The Wrangell Planning and Zoning commission met Monday afternoon, to hold a work session on potential zoning of the former Institute Property. The former Wrangell Institute was located on land near Shoemaker Harbor. After the Institute closed down, the city has been trying to work out what to do with the property. It has been zoned “holding” since 2011, according to previous reporting in the Sentinel, and a master plan for renovation was developed in 2017. However, not much progress has been made since then. The city has been working to get the plan moving forward once again, and have held several meetings to discuss renovations and potential development.
Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore explained that right now, the city is considering zoning the majority of the old Institute Property for single family residential development, with a small section reserved for commercial development. Single family residential is different from typical rural residential zoning, she said, as single family residential allows for smaller lot sizes.
“The assembly, back several months ago, decided that they want the north half of the Institute to be all residential, which was not originally in the master plan process or master plan alternative,” Rushmore said. “That’s gone back now to P&Z to relook at how the master plan should be set up … They’re separating it and they’re looking at how they want to restructure the master plan for the Institute Property.”
The main focus for the commission that afternoon was commercial development. One big topic of discussion was what to do about possible educational development. Among the permitted uses and structures the commission already had laid out for possible development included drugstores, dining establishments, laundromats, and others. The main question was whether or not educational facilities like a school building could fit into potential development. After some discussion, it was the general consensus amongst the commission that educational facilities should be removed from possible commercial development. Commissioner Don McConachie suggested putting aside a separate area for educational facilities, and not to lump it into other commercial development.
“My thought was in this small amount of space we’re dedicating for commercial, that educational facilities would not be in there,” said P&Z Chair Terri Henson. “But I suppose it depends if somebody wants to do some little tutoring place people can go to, or night classes for adults, and they’re just using a small storefront facility, it wouldn’t really matter. But an educational facility as in building a big building would not fit.”
Another topic of discussion was the potential for marijuana facilities to be established in the commercial zone. Marijuana is legal in the state of Alaska, and the commission wanted to consider whether or not to keep the door open for possible development of a dispensary or growing facility. Commissioner Jillian Privett said that if they would allow for the development of a brewery, for example, they should also allow the possible development of a marijuana facility. After some further discussion, the commission agreed to allow this under potential “conditional use” development.
“If you don’t have the facilities out there that they can utilize, it’s going to tempt a person to drink and drive, whatever the case may be, to come into town to get that,” Commissioner Don McConachie said. “So why not allow the things that we have in town in a commercial entity to be allowed in this commercial entity?”
The commission also discussed prohibited uses for commercial areas. Items on the list they were reviewing included Conex/container vans, auto and boat repair services, and trailers. There was some discussion on the final point, and it was agreed by the commission that they needed to better define what they meant by trailers being prohibited.
Other topics of discussion in the workshop included minimum lot size requirements, potential parking needs for the area, and the requirements for food trucks, among other things. As this was only a workshop, no formal action was taken.
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