The planning commission will discuss whether to prohibit event venues or allow them as a conditional use in the Mud Bay neighborhood if the assembly follows borough clerk Alekka Fullerton’s recommendation.

In October, about 100 residents in the Mud Bay Rural Residential Zone (MBRRZ) signed a petition asking that the assembly prohibit commercial events in their neighborhood, which includes much of the Chilkat Peninsula south of Carr’s Cove. In response, the assembly tasked the code review commission to define “events venues” and “commercial enterprise,” which the commission did last week.

The commission, which includes Fullerton as a member, settled on defining event venues as the “commercial use of a building, or part of a building, or land as a place of assembly by the public for special events such as weddings, educational workshops, conferences, performances, cultural gatherings, etc.”

Such events are not listed in code as conditional or prohibited uses in the MBRRZ. The borough currently permits three venues, Chilkat Inlet Retreat, Echo Ranch Bible Camp and Viking Cove, that host such events in the zoning area under the broad category of “commercial enterprise,” a conditional use defined in code as “any commercial, manufacturing, sale or service that occurs on a person’s private property.”

The code review commission changed the definition of “commercial enterprise” to “the activity of producing and/or providing goods and/or services for exchange of value through buying, selling or bartering.”

Some Mud Bay neighbors have long raised concerns about Viking Cove, a vacation rental business that the planning commission has allowed to host events such as weddings. Current event venues would be grandfathered in if the assembly changes code as requested by petitioners. It’s unclear what effect the code change would have on Viking Cove, whose permit doesn’t explicitly allow or prohibit events, unlike conditional use permits for other event venues in the MBRRZ.

Planning commission chair Diana Lapham thinks the petition is targeting Viking Cove. “As long as the venue is permitted by the borough for events and they adhere to the permit it should be allowed,” Lapham said. “I’m glad this is coming back to us. I’m looking forward to the debate.”

Planning commissioner and Mud Bay resident Rob Goldberg said he thinks the borough shouldn’t tell people where they can assemble, whether or not they have paid for a venue.

“Usually a commercial use and a non-commercial use have the same impact.  It is the use that matters, not the money that may change hands,” Goldberg said, citing parties and other gatherings that have occurred in the zone. “I do think the borough can set conditions, such as a time when noise must cease, or how many parking places are required, but we can’t tell people they can’t party.”

The assembly will consider Fullerton’s recommendation at its Feb. 22 regular meeting.