Kodiak mayor breaks council tie to advance sale of city lot for shops and apartments

Kodiak Mayor Terry Haines broke a 3-3 City Council tie Thursday to move ahead with selling a vacant city lot for a building with six shops and six apartments.

The buyer, Kodiak Jacks LLC, would pay $200,000, the lot's appraised value, for the 0.68-acre parcel at 2478 Selief Lane near the airport. Thursday's vote was the first of two. The sale still needs a final vote and public hearing at the council's next regular or special meeting. The next regular meeting is Dec. 3.

The company plans a two-story building with shops on the ground floor and apartments upstairs. The six apartments address a need Kodiak has identified as holding back hiring and economic growth, the city manager wrote in the council packet. If the building isn't built and approved for occupancy within seven years of the sale, the lot goes back to the city.

Djuna Davidson, Nick Mangini and Richard Walker voted yes. Sandra West, Charles Davidson and Jose Calderon voted no.

Much of the debate was over how the city sells land. Kodiak Jacks applied in October 2025, and no one else submitted a complete application for the lot.

"We as a city do not have a plan on what we are going to do with our property," West said. She said the process, which relies on a 45-day newspaper notice, "could use some changes."

Charles Davidson called for a moratorium on land sales. "I'm concerned about having that kind of development on that corner lot. That's going to cause traffic disruption," he said. He said the seven-year deadline should be three.

Calderon said the city could get a better price later.

Supporters said the company followed the city's process. "This applicant followed the process that is in order, so we can't take away from that," Mangini said.

Djuna Davidson said she didn't see a better use for the lot. "Six new apartments is not a lot for a whole city, but it's six more than zero new apartments," she said. Walker said the council had agreed to move forward with the sale and then look at how the city sells land in the future.

Charles Davidson noted there's "still a process that can be stopped." Under the city charter, a referendum petition filed within a month after final passage and publication would hold the sale until the petition is found insufficient or voters approve it.