Several members of the Haines Borough Planning Commission asked for more support from the assembly during a joint meeting of the two bodies last week, citing overturned decisions and unheeded recommendations that caused discontent.
Commission chair Rob Goldberg said he would like the assembly to “take the planning commission seriously,” and give the group’s decisions “the weight they deserve.”
In recent years, the assembly has repeatedly rejected recommendations by the planning commission, including a request to change parking requirements and modify the definition of “temporary use dwellings.”
The assembly has also overturned several permitting decisions, including the commission’s vote to deny Big Salmon Ventures’ permit application to construct a heliport on Chilkat Lake Road.
Commissioner Robert Venables also pointed out at the May 7 joint meeting that the commission will make recommendations or ask questions of staff but nothing shows up on the assembly’s agenda and the questions don’t get addressed.
“Things do seem to fall off the tracks sometimes,” said assembly member and planning commission liaison Debra Schnabel.
The complaint isn’t a new one. In an interview this week, Larry Hura, who served on the commission for six years in the early 1990s, said the situation wasn’t much different during his term. “It was pretty much the same, to tell you the honest truth. In fact that is why I got off it. You felt like you weren’t accomplishing anything,” Hura said.
The commission would diligently make decisions based on the code, but the assembly would “quite often” end up overturning the decisions. Hura said he ended up feeling like the planning commission’s input on the matter was merely a formality, rather than a valued contribution.
“I was frustrated and said, ‘My gosh, this isn’t worth it. Just let it go to the borough assembly to start with,’” Hura said.
Mayor Stephanie Scott said in an interview Tuesday she believes much of the assembly’s skepticism or reticence to accept some planning commission recommendations stems from lack of research provided to the assembly by the commission.
“There seems to be a greater interest in the foundation of the planning commission’s decision,” Scott said.
When it comes down to it, though, the commission is only advisory, Scott said. “The planning commission needs to be able to tolerate discussion as well as disagreement on the part of the assembly. It’s the assembly’s prerogative to be the final authority,” she said.
Assembly member Schnabel said there also seems to be confusion over the role of the commission.
Schnabel brought up the Veteran’s Village as an example, saying while the commission did examine the plans for the building, it didn’t consider long-term planning effects of the village’s location downtown, like how it would affect traffic patterns or necessitate more amenities.
“Our community has a legacy of refusing to plan,” Schnabel said.
Instead, the commission has traditionally had a reactive role to issues instead of proactively planning for developments or changes in the community, Schnabel said.
In an interview Monday, Schnabel also said the planning commission is too focused on the protection of individual property and individual rights instead of concentrating on what’s best for the entire town.
“That is our political and cultural heritage, but it does not serve the community,” she said. “Service on the planning commission is difficult for most of us because we aren’t conditioned to make decisions that are best for the whole. A person has to be taught that orientation,” she said.
Scott said she hopes the tension between the two groups will diminish as manager David Sosa takes a more active role in the planning process.