Nome staff recommend denying Bonanza Fuel rezone and King Island home variances

Nome city planning staff are recommending the Planning Commission deny three land-use requests: Bonanza Fuel's bid to rezone residential land to commercial and two King Island Native Community requests for four lot-line variances tied to tribal homes.

The commission's Nov. 10 meeting was canceled. The city rescheduled the public hearing for Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 pm in City Hall Council Chambers, according to the rescheduled meeting packet.

Bonanza Fuel asks to rezone eight lots and nearby street areas, about 2.65 acres in Blocks 67 and 88 near East 5th Avenue, from Residential to Commercial. The company plans a 5,000-square-foot enclosed vehicle and equipment shop, indoor parts storage, offices and outdoor fleet staging.

City code requires a rezone to meet only one of four criteria. Staff found the request meets none and does not fit the Comprehensive Plan. The staff report calls it spot zoning: a commercial island in residential blocks that gives one landowner special treatment.

Because zoning stays with the land, Commercial zoning would allow retail stores, restaurants, bars, hotels and service stations by right, whatever Bonanza builds, the report states. The repair shop itself would still need a conditional use permit, which the commission could deny over traffic, noise or neighborhood fit. Staff also cited eight lots lost to housing during a shortage, and fuel trucks and loaders operating near homes.

Justin Wetzel of Arcadis, the applicant's consultant, wrote that the shop would move existing outdoor work indoors without a material increase in traffic. The application offers screening, lighting control and noise management, and ties the project to reliable fuel delivery. Staff called those real benefits but said they could be achieved elsewhere.

The commission only advises on the rezone. The Nome Common Council decides by ordinance, and the record sets no council date.

The King Island Native Community owns five modular homes at 1201 to 1209 East 6th Avenue, built for affordable homeownership by tribal citizens. Staff said the homes were set in August 2025 to meet water and sewer connections before the lot boundaries were surveyed and pinned. A September 2025 survey found one home's stairs about 4 feet over a lot line.

The tribe wants to move that line so it can give buyers clear title. That requires three variances on one lot and one on another: side setbacks of 2.2 and 4.1 feet against a 5-foot minimum, and a 3.31-to-1 length-to-width ratio where code allows 2.5 to 1.

Staff found both variance applications fail five of eight required criteria and called the condition "developer-caused." They said the tribe could alter the stairs, realign utilities or shift a home, and that cost alone cannot justify a variance.

The tribe's narrative, prepared by Taiga Cartography, says a utility contractor set the connections, the homes could not be adjusted much, and the tribe understood the variances were handled at an August 2025 site meeting with city inspectors. Staff also offered an approval motion with conditions, including review by the fire marshal. Denials may be appealed to the Board of Adjustment.

The same homes came before the city in April, when the tribe appealed property assessments of about $509,000 per home. Vice-chief Dale Elanna wrote in the appeal letter that each home cost $197,808 to build and that the higher value kept buyers from qualifying for loans. Contract assessor Arne Erickson said that figure was a factory quote that left out shipping, labor and utilities, and recommended denial. On May 6, the council, sitting as the Board of Equalization, granted the appeals on four parcels 4-0.

The commission will take public testimony on all three requests Nov. 17.