The Haines Borough Assembly in December approved an application for a state grant to fund a motorized recreation trail near Lily Lake Road.
The assembly voted 4-2 in favor of the application, with assembly members Caitie Kirby and Tyler Huling opposed.
The trail would be a two-mile loop geared towards residents learning to ride ATVs, snow machines, dirt bikes or other motorized vehicles.
During a public comment period prior to the assembly’s decision, many residents signed letters in support of the trail as a way to expand outdoor recreational opportunities near town. Currently, the motorized trails closest to town are 25 miles up Haines Highway.
Still, other residents voiced opposition to the application out of concern for the forest ecosystem and a quiet area where some enjoy walking or snowshoeing.
Last spring the assembly and the planning commission both unanimously approved a grant application for the trail, but the project wasn’t selected for funding.
The grant is administered by the Department of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. This year the state is accepting only applications for motorized trails, so borough staff advised that now would be the best time to apply.
In other news, the borough assembly on Jan. 11 unanimously voted to introduce an ordinance, recommended by the planning commission, that would codify definitions of yurts and container homes and prohibit them as primary residences in the townsite except in the rural residential and rural mixed-use zones. There will be two public hearings on the ordinance—on Jan. 25 and Feb. 8—before it goes to a vote. In 2013, the assembly voted 5-1 not to introduce a ban on yurts that was recommended by the planning commission.
Borough manager Annette Kreitzer will proceed with negotiations with Alaska Indian Arts to transfer the Fort Seward Parade Grounds to the borough in exchange for forgiveness of roughly $31,000 in back taxes. The Port Chilkoot Company and Chilkoot Indian Association will also be involved in discussions around the land exchange. AIA could transfer about one acre of commercial property on the parade grounds to CIA as part of the negotiation. Kreitzer told the CVN that the process is currently at a standstill while staff works to better understand the history of land ownership in the area.
Assembly members, on Jan. 11, introduced an ordinance to amend the borough’s 2022 budget. The amendments include allocating $750,000 from the areawide general fund to the capital improvement fund to finance a “shovel-ready design” for a new public safety building, and recording an influx of more than $400,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding.
An ordinance to approve a lease agreement for a 5G cell tower that would expand coverage out Lutak Road had its first public hearing on Jan. 11. Haines resident Sarahlee Kittons requested that the borough host a town hall about the tower to give residents a chance to discuss possible exposure to electromagnetic radiation. (The town hall was scheduled for Wednesday evening, after the CVN’s weekly deadline.) Lynx Consulting representative Julei Campos said construction drawings for the tower haven’t been submitted yet but that she could provide the borough with an engineer’s report about the impacts of radiation exposure. Mayor Douglas Olerud requested that the public have a chance to review the report before a second hearing about the cell tower.
The assembly, on Dec. 22, unanimously approved a $36,000 contract with lobbyist Ted Popely. The borough first hired Popely in 2021 for $48,000, after three years without a lobbyist in Juneau. Kreitzer said at the top of Popely’s priorities are securing funding for the Lutak Dock renovation, which requires $4.5 million in addition to the $20 million federal grant recently awarded to the borough, and a new public safety building.
The assembly on Jan. 11 unanimously approved a $363,449 contract with proHNS for road repairs associated with the December 2020 weather event.
On Dec. 22, assembly members unanimously approved a $109,000 contract with Adcomm to provide the borough with radio services.
Also on Dec. 22, the assembly unanimously voted to issue a statement of non-objection regarding an application to the state for a new marijuana retail store, Dandelion, in the borough.
Assembly members voted 5-1 not to reimburse residents for snow plowing at the end of East Mathias Ave—a section of road that the borough had erroneously been plowing for a few years. Following code, borough manager Kreitzer earlier this fall announced that the borough would not plow the road this winter. Residents appealed the decision, citing a financial burden, but the planning commission upheld it. Assembly member Schnabel moved to direct the borough to cover 50% of the residents’ plowing costs, or up to $5,000, but other assembly members worried about the precedent such a decision would set.