A special election — asking voters whether the planning commission should be elected — will be June 6. In March, Tom Morphet and nine other sponsors of the petition garnered 317 signatures, more than the required 260, to get the question on the ballot. A positive vote would make the seven-member body elected to three-year […]
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Posted inLetters to the Editor
Please close “Pandora’s Box”
As a member of the Planning Commission when this heliport idea surfaced all those years ago, the overwhelming recommendation of the Commission was all commercial helicopter operations be based out of the Haines airport. This was done for obvious reasons, mostly public safety and public and environmental health. The assembly ignored it and hired a professional consultant […]
Posted inNews, Elections
Special election set to elect planning commission
A special election that will ask voters whether the planning commission should be elected will be held June 6. Tom Morphet and nine other sponsors of the petition garnered 317 of the required 260 signatures to get the question on the ballot. A positive vote would make the seven-member body elected to three-year staggered terms. […]
Posted inNews
Effort to elect planning commission advances
Tom Morphet submitted an application for a ballot initiative petition this week that would require planning commissioners to be elected rather than appointed. A controversial planning commission meeting last December motivated Morphet to seek turning the commission into an elected body after the seven-member commission, operating with only five members, voted 3-2 to permit a heliport at […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly Briefs
The next phase of the Lutak Dock progressive design-build replacement project was approved unanimously by the Haines Borough Assembly on Tuesday. Several residents expressed concern about the cost of the project and urged the assembly to not move forward with the decision. The borough’s boat harbor enterprise fund will source $2.4 million of the project. A federal grant from […]
Posted inNews
A brief guide to surviving Haines Borough politics
From the practical to the philosophical, current and former elected officials weighed in on how assembly members can survive and thrive in their roles, and how the public can help, too. The following story is the continuation of a series exploring the reasons why six assembly members have resigned in the last six years, and […]
Posted inNews, Haines Borough
Assembly Briefs
Jones to fill assembly vacancy The Haines Borough Assembly voted unanimously for Margarette Jones to serve on the assembly until the next election in October. The seat was declared vacant following the resignation of former assembly member Tyler Huling. The motion, created by assembly member Jerry Lapp, was carried unanimously. “I know in years before we have done […]
Posted inNews
Planning commission denies cease-and-desist appeal
An order from the borough manager to cease and desist heliport operations at Airkat Airpark was delivered to George and Lynnette Campbell last month. The private airstrip at 26 Mile of Haines Highway was ordered to shut down until a conditional use permit (CUP) was granted. The Campbells appealed the action to the borough’s planning commission on […]
Posted inNews
Assembly to consider residency requirement to on empowered boards
The borough’s GASC committee recommended the assembly require one year of residency before serving on empowered government boards, such as the planning commission. The motion, created by Debra Schnabel and seconded by Gabe Thomas, will be reviewed by the assembly next Tuesday. Schnabel suggested the one year rule work in tandem with additional efforts to familiarize commissioners […]
Posted inNews
Resident appeals heli permit vote
A resident who lives near a proposed heliport at 24 Mile Haines Highway is appealing the Haines Borough Planning Commission’s Dec. 8 approval of a conditional-use permit for the heliport, which would be used for heliskiing operations. The planning commission voted 3-2 to approve a permit application from Chilkat River Adventures to build a heliport along the Chilkat River west of Wells Bridge — a decision […]