After years of observing, and a few of participating in the planning commission process — Dan Schultz is seeking another term. 

Schultz moved to Alaska 23 years ago; it took another six for him to land in Haines. 

During that time, he said he was primarily traveling around the state doing natural resources oriented work as a biologist, forester and hydrologist working on various projects for the state and for the Takshanuk Watershed Council.  

Once he got to Haines, Schultz said he branched out into other types of work like carpentry, reality television and landscaping. 

In 2018, Schultz said he started paying attention to local politics, attending assembly meetings and weighing-in on agenda items like the Lutak Dock. He advocated for a simpler approach but said he watched as the project morphed into a phased plan that seemed excessive for Haines’ needs. 

“I was getting the feeling of not being heard,” he said. 

When the planning commission seats opened for election in 2023, he decided that if he wanted to be heard he needed to be more involved. 

He was seated along with a wave of new commissioners who did not have much experience with the particulars of the planning commission process. He described having to spend a lot of time studying the borough’s land use code and understand how the planning commission is supposed to work. 

“We’re pretty much bound by code and our decision-making process,” he said. “So, it’s pretty stringent and some of it is actually pretty straightforward. But there are some contentious issues where some of our code is just not clear.”

Schultz pointed to the conditional use permit process which requires planners to go through step-by-step criteria for approval. Some, which ask commissioners to weigh a project’s impact, are open to interpretation. 

“The interpretation of the questions that we have, that’s definitely one thing that kind of needs to be cleaned up,” he said. 

He’s running again because he thinks there’s a good mix of people who are working hard, following code and trying to be open. 

“I got into it because I want to be part of the community process, part of the decision-making process,” he said. “Hopefully I can be involved for another three years.” 

Schultz was watching the commission for years before he joined and has seen it transition from being an appointed to an elected body. He thinks the shift has caused there to be a wider representation of community interests on the commission. 

“I think we have maybe a more diverse group now,” he said. 

He’d like to see the planning commission tackle the issue of housing, particularly for young people who are trying to make Haines a home. 

“I think there have been plenty of people who have gotten job offers here, have come here, can’t find housing, and they move away,” he said. 

Now that there’s a new planner, Schultz said he thinks the commission can finally start tackling different ideas and projects to help address the community’s housing issues. 

While the planning commission is fairly limited in what it can accomplish on its own, Schultz said it could advocate for changes in land use or borough land sales. 

“It’s super difficult to change the fact that building or buying a home is super expensive and does not really relate to the wages here in town for many people,” he said. 

He also said the borough could explore tax discounts for young families or help with the costs of daycare  — both of which would ultimately be assembly decisions. But, they’re ideas the planning commission could study and then pass recommendations to the assembly. 

Looking ahead, and with a fully staffed lands department, Schultz said he’d like to address landslide preparedness and reforming the borough’s land use and planning code, Title 18. 

He also said he’d like to see the community of Mosquito Lake get to hang onto its school building. It’s an issue that has divided the Chilkat Valley, as assembly members consider selling the borough-owned property. 

Schultz said he has been helping with the community garden end-of-season cleanup for a few years and has friends who live in the upper valley and has seen firsthand how community is built through the programs in that building. 

“They’re paying taxes and they deserve something out of all of this,” he said. 

Correction: A previous version of this story misrepresented the amount of time Dan Schultz has been in Alaska and Haines, it is 23 years and 17 years respectively.