The Haines Borough Assembly offered less than half of the amount a citizen’s group asked for in a settlement over a controversial heliport that was approved last summer.
A group of citizens led by Nick Szatkowski, who owns a home in the area near the heliport across the Klehini River from 26 Mile, had asked for more than $13,000 to settle the suit. Szatkowski said the amount was based on attorney costs, court fees, and the cost to transcribe previous assembly meetings.
The citizens group calls itself the Chilkat Valley Rural Citizens and is made up of 20 residents of the area. Among other concerns, it argued the borough violated its own code in not adequately considering the impacts of “undue noise” resulting from a heliport George Campbell built in the area.
In an executive session late Tuesday, the assembly voted to approve just $5,000, which member Debra Schnabel said was an effort to compromise between a faction that thought the group shouldn’t receive anything, and those who thought the full fee should be reimbursed.
In a phone call, Szatkowski said he hasn’t had time to talk with fellow litigants about whether they will accept the terms of the deal, which would drop the group’s claims against the borough.
In a later emailed statement, he called the offer “disrespectful.”
“We aren’t asking for compensation for the countless hours of stress and lost time; just a return of the actual money we’ve had to spend to pursue fairness in the conduct of our municipal government,” he wrote. “The Borough has undoubtedly paid far more to defend the illegal heliport permit than they are willing to spend to reimburse our minimal court costs.”
Borough clerk Alekka Fullerton said she did not have a cost estimate for the amount the borough has spent on attorney fees for the case.
A parallel appeal from Campbell challenging restrictions on his use of the heliport would not be affected by the settlement.