Ketchikan planners will rehear KIC shelter parking variance Nov. 10 after notice error

The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Planning Commission will rehear a parking variance Tuesday, Nov. 10, for a four-story shelter planned at 2334 Tongass Ave., after finding an error in the public notice for its earlier approval. The rehearing includes a new public hearing where residents can testify.

The Ketchikan Indian Community (KIC) is developing the S'eenáa Hít Navigation Center at the site, a shelter that would offer day and emergency overnight services for unhoused people. The staff report says the center would also provide behavioral health screening and case management.

KIC is seeking a major parking variance to provide one on-site parking space where the borough's parking calculation requires 24, according to a borough staff report. KIC told the borough the lot could hold a parking structure, but building one would add more than 10% to the project's cost.

Commissioners approved the variance 4-1 on Sept. 15. On Oct. 13 they voted to reconsider that approval, citing "substantial procedural error in the required public notice," and postponed the matter until the notice problem was fixed. The earlier notice had left some condo owners near the site without word of the hearing, as Alaska News reported Oct. 9.

The borough mailed new notices Oct. 23 to owners of property within 600 feet of the site, using addresses on the current assessment roll.

The shelter lot was split off from KIC's permanent supportive housing next door, which got its own parking variance. That request sought eight fewer spaces than the 19 required, according to a January 2025 borough planning notice.

Public comment is open. Written comments received by Nov. 3 will be included in the staff report, and later comments will go to commissioners at the meeting. The meeting begins at 6 pm.