What do dog kennels and helicopter noise studies have in common? In fact, two features in the June 18 issue of the Chilkat Valley News address the very same issue: maintaining the peaceful quality of rural residential life in the Haines Borough. The first piece reports on the borough planning commission’s rejection of a Lutak man’s request for a conditional use permit, which would have allowed him to run a dog care business on his property.
Switch to the helicopter issue at 26 Mile, and we have essentially the same story. The huge majority of people living in this well-established rural neighborhood are vehemently opposed to having their deliberately sought peace and quiet disrupted by the insertion of a heliport. Too, Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventure’s past record of out-of-bounds landings and repeated, GPS-confirmed, illegal, low-flying operation this winter are indications that we can’t trust SEABA to be good neighbors. The planning commission heard our voices last summer and came to the same conclusion they did with the Lutak kennel: an unavoidably noise-intensive business has no place in a quiet residential area.
Safe to say that if this proposed heliport were in the center of Fort Seward, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So, are the rights of 26 Mile residents any less because there are fewer of us? Are our rights less than those of Lutak residents, simply because heli-skiing is big business? And are our fellow citizens going to stand by as we’re bullied and bulldozed?
Nick Jans