The Wrangell Planning and Zoning commission held their monthly meeting last Thursday, Dec. 12. It was the first meeting for Commissioner Jillian Privett, who was just appointed by the borough assembly on Dec. 10. There were only three items on the agenda for the commission's meeting.
The first item was a conditional use application by the Miller family, for a vacation rental. The Millers are purchasing a lot near
the intersection of Reid Street and St. Michael's Street, according to the agenda packet, and intend to move a small home onto it to use as an AirBnB. The application was unanimously approved by the commission.
The second agenda item was a review of a request by Jim and Sue Nelson to purchase city land adjacent to the switch yard near the public works department.
The applicants are wanting to purchase some city-owned land their driveway goes through, according to the agenda packet. Economic
Development Director Carol Rushmore explained that the commission was being asked to make a recommendation for the borough assembly to approve or deny this request. However, Rushmore said that there were some pieces of information still up in the air. The electrical
department is still looking into access needs for the switch yard, for example,
and there might be a water main running underneath the property in question. There is still some "due diligence" research being done by the city, she said. With this in mind, the commission decided to table this item until they had all the information necessary to make a recommendation.
Lastly, before adjourning, the commission continued their ongoing discussion of rezoning the old Institute property. The property, located near Shoemaker Harbor, was zoned as "holding" back in 2011 until the city could decide how best to develop the land. A master plan was put together in 2017, Rushmore said, but plans for development have not made much forward momentum since then. The commission needed to decide how best to rezone the old property to move forward with developing it.
Overall, the commission's discussions have leaned towards a mixed-use zoning for the 130-acre property. This would allow both residential and commercial buildings to be built on lots in the area. Commissioner Don McConachie said he would like to see the property become something like downtown, or its own miniature city, with homes and businesses supporting a community out the road. There were some questions about what kind of development, or how much, were raised during this discussion. Some of the specifics debated included the need to keep open green space in the property, how much land a developer should be allowed to purchase, whether or not to allow vacation rentals, whether or not homeowners could be allowed to raise chickens in their yards, and how tall houses could be allowed to be built. No formal decisions were made about these specifics, however. After much discussion the general consensus among the board was to stick with the basics of the 2017 master plan, which can be found on the city website, and to hash out the standards for each section of potential property at a later date.
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