Planning commission signs off on new subdivision

A plat for Harbor View Subdivision was approved by the Planning Commission last week in a special meeting, the first step in Bering Air’s creation of a new residential area in Nome’s city limits.
Located west of Alaska Commercial store, north and south of Little Creek Road, the almost 83-acre property is divided into two lots and currently under ownership of Arctic Gold Mining but won’t be for long as Bering Air is finalizing the purchase.
Getting the plat approved was one of the final steps before the change in possession, as it “consolidated a bunch of mineral surveys for sale,” City Engineer John Blees explained, attending the meeting via Zoom.
The area was designated a major subdivision because of a portion that overlaps Little Creek Road, a right-of-way, otherwise it would be seen as a minor subdivision, not requiring approval of the Planning Commission, Blees said.
The Commission expressed concern in their discussion about the use of the property, not wanting it to be reduced to storage for “junk.”
Bering Air’s Russel Rowe was present in the meeting to clarify that this plat approval is just the first stage of many in the process of creating a developed subdivision.
“The idea really, for the property in the end is to create both apartments, single family homes, multifamily homes, and then also potentially some lots that might be for sale, to do residential stuff, too,” Rowe said. “We don’t want a bunch of junk storage. We want to have an attractive place for people.”
Satisfied by the explanation and assurance that further development plans will be submitted later in the process, the planning commission approved the plat in a unanimous vote and congratulated Rowe on the project.
“It’s certainly something that the community needs, and we’re delighted that someone’s stepping up to do this,” Commissioner Ken Hughes said.

Other business
The commission also approved the plan establishing two districts on Front Street as part of the long going Revitalization Project. The two commercial districts are almost identical and cover Front Street from the Mini Convention Center to Mettler Way. The difference being that the larger district would have five-foot yard setbacks and the smaller district, only covering the sea facing side of the road from Nugget Inn to Breaker’s Bar, would have zero-foot setbacks.
The next steps for the plan will be to formally approve the new districts by drafting an ordinance to be approved by the City Council.