Planning Commission welcomes new member

Last Tuesday the Nome Planning Commission swore in new member Adam Lust at the start of their regular meeting.
“I’m looking forward to learning a lot and coming up with good solutions that are beneficial for everyone, specifically to the downtown zoning district,” Lust said during the meeting.
Mayor John Handeland also appointed Rhonda West to the Planning Commission to fill the second vacant seat and the council approved the appointment. West, however, was sick and could not attend the meeting. She will be sworn in at the next regular meeting.  

Rezoning
The meeting included a follow up discussion from the January meeting with City Planner Erin Reinders about rezoning Front Street.
Reinders reviewed the changes initially agreed upon, one being to reduce the setback of buildings to zero feet. The commission also discussed allowing conditional use for commercial utility facilities, snow dump and storage sites and private storage for business, commercial and retail sites associated with residential use. Conditional use will allow the commission to be the deciding factor in requests for aforementioned uses.
Reinders brought up the topic of geographic limits. Originally, the commission agreed the zone would go as far west as the Mini Convention Center and as far east as Steadman, not going north of Front Street. When looking at the existing zoning the committee noticed the commercial zone went past University of Alaska’s Northwest Campus to the west. After some deliberation they decided to include that area in the new zoning.
Lust brought up the question of long-term usage of South Front Street, particularly the area in a flood zone. “Forty years from now should we be encouraging building use on the south side of Front Street?” Lust asked, “And have we talked to any of the property owners in this area to see what their vision is?”
Commission Chair Ken Hughes said it just means things built in that area need to be established with a higher standard to prevent damage. Hughes also shared his hypothetical vision for a developed walkway leading to the seawall, allowing for more community friendly access to Nome’s beach. Lust shared in the ideation, saying he pictures “one big park” in the south side of Front Street area.
City Manager Glenn Steckman spoke up about the City of Nome working with buyers of the Nugget Inn hotel who are being “carefully watched by FEMA” during the rehabilitation of the damaged building. “If we do something wrong, we could impact our community rating,” Steckman said.
Reinders concluded with saying the next steps for the new zoning plan, now that the commission is clear on the boundaries, is to get the Nome community involved.

Other business
Delivering the city manager’s report, Steckman said the City is having meetings to prepare for the 3D printed housing project to take place this summer. He presented the commission with two design options being considered, both are three-bedroom, one bath. One house has a garage option.
Steckman brought up property and sales tax. “I know there’s been a comment recently from some members of this commission about the city not being business friendly. Normally we try to work with the property owner, setting that owner on a reimbursement plan to pay the city back,” Steckman said.
In the circumstance the city manager was referring to, which he did not specify, the business collected sales tax on behalf of the city and failed to remit sales tax. Steckman said violation of city code is one of the city’s biggest issues slowing people down from improving their property. “We’re not here to shut down businesses. We want to get it done,” Steckman said.
Building Inspector Cliff McHenry said the building abatement list will be available later this month. Commission member Melissa Ford inquired about Nome’s ordinance that provides a partial, temporary tax exemption for modifications to existing or construction of new residential housing structures that increase housing and the tax base of the city. Ford asked about what the city has done to inform people of the ordinance. Steckman said it was posted in the paper.
McHenry said qualifying buildings are not limited to the homes on the abatement list.
To apply for the tax exemption, inquirers must write a letter to the city manager to obtain an application.
The meeting concluded with the commission welcoming their new member and looking forward to the continued work on the Front Street Rezoning.