Ketchikan planners may redo approval for KIC shelter after some neighbors weren't notified

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Planning Commission decides Tuesday, Oct. 13, whether to reopen its Sept. 15 approval of a parking variance for the Ketchikan Indian Community's planned shelter on Tongass Avenue, after borough staff found that some neighbors were never notified of the hearing.

The S'eenáa Hít Navigation Center would be a four-story building at 2334 Tongass Ave., on the lot of the demolished Galley Restaurant, with a day shelter, overnight shelter, offices, classrooms and life-skills space. KIC says it has run the cold-weather shelter during the coldest months for two years, since First City Homeless Services closed, and calls the new building the community's "permanent low barrier shelter." KIC said its funding makes the center open to the whole community, not only tribal citizens.

Borough code calls for 24 parking spaces. KIC proposes one. Adding two levels of structured parking would cost more than $1.2 million, or well over 10% of the center's estimated $5.4 million construction cost, according to a letter from Cook Inlet Housing Authority. KIC said most parking demand would come from staff, not residents.

The commission approved the variance 4-1. Commissioner Darlene Dollimont-Svenson voted no, saying KIC should provide parking, while Chair Jos Govaars pointed to a nearby city parking lot. Remarks Dollimont-Svenson made about KIC at the end of that meeting later led the commission to censure her, as Alaska News previously reported.

The problem is the hearing notice. The borough mailed notices to two neighboring condominium associations, Marine View and Tongass Towers, but not to individual unit owners. Borough planning staff called that a "substantial procedural error," one of the grounds borough code allows for reconsideration.

Staff recommend reopening the case and rehearing it once every owner within 600 feet is notified, while still recommending approval on the merits. If the commission declines, the September approval stands and can be appealed to the Borough Assembly.