Sitka would make second houses easier to build in some zones and ban them in others

Sitka wants to make it easier to build a second, smaller house on a lot that already has one, in some neighborhoods. An ordinance up for first reading before the Assembly on Tuesday would cut the requirements for building one in the R-1 residential zones from 14 to eight. It would also take the option away in the multifamily and mobile-home R-2 zones, and leave the single-family neighborhoods where they have always been, without it.

The problem the sponsors are trying to fix is the checklist. Assembly Members Katie Riley, Kevin Mosher and Scott Saline wrote that missing even one of the current 14 items sends a homeowner to a public hearing before the Planning Commission, which adds cost and delay and keeps many people from building at all.

Six requirements would go, most of them about looks, including rules on preserving the appearance of a single-family property and on where entrances and stairs can go. So would a blanket ban on variances, which the sponsors want restored because of how steep Sitka's lots are. A set of parking conditions becomes a flat requirement of two off-street spaces.

The size rules would change too. The 800-square-foot cap would apply to living space. Height would be capped at 25 feet or the height of the main house, whichever is lower, a limit commissioners asked for after Garry White of SEDA told them the tallest of the pre-approved designs his organization is drawing stands 24 feet. Tiny houses on wheels would qualify. And an owner could turn an existing house into the small unit and build a new main house on the lot.

Short-term rentals would mostly stay banned. The one exception is narrow: an owner could apply for a permit within a year of finishing the unit, good for three years with no extensions, not transferable, and void once the property sells. The ordinance also tightens the 90-day minimum lease and closes a loophole that let an owner meet Sitka's 180-day residency requirement by living in the small unit while renting out the main house. Commissioners split over that last change.

Owners in the R-2 zones lose the option entirely. The sponsors describe it as a density question, noting those zones already allow three main structures per lot. How many R-2 lots that affects has not been stated.

The single-family neighborhoods stay shut out. In April, Shotgun Alley residents Barth Hamberg, Alex Polston, and Jonathan and Toccoa Wolf asked to be allowed to build one. In August the Planning Commission said it needed more input from those neighborhoods before going further, and has not said how or when it will get it.

The commission recommended the ordinance 5-0. The sponsors write that it "is not, by itself, a complete solution to Sitka's housing shortage." The first reading is at 6 pm Tuesday, and the ordinance as filed sets the final reading for Oct. 13.