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

Nome city planners are recommending against two neighborhood land-use proposals: a fuel company's plan for an equipment shop in a residential area, and the King Island Native Community's request to fix a lot line after one of its new homes ended up with its stairs over it.

The Planning Commission will hear both Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 pm at City Hall, after its Nov. 10 meeting was canceled, according to the meeting packet.

Bonanza Fuel wants to rezone about 2.65 acres near East 5th Avenue, eight lots plus nearby street areas, from residential to commercial. It plans a 5,000-square-foot shop for vehicles and equipment, indoor parts storage, offices and outdoor space for its fleet.

City staff called it spot zoning, a commercial island in residential blocks that gives one landowner special treatment. Once land is zoned commercial, it allows stores, restaurants, bars, hotels and service stations, whatever Bonanza builds, the staff report says. Staff also pointed to the loss of eight lots for housing during a shortage, and to fuel trucks and loaders working near homes.

The company's consultant, Justin Wetzel of Arcadis, wrote that the shop would move work that's already done outdoors inside, without much more traffic, and would help keep fuel deliveries reliable. Staff called those real benefits but said they could be achieved elsewhere. The commission only advises on rezones; the Nome Common Council makes the final call.

The King Island Native Community's request involves five modular homes on East 6th Avenue, built so tribal citizens could buy affordable homes. The homes were set in August 2025 to line up with water and sewer connections before the lot lines were surveyed, staff said. A survey that September found one home's stairs about 4 feet over a lot line.

The tribe wants to move the line so buyers can get clear title. That would leave homes on two lots closer to the side lot lines than the code allows and give one lot a longer, narrower shape than allowed, so it needs four variances.

Staff said the problem was "developer-caused" and that the tribe could change the stairs, move utilities or shift a home, adding that cost alone can't justify a variance. The tribe's application says a utility contractor set the connections, the homes couldn't be moved much, and it understood the variances were handled at an August 2025 site meeting with city inspectors. Staff also drafted conditions the commission could use if it approves, including a fire marshal review.

The same homes were before the city in the spring. In May, the council, sitting as the Board of Equalization, voted 4-0 to grant the tribe's appeals of assessments of about $509,000 per home on four of the lots.