Last week’s planning commission meeting was disturbing.
Despite vocal opposition from nearby residents and the Chilkat Indian Village, Commissioners Diana Lapham, Don Turner and Richard Clement voted to allow yet another heliport in our small community.
Prior to the three-to-two vote, Lapham said she had helicopters flying over her house everyday and that the noise didn’t bother her. Apparently that counted for more than the many people who wrote or spoke saying that the noise would bother them. Only the Chamber of Commerce and one other Haines resident wrote in favor of the heliport that Sean Gaffney wants to build at Chilkat River Adventures (which he recently purchased).
This resistance to the wishes of the many is a flagrant reminder that none of us can count on living in the neighborhood that we chose because the planning commission can change what we most love about that neighborhood in an instant.
It seems incestuous that the planning commission has the right to vote on who serves on it, especially given the power it has to change where we live. After listening to some of the commissioners almost fawn over the great qualifications of two candidates who applied for the expiring seats of Lapham and Rob Goldberg, it was embarrassing to watch them then rank themselves higher and thereby keep themselves in office.
For the good of community and to encourage faith in government, it’s important for the commission to represent all of us, rather than just itself.
Sharon Resnick