Wrangell's Planning and Zoning Commission met last Thursday, Oct. 10, to continue their discussion of rezoning the old Institute property, located near Shoemaker Park. The property was once home to the Wrangell Institute, a native boarding school, but has sat unused for several decades. The borough began considering putting the land to new use several years ago, putting together a "master plan" in 2017. However, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said in the commission's last meeting, there has not been any further progress for a number of different factors.
By restarting the discussion, however, the commission hopes to see the property developed in the near future. The first step for the Planning and Zoning Commission is to decide how to rezone the roughly 130 acres of land. The Institute property was rezoned from "multi-family residential" to "holding" back in 2011. There were several options open to the commission, Rushmore said. One such option was to rezone the land as "planning and development." This would mean the land was open to more creative development, Rushmore said. If someone wanted to build some tiny homes on the land, she said hypothetically, they would have to propose the project and follow guidelines but it allows for more leeway than having land zoned for just one house for however much square footage of land.
Another option brought up in the meeting was to divide up the land with specific zoning areas. One portion of the old Institute property would be zoned "residential" for homes, while another section could be zoned "commercial" for businesses. This would mean deciding ahead of time what everyone wanted on the property and where, specifically, it could all go.
A third option, that seemed to be fairly popular among the commissioners present, was to rezone the land to "mixed use." Mixed use zoning would allow for the development of a wide variety of constructions, including homes, businesses, and green space. Rushmore described "mixed use" being used to develop a downtown area, where apartments and shops could be side by side, and also leave aside some land for a park.
Commissioner Don McConachie brought up the fact that this property, if fully developed, could see quite a few people living there. If so, they would need things close by like stores and gas stations. The fire department was another thing he brought up, asking if Wrangell had the manpower and equipment to respond to any potential fires in that area quickly.
The discussion continued for some time, with several commissioners stating they liked the idea of rezoning the land to "mixed use."
The next planning and zoning meeting is scheduled for Nov. 14.
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