Last week, Haines Borough Planning Commission chair Don Turner III resigned over a last- minute rewrite to an ordinance the commission worked on for more than two years.

Other commissioners also expressed frustration that the ordinance they drafted to regulate resource extraction was changed last week by borough planner Holly Smith to address assembly and public concerns.

“I took time off work to come to the (assembly’s) Government Affairs and Services Committee meeting and they handed me a draft ordinance that was a complete rewrite,” Tuner told the CVN. “Nobody from the administration gave me a warning. It was a realization that this administration and assembly don’t respect what we do at the planning commission. All the hours of work were just thrown away, so it was like ‘Why am I taking time off work when the assembly just throws the work away and rewrites it?’”

In February, the ordinance was forwarded to the Haines Borough Assembly, which sent it to Government Affairs and Services Committee for refining at Smith’s request.

Smith had asked the assembly for more time to address public comment, administrative errors in the draft and a pending complementary ordinance.

Last week, Smith presented the GAS committee with two versions of the ordinance: the one the planning commission had worked on, and a substitute ordinance Smith made changes to based on guidance from the borough attorney and the public.

In the original draft ordinance, resource extraction was categorized as either major and minor, based on the land-to-resource ratio. The modified ordinance eliminated the term “minor resource extraction” in favor of conditional use permits or case-by-case reviews.

“It was my idea to write this version,” Smith said to the planning commission on Thursday. “I tried to maintain that intent but not have any kind of measures on material amounts. The reason I did that was because in February, the assembly and the public had expressed that they didn’t like (the ratio),” Smith said.

Longtime commissioner Lee Heinmiller said during last week’s planning commission meeting that he believes the assembly owes the commission “a sincere apology” at the risk of losing members. “Otherwise, I think most (commissioners) will decide that it’s not worth the trouble. If they won’t accept the decisions that we make based on the rationale that we use, then I’m done, plain and simple,” he said. “They’ve already wasted 15 years of my time.”

Smith dismissed commissioners’ comments that she was responding to a directive from the assembly. “These comments of ‘The assembly, they don’t listen to us,’ I think this is really my fault. I didn’t do it in the correct way, but I was responding to the public and the assembly, and that’s who I serve.”

Commissioner Rob Goldberg said that, while the job of commissioner can sometimes be frustrating, dealing with ordinance changes comes as part of the job. “I’ve been in the same line of thought as Donnie like ‘This is the last straw,’ (but) the way the system is set up is that we are an advisory board and don’t make the final decisions,” Goldberg said. “There’s been a lot of good work that we’ve done over the years that’s been thrown out or changed, but that’s just how the system is structured in code.”

The planning commission advises the assembly on all matters related to planning and zoning with codes. The assembly is the sole law-making body.

Commissioner Sylvia Heinz, who became chair upon Turner’s resignation, said that she also considered quitting, but not because the administration changed the ordinance.

“The issues that I see are not that the assembly didn’t like what we put out,” she said. “In my opinion, the main challenge has been that the commission was tasked to do a job that didn’t have the support of the assembly, staff or public.”

Other commissioners thought the issue stemmed from poor communication.

“I think we’ve got a breakdown in communication that now has cost us a very valuable member on this commission,” commissioner Diana Lapham said.

Assembly member and planning commission liaison Heather Lende said she didn’t know that Turner was upset. “I’m sorry if you’re feeling adrift and angry,” she told commissioners. “But it kind of comes with the territory sometimes.”

Next week, commissioners will attend a previously scheduled training with a governmental specialist from Anchorage and borough attorney Brooks Chandler, where they will discuss their roles as commissioners.

“Hopefully this training will help recognize and get more cooperation between the two entities so they could actually cooperate,” Turner said. He said he will not consider re-joining the planning commission.

The substitute draft ordinance will go back to the assembly Tuesday for re-introduction. If adopted, it will then be scheduled for two public hearings in May.

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