The Haines Borough Planning Commission approved a setback variance on Front Street last week, paving the way for the first home to be built on the Portage Cove beach in more than 20 years.
“It’s a little slice of heaven,” said landowner Dave Pahl, who has a shack on a 1,600-square-foot beach lot and is planning to build a 14-by-20-foot, single-story structure. Allowing for required 10-foot setbacks, the 32-foot width of the lot would have left him a structure just nine feet wide indoors, Pahl told the commission.
The variance approval for five-foot setbacks contrasts with the commission’s denial of a setback variance for the previous owners of the property, Glen and Alison Jacobson, who in 2007 proposed a two-story, commercial and residential building that was opposed by neighbors.
Commissioners delayed a decision on Pahl’s request in March, saying they wanted to hear from neighbors. On Thursday, borough staff said they’d made efforts to contact adjoining landowners and others and had heard nothing back.
Resident Debra Schnabel, speaking at the March meeting, made the only public comments on the request. She said the narrowness of the lots would cause continual variance requests. She suggested the borough purchase the lots or somehow retain a more natural lay of the land.
She also asked the commission to look at the waterfront “as a continuum for public access” as opposed to a residential development area. “I think it’s fraught with issues you’re going to be visiting over and over and over again.”
During discussion Thursday, commissioner Rob Goldberg said borough law allows variances to accommodate for shapes of lots. “We can consider shape of the lot in granting these. This is one of these examples of an extremely small and narrow lot downtown probably from the 1917 plat.”
Goldberg said the variance was preferable to Pahl’s alternative, building a narrow, two-story structure. “I would much prefer to see a one-story building down there than a two-story, extremely narrow building so I think this is a good thing for the waterfront there,” he said.
Commission chair Lee Heinmiller said a structure conforming to setback requirements would look like a trailer. But he also expressed concern about the fate of the skinny lots. “Encouraging them to meld into neighbor lots or somehow go away before we have to deal with all of them on an individual basis would be a good, rational thing to do in the world of planning.”
When the commission turned down the Jacobsons in 2007, members said the commission needed a waterfront zone plan for tackling such questions. No such plan was ever devised, although the former City of Haines commissioned a waterfront plan in 2001.
Pahl said he intends to use his planned structure as a summer home. “I would’ve built last year but I didn’t like the idea of going too tall. Unless you want to be sitting on the toilet at the kitchen table, that was my only other option.”
Alison Jacobson said this week she was glad Pahl got the variance. “Tasteful new development in that area will help the neighborhood. There’s hope some day to have a (waterfront) trail there, but that’s privately-owned land and it’s something that should have been planned out before. Eventually, people are going to build up all along there.”
Commissioner Goldberg, who has pushed for a harbor walk extending to Picture Point, said the development of beachfront lots doesn’t interfere with his idea, as there’s room on Front Street for two lanes of traffic and a sidewalk on the street’s east side.
“Some people thought the walk was going to be on the beach. All we were thinking about was a sidewalk. Personally, I call it the Haines harbor walk,” Goldberg said this week.
He said he anticipated many more variance requests to deal with historic lots. “A lot of lots aren’t buildable without a variance.” Goldberg said he believed that borough-owned lots on Front Street would provide beach access in the event the area is built up.
In 2007, Front Street North was envisioned as the uplands of an expanded boat harbor. Despite development hurdles, lots there are of prime value because of their location and ownership of adjoining tidelands.