Haines voters will soon decide if Planning Commission seats should go back to being appointed by the mayor. The resident initiative asks voters to reverse what’s been in place for three years – voters electing commissioners.
Haines voters, in 2023, decided to change how seats were filled on the Planning Commission.
Tom Morphet, who is now mayor, was successful in putting an initiative on the ballot that changed planning commissioners from appointed members, to elected members. He said the move was, in part, a response to the commission’s controversial approval of a heliport. That decision was later overturned by the Assembly.
“There came strong public sentiment that the Planning Commission was no longer representing the views of the people that live here,” he said. “And also those appointed planning commissions tended to skew pretty heavily to developers. The people who served on them were equipment operators, developers, and real estate … Large property owners, people who had a stake in development. And that’s who tended to be appointed.”
Morphet argues that now, elected commissioners are more diverse, and more accountable. They don’t answer to just the mayor.
“Election gives you accountability,” he said. “If somebody’s on there doing things that run counter to the public good, the public can remove them.”
But Kim Rosado, who herself is running for Planning Commission this election season, feels differently. She collected enough signatures to get an initiative on the ballot that, if passed, would change the system back to the old way of appointing planning commissioners.
“I believe people with planning experience … that can read plans, whether property plans or building plans, are the experts in the field,” she said. “And that’s who should be on the Planning Commission, and that’s what we had before.”
Long-time Haines resident Roc Ahearns also supports appointing commissioners. He said electing commissioners has made the commission less friendly to growth and development.
Aherans said he would like planning commissioner to be appointed, “to try to at least proportion it out about how many are going to be pro industry or anti, or whatever. And get an even balance instead of letting it get so far out of hand like it has now.”
Seattle resident Amanda Warren has been dealing with the Planning Commission regarding her family’s allotment in Haines. She said there has been a big change since 2023, when appointments ended.
“When the mayor was appointing the Planning Commission, it seemed like it was better for the community, because they were able to appoint people who understood the laws, the codes, and kind of the process a little bit better,” Warren said.
Morphet rejects the idea that an elected commissioner is less qualified than an appointed one. Or that an elected commission is more political than an appointed commission.
“An elected Planning Commission is always going to be more critical, and I think more deliberative, than an appointed one,” he said. “But that’s their job to be critical and deliberative. Once they become kind of a rubber stamp, or an easy pass for somebody wanting a decision, all that work doesn’t make the decision easier. It just winds up in the lap of the full Assembly when those decisions are appealed.”
Rachel Saitzyk is in her second term on the Planning Commission. She supports electing commissioners, for many of the same reasons as Morphet.
“It is a crucial time to have thinkers and question askers, and people who are going to have community long-term planning in mind when they are making decisions … It is important to make sure that people are asking really thoughtful, and thorough, and educated questions to steer us in the right direction.”
Planning commissioners get compensated $50 per meeting. Saitzyk said it takes her about 10 hours a month to prepare for meetings.
General Elections will be held Oct. 6. Along with voting on the Planning Commission initiative, residents have six candidates to choose from to fill four Planning Commission seats.