RR was necessary and just because it was not substantially less consistent with the Comp Plan than the existing zoning was suitable to the existing lots given the existing lot sizes, widths, and placement of structures as well as the existing topography in coastal location and would not adversely impact surrounding developments nor negatively affect traffic in the area. Further findings from that report states that the zoning change to RR would maintain the areas low density, residential land use character through a traditional residential neighborhood. On January 4, 1990 the ordinance was passed and people have enjoyed living in our rural residential neighborhood since then. Should the current proposed rezone pass it will significantly change the character of our neighborhood. It is also highly probable that existing trees will be taken down to make room for structures which is this areas only buffer against the wind. The landscape will change and traffic will increase exponentially in our rural area. We enjoy our rural lifestyle and privacy afforded us by living in this neighborhood. We know that most of our neighbors do too. That part of living in our area hasn't changed since 1990. No, we do not support this rezone and she urged the commission to reject this proposal. We are also deeply disappointed that we're only asked our opinion of matters affecting our land only towards the end of any work being done or already discussed. It would seem that if the Planning and Zoning commission would be considering changing codes affecting our neighborhood we would receive notice about it at the beginning of the process to be able to provide input. Charlie Powers called to say he wants to support the retention of accessory dwelling units currently in the proposed RR1 zoning district. He built his home in 2008 on Woodland Drive and it's about an acre served by city water and sewer with substantial parking and snow storage. During the past 5 years during public process P&Z work groups identified accessory dwelling units in their proposed changes because all those work groups (inaudible) laboriously to go over ideas recognized so many benefits that ADU's provide including No 1 They help alleviate the borough's housing shortage by allowing current property owners to meet the demand. No. 2 They alleviate non- conforming uses in areas that are already congested through permitting and regulating safe housing solutions in neighborhoods that can accommodate the parking, utility, and snow storage requirements. There have been reports of people renting out their garages the way it is right now. No. 3 Creating a pathway for property owners to be affordable and property values to be sustainable. No. 4 Encouraging common sense investment for property owners and thereby increasing the tax base. No. 5 Allowing families to meet their property needs with a mother in law, caretaker, or live in a cabin while they build a house with an accessory dwelling unit. RR1 lots are greater than an acre and (inaudible) capable of accommodating accessory dwelling units while retaining the character of their subdivision just as easily as accommodating a home occupation such as agriculture, horticulture, and commercial fishing activities of the occupants. Zoning code evolves with the needs of the community and as the current zoning code allows those activities as permitted uses. Kodiak had a documented need of such housing for transient workers and ways for residents to make ends meet. Borough resident lots, especially those having public utilities infrastructure are more than capable of meeting the needs to accessory dwelling units or retain the character of the surrounding neighborhood. Specific to Woodland Acres these lots are ideal for this kind of use as it's close to fire and rescue, shopping, employment, and other vital community resources. Similarities can be drawn from other recent zoning changes, for example hoophouses are now allowed because it frees up disposable income for families (inaudible) in need of fresh vegetables for the community. There are many other examples sense in permitting zoning uses, for example all the various commercial fish uses of land to enable small businesses to thrive. We have lived in Kodiak since 1994 and people here find a way to make things work. (inaudible) He thanked all the volunteers who spent so much time going over the proposed changes and the local government to the P&Z members. 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 3 of 14 Chris Ford, owner of Bells Flats Poultry, stated she had some confusion with this and wants to start with the definitions. On page 23, line 1017, Title 17-under Domesticated Animals and Pets you list chickens, no roosters, ducks, and no rabbits. And then under Livestock you have poultry and fowl, other domesticated chickens, or ducks. Then you have for 5 dogs, cats, or other domesticated animals. In RR'I and RR2 zoning districts you can have up to ten domesticated animals that are permitted provided the animals are not kept for commercial purposes. On page 91, under the Domesticated Animals and Pets you have the RR1, RR2, and RR3 zoning districts for up to 5 domesticated animals. Then you have the RR1, RR2, and CR2, CRS, PRC, and V zoning districts can have up to ten domesticated animals. Under B back to chickens, ducks, and rabbits, no more than twelve chickens, no roosters, no ducks, and no rabbits or any combination of the twelve shall be allowed in R1, R2, and R3. She sees different numbers in different places and if she's confused about that she's sure other people will be confused as well. She knows people in RR1 and RR2 who manage more than twelve chickens or ducks at one time and they have no problems doing that. On page 91, under RR1, RR2, CR2, CR5, PRC, and V zoning districts up to 10 domesticated animals are permitted. She is in favor of the higher limit., On page 86, E- Connex Box or Cargo Containers or any personal structures shall not be permitted as accessory structures and 93, E- Cargo containers that are used for shipping or receiving goods or created or used on a site may be stored within any yard in Industrial district and the Village district. There are many people inside city limits as well as outside who use these as storage containers in their yard in residential areas. She asked if the commission would change this to allow us to continue using connex containers for storage. Denise May, Afognak Native Corporation Board of Directors Chair, thanked the commission for allowing testimony on Title 17. She wanted to talk about the stewardship of their native lands and what it means to the shareholders of Afognak Native Corporation. For the Afognak Alutiiq people good stewardship of their resources is more than a catchy phrase or an afterthought. It is their way of life, a core value of their culture that goes back thousands of years. They have held themselves accountable for good stewardship of their natural resources for all of time. That will not change. Long before the early days of the Alaska Native Land Claims Act and the formation of Afognak Native Corporation Afognak people understood the importance of responsible stewardship of their lands. Today we know that the harvest of commercially viable timber is a critical component of sound forest management. They are passionate about preserving the cultural wealth that runs deep in their lands and about managing their resources to continue their heritage of subsistence hunting, fishing, and bent' picking. Their culture as well as their ability to provide food for their families through subsistence are equally important and must be part of any plan for Afognak lands. Their corporations land management plan divides 248,000 acres over which they have stewardship into 9 regions. After thirty-five years only 2 of those regions, both on Afognak Island have been designated for commercial timber harvest. More importantly she wants to talk about what takes place after the harvest. Before the first tree was felled Afognak shareholders had to be convinced that their culture and subsistence lifestyle would not suffer. In response their foresters and managers develop policies to manage the land that we are in keeping with their Alutiiq values. Today our goal after harvest is to get the time it takes to grow a newly healthy forest in half by utilizing proven scientific forest management practices. These methods provide subsistence, cultural, and job opportunities while protecting and enhancing their natural resources. Although no small undertaking their work has yielded significant progress. They are currently focusing their efforts in 2 areas hand planting sites as soon as practical following harvest and pre-commercial thinning when a stand reaches eighteen to twenty-five years of growth. Hand planting of 1 or 2 year old seedlings assures the next forest gets a jump on competing vegetation. In some cases this can reduce the time to maturity of a tree by more than 5 years. They also discovered that Sitka Spruce seeds source outperform local varieties by as much as fifty percent in height, diameter, and growth. These factors as well as being able to space trees for optimal growth have taken them a long way toward meeting their goal. They've also began pre-commercial thinning in highly productive stands. There are many benefits to thinning in addition to preventing stagnation of the forest stand caused by overcrowding. Thinning maximizes the next timber crop while shortening 10/29/2414 P&2 Minutes Page 4 of 14 the overall rotations length. As you can see Afognak Native Corporation takes the good stewardship of their lands very seriously. They have invested time and millions of dollars over the years to maintain and secure their land resources for future generations. Those efforts have also included working very closely with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game deploying scientific programs to protect their Roosevelt Elk, Sitka Blacktail Deer, and their salmon stocks. Their actions clearly demonstrate that they value and understand their land. They are committed to teaching their young people these same values to carry them into the future. The restrictions placed on the conditional use language in the proposed amendment in Title 17 will have broad reaching impact and not just on their ability to manage their timber resources. These restrictions also impact their ability to grow struggling local economies at the most basic level. Requiring approval from the borough to build a small business or even a clinic or church will only serve to further stifle economy, economic development, and an already challenging environment. It was truly unfortunate that your hearings of this matter were scheduled in October during the busiest time for the Alaska Native Organizations. With travel plans made well in advance for the Alaska Federation and Natives Convention in the National Congress of American Indians Convention which is going on now there are members of the Alaska native community that aren't here. She respectfully asked that the commission provide all stakeholders the opportunity to be included in this conversation and that this body table the proposed amendments to Title 17. She encouraged the commission to work with the Alaska native people of Kodiak to provide opportunity to bring collective experience to the table and engage in a meaningful dialogue. May thanked the commission. Brenda Friend, a Woodland Drive resident, stated she grew up on Kodiak and is an Alaska native as well. She understands why the commission has this task to develop and revise the codes. It's a pretty important task but if you are going to revise the codes she wants to express a couple of things about Title 17. Five years ago she and her husband found their dream lot, a 1 acre parcel on Woodland Drive, and they paid dearly for that lot, $210,000 just for the lot. They built their dream home on it and they now pay the Kodiak Island Borough dearly in property taxes to own the property and to live the Kodiak dream. They've worked hard to live their dream, sixteen hours a day seven days a week for the past ten years. Their property taxes are 113 of their house payment. She would love to own more property but cannot afford it. They have 7 children between the two of them and 5 grandchildren however none of them can afford to live in Kodiak. That's a big concern to those of us who were raised on this island and call it home. This summer half of their children and their families came to stay with them, fourteen family members who love Kodiak and even though they can't afford to live here they always come home. RR1 lots are greater than 1 acre and are more capable of accommodating accessory dwelling units and retaining the character of the subdivision. As their family continues to grow they would like to accommodate their needs with a small cottage so they don't have to sleep on the floor when they come home to visit. There are times they must be away from home for work at remote locations and they also own remote property. While away they prefer to have someone watch the house as a caretaker but they don't particularly want someone staying in their home or sleeping in their bed. They also feel strongly that because of the borough's housing shortage property owners could help alleviate a burden by having small affordable units available to rent. Most young people can't afford to rent in Kodiak so they leave the island. The opportunities that we had growing up here on this island are no longer available for our youth. Her first home was at 319 Maple Street, she was nineteen years old, and had her young family. She paid $24,000 for her first house. She doesn't know if anyone else knows what those homes are valued at now. She doesn't think there will be any homes found for $24,000 anymore for our youth. The workforce doesn't support the cost of home ownership or even the rental markets. We are pushing our youth off the island. Property owners and contractors cannot afford to build here for less because of the cost they pay for raw land and this is directly attributed to the Kodiak Island Borough's inability to open up more land over the last several decades. That's also your current mayor's primary goal for change. She hopes that happens because she gives her family a lot of time so that they can see that change in the coming years. It's not the cost to build, it's the lack of available, affordable land on top of shipping and rising building material costs. It's our responsibility to create a pathway for affordable ownership and keep property values 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 5 of 14 sustainable or people will continue to leave Kodiak. Zoning codes evolve with the needs of the community and this community needs to look at our future. Rural residential lots such as Woodland Drive that have public utilities infrastructure are very capable of meeting the needs of accessory dwelling units while retaining the character of this rounding neighborhood. These lots are close to firetrescue, shopping, and employment. They pay city water, sewer, and garbage. They can accommodate on an acre of land parking, utility, and snow storage. They've heard their street called the unofficial dog run because people allow their dogs to run free from the beginning of Woodland Drive down to the Navy Seals. They recently cut trees down on their lot and people complain that it takes the view away from their view of the forest. She owns that land and she's song but she paid $210,000 to own those trees and that land. They strongly support the code revision that allows them the ability to subdivide their lot into 2 half acre lots, 20,000 sq. feet which isn't asking anything more than most of the lots in Kodiak. The 2"" amendment to the Constitution of the United States declares that an owner of property has the right to consume, alter, share, redefine, rent, mortgage, pawn, sell, exchange, transfer, or give property away. Just when did it change to and get their neighbors permission. As they strive to find a common balance for everyone keep in mind that NIMBIES (not in my backyard) are not vested in any other opinion or any other persons needs and only think of themselves. There are a lot of people involved here on this island. She thanked the commission, staff, and work groups for their work in this regard. She realizes that through your dedication that makes our community what it is. Bruce Short, Anton Larsen Island resident, stated he moved out there partly to get away from the borough and all the things it was doing like requiring all the buildings be made with graded and stamped lumber. He has never been able to come to terms with all the trees here. He built his own home, sawed the wood for it and to him that is what sustainable development should include utilizing local resources like that. He's sorry the borough has never come to terms to come up with another solution, it's been thirty years. If someone is building a home and has some of the beautiful Spruce lumber you can make a home very inexpensively. He sympathizes with the woman who was talking about how much costs to live in Kodiak, that was another reason why he moved out there. For what it cost him to build his home he probably pays that much in taxes on it every couple of years. He wants to address 17.100. 040 specifically dimensional requirements, his property is zoned Conservation and is 7.84 acres and the survey is on the meander line on the beach so the mean high tide line is about 100 feet from where the meander line is. He is paying borough taxes on over an acre of land that the State has for the public easement now so the boundary line for his property is the mean high water line. If the property line is the mean high water this new borough regulation moves the front yard setback from 0 what it had previously been for the thirty-five years he's lived there. There was 0 setback from marine water for building structures and whatever. If you are familiar with Kodiak if your only access is by boat and you have to approach a beach where it's rocky, climb up a few beaches around here to see how easy it is getting up on the land. Once you live there and you have to start taking building materials, supplies for the winter, 100 Ib. propane tanks you need a way to get from the beach up to where your house is. This new proposal calls for a waterfront setback of 50 feet from the front property line which is the mean high water line. It used to be 0 so his house and most of his structures are going to be non-conforming structures because the most valuable part of his property is right on the waterfront with the view, solar access, and access to get what you need to live with. Reading further according to the proposal is Permitted Encroachments-you can encroach 10 feet into the front yard setback for stairways. Try climbing up some of these beaches without a stairway or ramp. They do provide for a dock but that's just the first step to get the rest of the way up your property to where your structures are. It takes a more than 10 feet of encroachments that leaves 40 feet from the beach for you to have to haul your lumber, groceries, 1000 lb. propane tanks and his property is not suitable to having a road so we have ramps, trams and a lot of people in the area do the same thing. Some people have their solar panels on the beach because that's where you get the solar access. If you invest all that money in solar power and you have to come back 25 feet either you're going to have to cut all your trees down or you're going to get a lot of shade which cuts down on your electricity. He doesn't feel this was put together with Kodiak in mind. He doesn't know where 10/29/2014 F&Z Minutes Page 6 of 14 the consultants are from but maybe they are used to having roads coming in on the tuck side of their property where they haul everything in and the waterfront is something that they preserve for everybody else. In Kodiak waterfront is life; we fish, haul all of our materials from it, we live on an island without roads. What he's seen of the changes for the property he owns are inadequate for being able to live. There needs to be more changes done. Todd Hiner encouraged the commission to slow down the process and thanked them for listening to the public. This affects all of us dearly on this island. Listening to the testimony the last time he was here about a young man that built his house out of Spruce trees and came to get the last few pieces of lumber and that house has been sold 2 or 3 times since then and the value has gone up. Hiner thinks it's sad to have a natural resource like we have here in Kodiak and seeing it shipped overseas just to be shipped back to us. He knows there are issues with grading our Sitka Spruce that the borough or the people who try to grade it can't get a handle on. It's really sad seeing all this timber because he has 5 kids that would love to build houses but the cost of living here is incredible. Everything needs to be engineered now. It's sad to try to encourage youth to live here and raise a family. He doesn't understand why a couple of miles off the road system you can get a sawmill and build a house or lodge. It's frustrating when you are inside that borough boundary and you can't utilize Spruce that is on our property or acquire it. He wishes the commission would try to work with the existing code to try to address this issue while you are doing it. Kyle Crow stated on page 19, line 832, the public hearing notifications, you are requiring the applicant is responsible for mailing out notices prepared by the Community Development Department. That seems ridiculous to him. The Community Development Department does this routinely and it's a difficult thing for an applicant to learn the process, figure out where to find all the addresses, and do all the things. Everyone would have to go through that learning curve like he had to. Try to make it as easy as possible for the average Joe out there. Further down the page it allows the department to require the applicant to bear the cost of preparing and mailing additional notices that may be required. The applicant already submitted a fee and if the fee isn't adequate then raise the fee a little. On page 86, line 3278, under Section 17.160.020 Applicability you have accessory structures less than 100 sq. feet and then when he talked to the Building Department they said the limit is 200 sq. feet, and if you're going off the 200 sq. feet he'd like to see that line up. The same on page 133, line 5076, Section 17.230.060 zoning compliance, it's highlighted, and it says 100 or 200 sq. feet and further down it says search for 100 sq. feet, It looks like a typo. On page 147, Chapter 17.270-Variances, as he said before under your appeal process you specify the amount of minutes you are going to allow the appellant-you say 10 minutes and then a 10 minute rebuttal period. You don't provide that same kind of detail on the variance request and it should be provided. A guy shouldn't come in here and get blindsided by your bylaws. Also in that requirement you can specify that whatever the packet that the planning and zoning office prepares and provides to the commission should be mailed, emaied, or provided to the applicant so he knows you are all on the same page. Crow stumbled over this. You have a section of this code that you could work this in there as a requirement. How do you do the variances, it's a variance process. He commends the commission for all the hard work they've put into this. What scares a lot of people is there is a lot of new stuff in there; this cookie cutter thing is spooky. A lot of people are working so hard that they're not involved in this process or come to the meetings. He's glad that there are a lot of residents involved though and he's happy they are. Think about how many people are totally unaware of this, they see it in the paper and think it's great but when they start building something and buy a piece of property, and then finds out that he made an error and he finds out there's something in the code that doesn't give him any power. It gives all the power and authority to our hired employees and that's just a wrong system. It should allow for a little bit of flexibility. This is a very big thing. It's a big chunk for anyone to bite and you may want to think about chopping it up into chunks. Do the subdivision code first instead of zoning. Toby Sullivan stated he wanted to address Section 17.160.070, page 89, Section F, the business of commercial fishing conducted from a residence shall be considered a home occupation provided that the use conforms to the following, you've got 3 conditions there. He's maybe one of the rare 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 7 of 14 people tonight that is happy with something in this. He's been talking with Martin Lydick about this for about a year on this and it looks like his concerns and the concerns of fisherman, mostly set- netters, were answered by this amendment. We are set-net fisherman and he has skiffs that he keeps in his yard. It looks like it's illegal but we didn't know that and they were going to start enforcing that when he started talking to Lydick and some of the other folks and they put this amendment in that allows us to keep our fishing skiffs on our lots, in our RR2 lot with a house on it. It looks like they are going to let us keep our skiffs there provided that we go along with these conditions which are basically neat and tidy and there has to be a fence. Sullivan may question at some point the part about the fence but he'll be going to talk to staff later. He commended staff for listening to him and others on this issue. Ron Painter, Woodland Drive resident, thanked everyone there because whether or not you agree with his position on draft codes this is the only way you are going to understand what we want as a community. The general consensus Painter has heard tonight which he agrees with is that this needs to be slowed down, it's too much information. He cannot understand it and probably most other people don't either. It's a lot to absorb and understand and we need to take it in smaller chunks that are more manageable that we can take time to understand, and then get it right the first time. Slow down and take it a piece at a time to get it done right. Accessory dwelling units or mother in law apartments, he knows there is controversy both ways but in 3 hours today he had 13 residents of Woodland Drive say yes, they were in total favor of this, 3 people who said yes, their in favor of this but he doesn't want to sign the petition because he doesn't want to make the neighbors mad, and 4 people who told him as soon as you get home tonight said they would sign it also. That's almost 20 residents on Woodland Drive plus the people who spoke here tonight that hasn't signed it yet. By far, the largest majority of people on Woodland Drive are definitely in favor of the accessory dwelling unit for many of the reasons already talked about. He's read in the paper and heard on the radio this is the second most expensive place to live in the United States. This does make a difference in people's lives if they can have an additional income, especially when they have a large lot and they meet all the setbacks and variances they should be able to have this on their properties. There are multiple reasons why people are in favor of it. Painter is also concerned about the RR1 proposal to be for a 40,000 sq. foot lot could be subdivided if it meets the criteria of access and setbacks and those types of things. The reason Painter's in favor of it is he dislikes rules that where this person can do it but this person can't. In this particular housing area we have 20,000, 40,000, 50,000, and 60,000 sq. foot lots, a 20,000 sq. foot lot on the other side and then maybe 2 or 3 acres, then another 20,000 sq. foot lot; it's a hodgepodge mixture of them. Some of the people that have complained about going to this 20,000 sq. foot lots are the very people who have them. This isn't fair or right to have a regulation that let's this person do it and right beside them that person can't. There's just something inherently wrong about that. Painter supports the rezone to this area. Nancy Bell, Seabreeze Circle resident, stated she lives in San Francisco and bought her dream home in Kodiak to retire here. She doesn't want her neighborhood to change. She bought it knowing the rules and knowing what they got. It was already pre-established. She and her husband are concerned about is there is a conflict of interest. She thinks there are people who are vested in this change that have the reason and the power to make the decisions for all of us and that scare her. She doesn't think she will be heard because it's a small community and people can influence other people here. If there's change then make it in the best interest of everyone without influence, conflict of interest, or who you're married to. Make it fair. Lome White, Bells Flats resident, stated he mostly represents the Kodiak Farm Bureau and their concern about changing the code and how it will affect agriculture. He heard Chris Ford's statement and it seems funny because when he drives home he looks at all the violations all over. How are you going to go out to start counting people's chickens, it seems silly to him to address things like that. He was concerned in the beginning when he met with you during the summer period about some of the changes. He doesn't know which copy everyone is working off of but it appears to him that there have been some changes made over the summer. Generally, he found a 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 8 of 14 document here that's not favorable towards rural agriculture which is important to sustain food for our community. It's important to realize that we live on an island and we're dependent upon ships coming in to bring food, a very short pipeline between when food comes in and when the food disappears. Those who have been here for any length of time knows that when fishing vessels come in they can clean off the shelves real quick. They are totally dependent on everything that comes in. There are a number of us that grow food and we think we should have the ability to grow things so we can be self-sustained in the event of bad times. There are a lot of things that can happen to trip us up living on this island. We've seen it in Hawaii when it had strikes years ago and they weren't able to get food in. Recently in Cuba the Soviet Union wasn't sending supplies in and they were starving to death. He's concerned that the overall Title 17 will be favorable towards agriculture and not being able to use container vans. Sometimes when you are shipping agricultural products in you need a container van to keep stuff in; hay needs to be kept dry. There is a need for container vans. He sees where the city has taken container vans near the parks and put a roof over them. He operated fish hatchery out of Pillar Creek and used container vans to get them started while they built the hatchery. Container vans have a long history of use in this community and whatever we can do when you look at these things don't discourage them. Tom Lance, Mountain View Drive resident, stated he believes he's in RR1 and waned to clarify under 17.90, Section D, line 1933, page 44, RR1 is 1 acre and permits a single family home on lots of 40,000 sq. feet. Is that a generalization calling a 1 acre lot 40,000 sq. feet because there is a wide range of lot sizes here. Contrary to what some people have said about wanting accessory structures, he's had several people to call him to say maybe we should have our own zoning district because it looks like here we're going to allow accessory dwellings on lots, and people like it the way it is. There's the proposal to connect our side of the hill to the new wastewater treatment plant that's being built at the landfill. Once they do that it will enable that accessory dwelling to be placed on a lot less than 1 acre. People said that once water and sewer is hooked up accessory dwellings will be going up if the rezone goes through. Duncan Fields, representing the Ouzinkie Native Corporation, stated the concern we may have made this change unnecessarily difficult with the breadth of the code revisions and the impacts that we may or may not appreciate. He appreciates the individuals that have spoken in the public hearings. Overall with this comprehensive change he's not sure that in the public hearing process that you're going to be able to find all those hot spots. He suspect that without more revision and time that we'll have a continual process when someone tries to do something or the neighbor is upset about something and the code pops up, then everybody finally realizes that this was a substantial change over how it had always been. On behalf of Ouzinkie, fundamental to their interest is what may or may not be a mistake in the draft code but at least in conversations with the department they said it's a typo which is "the requirement for a conditional use permit to log on Ouzinkie land" is simply not appropriate and again in deference to the staff it's been indicated that it's a typographical error but we are here to say if it's an error let's remove it and make it clear that conditional use permits are not appropriate for logging operations. More broadly, Jimmy Skonberg came in from Ouzinkie because of his concerns as a community member. It's just not understood how the new code is going to apply to rural communities. Frequently when we have changes in law, changes in the code you'll have an old code lined up and the new revision side by side. If you talk about legislative language, you have the legislative language and the new language in bold. A side by side comparison so people can understand what the change is. It's imperative for the borough so he suggested using a longer time frame, regroup in terms of public relations outreach, develop side by side comparisons, and then go out to the rural communities and talk to the leaders in those communities to explain why these changes are important. If this is a new code for the next 30 years let's champion that code and have people understand it in advance to the adoption of the code why we need it. He's also heard that there was a big effort, and he talked to some of the people that were involved in the effort comes to the advisory committees regarding Title 17and their recommendations to the department with regard to a number of code provisions and as this code came forward a number of those folks forgot about what they talked about or don't recognize 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 9 of 14 what's in Title 17. If there was a disconnect or significant revisions from the public input to the code you have before you he thinks that of interest to the public. He'd like to have a comparison of what the recommendations from that committee were, and then something about why staff chose to go in another direction. He thinks that's honoring the effort of the public in that year and a half process that the public was involved in Title 17. There's also a conditional use provision relative to rock extraction that Ouzinkie believes would be misplaced or inappropriate and also Koniag may have some concerns with their quarry but he can't speak on their behalf but Ouzinkie historically had a small rock quarry in Anton Larsen Bay. There may be an interest at some point in the future to open that and conditional use again is probably not the appropriate tool to apply to that kind of activity. In summary, he said that we do need to go slow, it's not appropriate to move Title 17 forward, we need to spend a fair amount of more time in the way we communicate Title 17, 150 page document double sided, most people, entities, or communities can't afford someone like me to go through the code line by line and tell you what's wrong with it so it's incumbent that the borough spend more time to communicate why you want this new code. Jane Petrich, Larsen Bay property owner stated while reading over Title 17 there about 3 businesses in the village that would be out of business if they had to conform to this code. She doesn't know if they know about this code update. It's small lodge operations. She also suggested slowing down the process and make outreach to the village communities. Brenda Friend stated she's probably related to % of the island in one shape or another. She strongly believes that everyone in Kodiak has a voice and she doesn't believe there's any conflict of interest because one person is married to another or when one person volunteers on one board to another. We all pay property taxes, we're all citizens, we all vote, and she wants to have a voice despite who she's married to or who her neighbor is she's a person. Neil Cooper stated one thing he's concerned about is he does know there is favoritism. He's been here a long time and knows there are people on boards, he knows a certain organization in town that hires preferential treatment to native groups so you can't say there isn't a prejudice here. There are so many connex boxes they are part of our community. Anybody that is imposing getting rid of the connex boxes aren't paying attention to what functions in this community because there are stacks of them everywhere and some of us have bought them for horses or chickens. Someone told him he can only have a few ducks or chickens, last year he butchered 28 ducks, 12 geese, and he grows his own food. How dare anyone tell him that he can't do that, why would anyone limit the amount of livestock that he can have or if you go out here to the Farmer's Market the last 2 years, it's unbelievable how many people are there. These people are raising their produce, chickens, ducks, and you name it. This is Kodiak, who is trying to determine how we are able to barter, trade, or get our food. He was overwhelmed with this. The biggest thing is to take your time, break it up and to a piece at a time, and justify your position. If you are going to tell me that he can't have his 28 ducks for a 6 month period of time while they are growing you have a problem coming. Denise May stated she is changing her title and she owns Whale Pass Lodge with her husband Bob May. She stated Whale Pass Lodge is built out of Sitka Spruce not just on Whale Island but they also built another lodge in Litnik. You may have seen it on the DIY show, it was a do it yourself project her husband built on that show when we did use some raw timber that they sawmilled not only the buildings but also the furniture. It is an experience the clients enjoy looking at what they have built from the land so as you are making those rules you have to look at what's out there rurally. She will speak on behalf of the lodge community because it's a different way of life out there and getting supplies and making sure they have everything they need to provide for their clients as well as themselves. She doesn't know how this Title 17 affects them yet because her focus has been on the native corporation. She appreciates the time the commission has spent on this. She's in agreement with slowing down and talk about this in a different way. When she asked earlier if the commission could get together with the native community she was serious. It's not just the native community that you need to get together with, it's lodge owners, fisherman, 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 10 of 14 there should be a group that looks at all the pieces to see how it affects everyone and May is willing to put herself in that place to work with the commission on that. Randy Schuster stated he has questions about your code enforcement policies. What is confusing to him is you have a full time Code Enforcement Officer who is on a complaint basis only and by putting it into a complaint basis only from a neighbor you are pitting neighbor against neighbor when the Code Enforcement Officer should be the one who goes out to look at these violations. He was told there are so many violations it would take 3 officers. Schuster would like to see that the Code Enforcement Officer actually goes out to look at these violations instead of having these discrepancies on who they apply the rules to. That shouldn't be. We hired this person to do this job and they should be able to do it. If they can't do it maybe we shouldn't have a Code Enforcement Officer and maybe we should go by strictly complaint like we used to. Some of the codes that he's never seen in place that are in place like if you have a junk vehicle on your property for more than 5 days. Everyone in town has had a junk vehicle on their property for more than 5 days. He didn't even know that was a code and he's removed, when he was with Kodiak Island Borough and did junk removal he did 600 cars those 2 years and now that he's been taking scrap off the island he's done over 300 vehicles. He's cleaned up across from the cannery at Ursin's and he's contantly being hit by codes and they may be in place. You can drive around town and no one else is hit with these codes but they fine Schuster. It is ridiculous. He's cleaned up Majdic's, Chris Wing, and there are several places he's cleaned up so new buildings could be built. It's helping the community and himself too. The code thing has to be straightened out. You pit neighbor against neighbor and it should be the Code Enforcement Officer's job to do this. You shouldn't have to put it in writing either. We need to work to make the code viable for everyone and something that important then maybe we should change it. Michelle St. Clair, Seabreeze Circle resident, thanked Schuster for his comments because it is true about code enforcement. She and other neighbors have asked about different things in their neighborhood and they were told to either complain about him themselves, to sue to cause an uproar and they aren't that kind of people. They want what's right and they want their neighborhood to stay the way it is. She reiterated what people are saying about taking your time, allowing people to talk or become more educated with this process due to working full time or more, she wants Kodiak to stay the way it is as a community. She thanked the commission. Neil Cooper stated he really liked what everyone said particularly what St. Clair and Schuster just said. There was a lady on the ferry who was very adamant about getting out of Kodiak, she lived here for 22 years. He asked why she was leaving and she said "why wouldn't I, there's double standards, $200,000,000 being spent on this and $80,000,000 being spent on that, and she'd like to retire here but she can't afford to retire here, the double standard." His example of a double standard that was inferred to a little bit ago is when you go out Spruce Cape and turn left on a certain street there is a giant junkyard there. Everyone that knows about this wonders why Jack Maker (when he was enforcement) would give Cooper a ticket for parking, why he would give Cooper a ticket for parking on the street by where he lives. Maker told him the borough doesn't allow parking on a street but they leave that gigantic junkyard. That was an example that the lady on the ferry gave him. She also told him that it's not the old Kodiak, what's keeping her here anymore, they are costing us money every time we turn around, they re-appraised her 3 times on her property taxes, and she's not going to put up with it. Cooper said he's been here 40 years and why would he want to stay. Kyle Crow stated there's an opportunity to reconsider a philosophy of enforcement and how this code should be rather than a strict letter of the law rules. These codes are necessary because rather than having all kinds of problems occur as a result of property line setbacks, neighbors disagreeing and throwing things across the fence at each other, rather than dealing with those after the fact because of willy hilly construction and things like that so he sees the value of a code but if an individual property owner comes in and can make a case, not this particular case, sideline setbacks, front, rear or whatever that the staff and the board consider that that property owner has 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 11 of 14 a right, It's not just a sacred ground that no matter what he's prevented using it but if he can tick off he doesn't affect the emergency response access, drainage problems, so there's no real' community concern. He really hates to see a code and the response from enforcement or staff say well it's the code, we let you do it we're going to have to let everybody do it. He doesn't know if there is an opportunity to tweak the code to allow that process. He also appreciates what Schuster said about enforcement, we're creating this whole new code rewrite with a lot more details, code, and laws. When he drove around he seen all kinds of people who built in setbacks all over town. More power to them. Obviously you aren't having complaints so there's no difficulties so he doesn't see the real problem there. It's difficult for someone who's trying to obey the law and playing by the rules. He doesn't know how many people told him when he told them he was building this thing; don't tell them, nobody does. Bill St. Clair, Seabreeze Circle resident, stated with all the discussion of enforcement he knows that from last week when Jenny Shank spoke and other neighbors spoke he doesn't see their comments included in the placket, He knows they took a lot of time to write them up. As far as enforcement gol he knows that when Mr. Powers, called in earlier that Powers have accessory dwelling units on his property that aren't up to code because: (inaudible) they aren't allowed to according to the code. Another neighbor filed a complaint and he finds it interesting when he looked on ziltow.com this evening and seen that Powers no longer has listed on his house that's been for sale for over 9 imonths that he has apartments. Last week it said 2 apartment complexes on the property and rentals up to $1000 a month. He thinks this is just wrong. Duncan Fields stated on page 59, looking at Commercial fishing as a permitted use in the Conservation zone-Commercial fishing and related activities, he doesn't see related activities in the definition section. When we turn the page he has to smile because he thinks about power generation stations, wastewater treatment, wind energy conservation and every setnet site has a generator facility. He has 2 outhouses. Wastewater treatment facilities (inaudible). He hopes the first part-Commercial fishing and related activities covers all but he has to smile because it's not clear whether or not it does and if we technically look at what power generation stations that may include every setne:t site with a generator. He wanted to point that out for staff to perhaps have a little more clarity with related to how broad the commercial fishing and other activities may be. That may apply to remote loidigies,as well. COMMISSIONER ARNDT MOVED to postpone until the November 5, 2014 Planning and Zoning Special Meeting. VICE CHAIR SCHMITT let the public Iknow that there will be another Code Update meeting next week, ROLL CALL VOTE ON MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY D) Code Update Submitted Written Comments CITIZEN COMMENTS Denise May stated she was thankful that Jane was here on behalf of the community of Larsen Bay. She thinks about Akhiok, Ouzinkie, Port Lions, Old Harbor, there are 5 villages out there that could not call in to this meeting to hear the whole thing. She knows that staff members went out there but is there a way they can, be Included so they can call in to listen to a,lll the testimony because they are just as confused as she was sitting here. Hearing the testimony tonight she's learned a lot and there are several people out there that will be affected by this that doesn't have access because it costs too much for them to get here. She just wants the commission to consider that. May thanked the commission. STAFF COMMENTS Meeting Schedule: 0 November 5, 2014 Special Code Update Public Hearing-6:30 pm-Assembly Chambers 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 1 2 of 14 • November 12, 2014 Work Session-6:30 pm-KIB Conference Room • November 19, 2014 Regular Meeting-6:30 pm-KIB Conference Room COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Scott Arndt thanked everyone for coming tonight. Arndt also thinks it needs to slow down and be broken into pieces because there is too much to grapple with. He will be pushing to slow it down. Kathy Drabek thanked the public for coming forward with passionate, heartfelt, well researched comments. She is listening. Maria Painter stated she wanted to let the public know that this process is not something that's life threatening to the public health, welfare, and safety. Its not something we have to rush through. As commissioners we have the authority to slow it down, so we've heard you and she agrees that it does need to be slowed down. It needs to be broken up into smaller pieces so that you can comment on them. It should be done on a monthly basis so that when we receive notifications from you agreeing or disagreeing on it instead of just nodding our heads and saying thanks. It's really important that we do slow this down. She feels sometimes like it is shoved down her throat as a commissioner to hurry, hurry, hurry and there is no hung so she prays that at the November 4"' meeting that the commission agrees to slowing it down, taking more time designating the specific time, once a month, and not making it so rough on the commissioners. There was a time when we were doing 3 meetings a week and you're trying to shove all this down and take care of your family and take care of business too. It's not that eminent. It' s important but she wants to do this right the first time. She doesn't want this to be a big mess with a bunch of garbage in it. She really believes the people have spoken, especially tonight saying to slow it down and we need to listen. Thank you for attending tonight. Jennifer Richreek thanked everyone for participating and being part of the process. Speaking to the pace, this has been a process that's been going on for over 4 years and it's been public every step of the way with special scoping meetings for different groups and going out to the villages. Every effort has genuinely been made. Is it perfect, sorry, but every effort is trying to be made. This is not the last minute and is an ongoing process. Thankfully we've got you attention. It has been ongoing and is iterative and impacts different stakeholders. This is exactly what you are asking for we are going through the consultation, the deliberation, the scoping. That's what we are doing here today. Richcreek thanked the public for participating in the process. In hearing there was some comments today about double standards and inconsistencies, those situations are more likely to exist with a vague code and so with this revision, the intent is not to over regulate but to provide clarity and consistency on an even playing board to make an attempt to minimize that level of interpretation and double standards. The spirit is to provide clarity, to address that genuine concern that is shared amongst the community. More words do explain the process and provides options for flexibility that were requested today. There's quite a bit of thoughtful diligence being paid attention to community resiliency, local food production, the active fishing community, being a working town, affordable housing, the unique situation of the villages. Thank you for bringing up these specific details. Input is important. Richcreek stated that conditional use is not a limit or a prohibition. Conditional use is exactly what was asked for, it's a scoping process, it's review, deliberation, consultation, and discussing it out. Many times conditional uses are permitted but it's just something that gets vetted. When you see a C in the use tables that means this is an opportunity where there could be some unique circumstances that perhaps this warrants extra deliberation. It's not saying no, it's not taking that option away, it's just taking it to the level of further scoping. She's looking forward to hearing more at the meetings. Alan Schmitt thanked everyone for coming out tonight and missing part of the World Series. The commission has spent a lot of time on this. The commission has spent a lot of time on this. We got a package of material from the PAC and they, he doesn't want to minimize their efforts but they kind of got to the end and his understanding is they felt like they were spinning their tires on this stuff and they said OK, it's time to hand it off to the commission. It somewhat coincided with Mr. 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 13 of 14 Pederson coming on board time wise and Pederson brings, a wealth of information and experience in having dealt with codes elsewhere and has really helped the commission go through what the PAC had recommended, steamlined it, and put it more in a format that is a lot closer to the existing code than what the PAC folks had come up with. The commission took, he thinks it was a total of 29 public meetings where we went over that and there were some commissioners who would have liked to have spent another 2 or 3 years doing it and there's something to be said for taking a long time but there's also something to be said for let's get it to the public, let's see what the public thinks about it. We're probably going to have to tweek some things and there are things in what has been presented to the public that the commission wasn't in agreement on. We're going to have to vote on it at some point, we haven't taken any action yet to actually pass this on to the assembly. We're at the stage of getting public comment and we really sincerely appreciate, we know it takes time to do it. It's encouraging to him to see so many people here tonight that had done that because that's what we need. Schmitt thanked the public and said they are welcome to come back on the 5th but he encouraged them if they can't have their friends and neighbors who have some time!to look at this an�dl give, it some thought to come!forward. ADJOURNMENT COMMISSIONER ARNDT MOVED to adjourn, 'VOICE VOTE ON MOTION VICE CHAIR SCHMITT adjourned the meeting at 8:41 p.m. KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION By: A4en-8dvwM ice Chair ATTEST By: Sheila Smith, Secretary Community Development Department APPROVED: February 18, 2015 10/29/2014 P&Z Minutes Page 14 of 14