Company says Skagway's old Starlite Room isn't historic and asks to move it

A Skagway company wants to move the small building once known as the Starlite Room out of the town's historic district and use it for storage. The Historic District Commission takes up the request Monday.

The question is whether the building counts as historic. The company says it doesn't. It was built around 1999 or 2000 and moved to its current spot in 2003, according to the company's application.

That matters because city code discourages moving historic buildings. If the commission decides this one isn't historic, it can approve the move. If it decides the building is historic, the company would first have to give public notice, look at alternatives and document the building with measured drawings, photographs inside and out and a written history. The building then couldn't leave the district until 12 months after approval and any appeals.

The company, JAM LLC, first proposed moving the 20-by-12-foot building to a corner of the same property. "It is not a historic building," a Sept. 28 filing said. Its Oct. 5 application sends the building instead to a lot outside the historic district, at a cost of about $6,000. The application says it was built as one of two identical buildings.

The commission will also consider the company's plan to extend a beer garden canopy on the same property, at an estimated $70,000. City code says the commission will limit new canopies to buildings that had them historically.