Union Street resident Mike Denker is asking the Haines Borough Planning Commission to reconsider its decision to grant Haines Assisted Living a second, after-the-fact variance for the proximity to his home of its recent building addition.
Planning commission chair Lee Heinmiller said he would put the matter on the agenda for the group’s Jan. 20 meeting.
In a four-page letter to the commission dated Dec. 28, Denker cites a section of borough law that prohibits after-the-fact variances.
Commission chair Heinmiller noted commissioners were apprehensive about the second variance they granted at the Dec. 9 meeting, and that three of seven commission members were absent. “I don’t think anybody really felt comfortable with it. I think what we want is more than four of us making a decision.”
Heinmiller said the commission needs to discuss sections of code raised by Denker, as well as others where borough setback requirements differ from those of the uniform building code and state fire marshall requirements. “The fire marshall measures wall to wall and we measure eave to eave. It seems like somewhere in there, somebody in there needs to sit down and line this out.”