More than 40 people packed into the chambers at Wednesday’s Homer Planning Commission meeting. They were there to weigh in on a revised proposal for a hotel and condominium development from Alaska Native corporation Doyon, Limited.
The development spans across almost seven acres. The proposed 70-room hotel includes a restaurant and conference area. There would also be three condos up for sale south of the hotel.
This isn’t the first time the commission considered the proposal.
It first went before the commission last December, where commissioners denied the application after several meetings. Doyon appealed, and brought back a revised application.
Commissioners listened to more than 40 minutes of public testimony and considered nearly 50 pages of written comments about the conditional use permit that Doyon needs to move forward.
Many residents like Glenn Seaman appreciated Doyon taking in community feedback since their last proposal.
“The changes they made, as described in their cover letter, and as shown in the pictures, are amazing,” Seaman said.
Doyon shrank the hotel’s height by about 20 feet, reduced the number of condominiums and moved employee housing offsite.
They also added plans for a forested buffer between the hotel and nearby properties, and a wider path that leads to two platforms for wildlife viewing.
Still, Seaman and others had concerns about the hotel’s height, traffic impacts and the need to give up city right-of-way to build the hotel.
The city’s planning commission recommended against vacating the right of way earlier this year. Vacating it requires approval from the city council after the Kenai Peninsula Borough planning commission makes a recommendation.
Homer resident Cooper Freeman is afraid of the precedent this would set for future rights-of-way.
“The city really should continue to keep that right of way undeveloped. It's a wildlife corridor,” Freeman said, “it's an important barrier for the neighborhood, and I just don't understand why we would give a corporation like that our, our city land.”
Many residents want a guarantee that the pathway and buffer would stay in place. City Planner Ryan Foster said that could be incorporated as a condition of approving the permit.
“Upon any type of approval of a conditional use permit, those conditions are tied to that property, essentially in perpetuity,” he said.
Community members brought up traffic safety concerns as well. One commenter said a driveway would be in a “blind corner” of the main road leading to the Homer Spit. Commissioner Heath Smith agreed.
“People that are trying to cross that to go back into town, your window becomes really short, really quick and there's road conditions that can contribute to other factors there that aren't really safe,” Smith said.
Still, several people supported the development. Resident Bruce Petska says this level of investment is needed to provide economic opportunities for the city.
“I encourage you to not get wrapped up in the negative emotions, the ‘not in my backyard’ voice, and not only look at the policies in place, but to look at changes and flexibility to the policies, to help encourage growth, to allow the generations of families, entrepreneurs and workers to make their Alaska dream come true, like a lot of us, others have been able to do,” he said.
The commission ultimately postponed making a decision until their next meeting, which will be on Nov. 6. However, the public will not be able to provide additional comment on the application.
