Kodiak planning staff urge commission to reject borough's Beaver Lake land sale

Kodiak Island Borough planning staff are recommending the borough keep land its own manager has applied to sell. "Staff recommends that the borough retain the portions of the two properties proposed for disposal," the staff report on case 27-007 says.

The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the case at a work session Wednesday and will decide it at its regular meeting Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 6:30 p.m. Staff wrote a resolution for each outcome, FY2027-007A for disposal and FY2027-007B for retention, and laid out the procedure for reaching one: move to approve A, then amend to substitute B.

The land sits between Beaver Lake and Selief Lane, along Beaver Lake Drive and Beaver Lake Loop. The two parcels total 54.72 acres, but only unnamed portions of each would be sold. Neither the staff report nor either draft resolution gives an acreage for those portions.

Both parcels are zoned Natural Use, a district the borough created in 1989 to protect habitat, water quality and public trails and to "discourage development by prohibiting the construction of most structures in this zoning district." Housing is not a permitted use. The designation was applied in 1997 through the Lakeside/Safeway Subarea Land Use Plan, whose staff analysis called the rezone a protection for natural wetlands that "recognizes the need to retain open space in the community, and provides for that retention." The 2008 comprehensive plan carried it forward.

Staff walked the ground before writing the report. It records the area between Beaver Lake and Selief Lane as "very wet," notes no wetland delineation has been done for either property, and cites a federal inventory identifying wetlands and potential regulatory wetlands on both. Staff concluded those environmental constraints, combined with a prior development study, make development impractical. They recommended retention despite recognizing the housing need, calling the outcome "ultimately a policy decision by the Commission with the Assembly having the final decision." The City of Kodiak Public Works Department told staff that water and sewer mains along Selief Lane and Beaver Lake Drive could serve residential development.

Housing pressure on Kodiak is well documented. CommunityScale estimates the borough needs 492 new units over the next five years, and 35% of borough homes are cost-burdened. Housing needs assessments and action plan materials from the Kodiak Island Housing Authority and the Kodiak Economic Development Corporation document those shortages and review available land, but take no position on selling these parcels.

No buyer prompted the application. The Borough Lands Committee twice recommended a request-for-proposals sale, in February and October 2025, and the manager then filed an administrative application. Every comment in the case packet that states a position opposes the sale.

Tanya Kitka, of 2040 Beaver Lake Drive, wrote that "Beaver Lake is the last lake that allows access for the entire community without the lakefront being surrounded by privately owned lots." She also attached 316 pages of the borough's own historical planning and environmental record, most of the 349-page case file. Resident Deborah Bower wrote that she realizes how desperately Kodiak needs affordable housing "but this is not an area that should be converted from Natural Use to Residential." One commenter stated the commission rejected a substantially similar disposal for the same area in 2019 by a 4-0 vote. That claim has not been independently verified by Alaska News.

The scheduled Aug. 19 public hearing was cancelled, according to the borough's meeting list, though both draft resolutions still recite that a hearing was held that day. Written comments are due by noon on the day of the meeting.