Elected Official Compensation
The assembly voted Tuesday to amend a controversial pair of proposals that would take away compensation from the borough’s elected officials. The proposal still has one more public hearing to go before a final vote, but will now be voted on as a proposal to allow elected officials to opt out of their pay by choice, rather than forcing them to do so.
For all the discussion back and forth, eliminating the stipends would be a mostly symbolic change in terms of borough finances, accounting for roughly 0.0008% of next year’s proposed budget. But opponents of the change have argued it would be more than just symbolic for individuals. Public commenters and assembly member Kevin Forster reiterated the argument Tuesday that taking away compensation would shut out young and working class candidates from borough government. Assembly member Mark Smith, the writer of the legislation, was unmoved.
“$4,800 is not make or break for young people to serve,” Smith argued, referring to the yearly sum of assembly member compensation. That amount is more than 10% of the per-capita income in Haines according to the last census.
Accessory Dwelling Units
The assembly took up discussion of a proposal to allow accessory dwelling units as a use-by-right in the townsite, which would mean the structures would only require a land-use permit.
The measure is being pitched as a first step in addressing the borough’s housing shortage, and a small one, as “accessory apartments”– defined as a one-bedroom apartment attached to a home or garage – are already use-by-right, including in single-family zones. Accessory dwelling units would be similar, but would be able to be 400 square feet larger and not attached to a home.
However, the proposal has drawn opposition from homeowners who say allowing these housing units would threaten quality of life benefits they paid for in buying homes in single-family zoning. Discussion at Tuesday’s meeting centered around the hypothetical of “shacks”: the idea that a homeowner could build an unsightly accessory unit that neighbors would have to live with.
Assembly member Gabe Thomas raised the issue, saying he had heard the concern from multiple single-family zone homeowners. Assembly member Forster and Morphet pushed back on the hypothetical. “As far as a shack being built, someone can already do that as long as it’s [attached to] the house,” Forster said. “You can continuously nitpick, this is the first thing we’ve seen, it’s pretty low impact, but it can help provide housing.” Morphet pointed out that residents can already build shacks as the primary home on the property, “so long as it has a toilet and a setback.”
Some borough officials, including assembly member Cheryl Stickler and acting lands director Donna Lambert, have advocated having the ADU question go through a zoning change process. Stickler suggested on Tuesday that the borough might take up the question of removing single-family zoning altogether, rather than adding ADUs to it.
Others, like Thomas, have suggested they would be more likely to support the addition of ADUs if they were subject to conditional use permits, which would mean each one would have to be approved by the planning commission.
Measures similar to the one Haines is now considering have been passed in nearby communities, including Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka, Juneau, and Anchorage. “This is pretty common in Alaska,” said Morphet. “We’re not doing anything new or radical here.”
Ultimately, the assembly decided to delay its vote on the issue for further discussion on the ordinance. It will be taken up again at the next assembly meeting.
Lutak Dock
Harbormaster Henry Pollan recommended to the assembly closing nearly all of Lutak Dock due to safety concerns. Assembly members affirmed that recommendation after Pollan gave a presentation on the rapid deterioration of the dock.
The last remaining parts of the dock still in use now are the fuel-transfer and pass-pass sections. Pollan emphasized that these still-open sections are failing along with the rest of the dock, and the decision to keep them open is only because of their importance to the community—in spite of the dangerous conditions for workers. Pollan said workers would only enter these areas when necessary, and would do so wearing lifejackets and helmets.
“I’d like to impress on you the gravity of this change,” Pollan said. “The dock is deteriorating and deteriorating rapidly.”
Pollan and assembly members were in agreement that the dock structure could now fail anytime. Were the dock to fail, Pollan said fuel and supplies would likely be brought in on the highway, but warned that costs for consumers would be extremely high.
While time looks to be running short, it’s still not clear how quickly a fix might come. The borough is currently in talks with contractor Turnagain Marine to put together a new dock design. But when Stickler asked Fullerton Tuesday for an update on those talks, Fullerton did not reveal much, besides that the process had begun. “Everyone is aware that we are out of time,” Fullerton said, but did not say more about a time frame on the dock design. Fullerton did say two weeks ago that she hoped a design proposal could come forward “in the next few weeks.”