Palmer: Jul. 16, 2026, Planning and Zoning, 1 of 2

6 PM. If the recording secretary would call the roll,.

Please. How do you say her last name? Perrier. Did I say Perrier? Perrier.

Perrier. Perrier. Okay, thank you. I just want to get it right. Commissioner Perrier.

Um, Commissioner Murphy. Commissioner Laffey.

Present. Commissioner Perrin. Present. Commissioner Hunt. Present.

Vice Chair Combs. Present. And Chair Jackson. Here.

Okay, and if we could Can we have our mayor, Mr. Jim Cooper, lead us in the pledge, please?

Thank you. Are there any changes to the agenda?

Seeing none, the agenda stands as presented. And then next we'll move on to the minutes of the previous meeting. I'm assuming everyone had a chance to look at these. Are there any corrections or additions to the minutes of June 18th, 2026?

Seeing none, the minutes of June 18th, 2026 are approved as submitted. Moving on to reports. Mr. Hitz. Good. Evening.

It's exciting to have some audience members here. I have to apologize, I washed my truck today, so I'm problematic in why we have rain again. But happy July. As you can visually see, the library is ongoing and actually on step and on schedule. So that's really exciting, as well as H5 is also actively constructing Station 39 up at Marsh Road, and they're successful in their project timeline as well.

The Evergreen project is wrapping up if the rain would cooperate. Sidewalks are in, and next would be the asphalt, and that contract will be moving downstream to the north side. And as you probably have been aware, there's some rerouting on North Valley Way. You have to go around an alley, but that's because Cedar Ave is next on the project list for punching through the railroad corridor for accessibility from going west to east and east to west as well. As for the departments, the Parks and Facilities, we just had a Parks and Rec meeting last week, early on this month.

And just a reminder, there is a survey at all the parks and facilities. There's a QR code at every park, and that's an implementation for a survey on what people would like to see what the citizens are like, enhancements and things that they, uh, basically just a survey on like what they'd like to see in the future, what is working, any alterations that we can do. And that is open to the end of August, and that will drive the goals for 2027 for the Parks and Rec. The survey is also— can be found on Facebook right now, so the Parks and Rec Facebook page, and it will be up on website tomorrow, the city website. Um, as for the rink, um, the tentative opening is the 10th of August.

Uh, once again, for the second year in a row, we are putting sheets of ice in August. Um, so that is new. Under Palmer, they have— they're— because of Palmer, we're putting sheets of ice a month early as historically, um, that we typically have been doing. So tentative opening is the 8th On that note, um, staff from the rink have been in a shared training event over at Menard, uh, so that for the first time in the rink's history, we'll be painting the ice rather than painting the concrete below it. It provides clarity, it looks cleaner.

The only time that the Palmer Sports Center rink or ice has ever been painted before was actually for the Arctic Winter Games, for the curling. So the public has never actually benefited from the ice painting, and I guess that's kind of the new thing. So I'm really excited that now the league and the youth and as well as the staff are excited to implement that. So Menard, thank— a big shout out to Menard and their staff for helping us out.

Offering a training opportunity over there this week. A little bit of broader scope, Palmer Chamber Golf Classic is on July 31st, I believe. It's still open for teams as of today. It might be closing out. I couldn't verify whether today was the deadline or not, but that's July 31st at 10 AM at the Palmer Municipal Golf Course.

Additionally, the Palmer Museum is having their annual Wine Walk on July 24th, so next Friday. There'll be two launches, I guess, 4:30 and 5:30, 150 spots at each of those times, and that includes 8 pours and just walk the city and fellowship. As for community development, We've been a little bit slower on— or the building department, community development— a little bit slower on the residential side. Not a lot of projects, uh, will be up and ramping up with, um, Cedar Park. Last year was a little bit more of a boom on the residential side for Cedar Park, and we'll see a big bloom pop in a month with more permits coming in.

As of this week, 5 have been issued. For Cedar Park already, um, and other developments will be expanding as well. So, but, um, uh, conversely, it's been a very busy year for commercial projects, so it's, it's exciting. And those for you that may not know, Ian is wrapping up his first year as an inspector, and a big shout out to him. He's the first inspector for the City of Palmer to accomplish all of his certs and the fastest time.

So he's been an incredible asset to the department. So big shout out, hard work, while he's been balancing all of that as well. So we're seeing a lot of fruits of his labor coming through, a lot of good feedback from his involvement.

Oh my gosh, how could I forget our prestigious John Patterson. Sherry Carrington retired last Tuesday after 45 years with the city of Palmer. She did a little stint on her little talk or interview— that's the word— interview with Big Couch Radio with Mike. So she called that in and that should be preserved on their website. So you might be able to listen to that.

She will be dearly missed. And this week has been interesting because I have not been able to bat full of positions, so I get to add to my resume the various things that Joan took care of. And boy, if I thought I appreciated her before, I very much appreciate her now. I think we all do. She's an institutional landmark that we're missing big time.

So big shout out to her. For those of you that know her or were touched by her, walked in her hair. She is definitely missed, dearly missed. So thank you, Kimmy, appreciate that.

Thank you. Certainly, uh, to you, uh, to Nate there, um, you missed one thing on the calendar, uh, the Palmer annual Palmer Community Picnic, uh, 36 years of it. Will be held, uh, celebrating in the theme for this year. We celebrate the 75th birthday part, uh, 75th birthday of the city of Palmer and Palmer Train Depot, July 24th. I, I'm going to presume— I haven't seen anything— I'm going to presume there's advertisement on the Chamber, uh, website, uh, as far as times and that sort of thing, but But it is, as usual— thank you.

We've had it— Janet started that many, many years ago in 1988. And so with one or two exceptions, it's been on the fourth Friday of July all those years. So be sure to plan on coming by and celebrating 6th birthday.

I believe that was 3 to 5, correct? 3 To 6. Thank you, Erin. Appreciate it.

Thank you. And I just want to comment on the surveys that are at the parks. I went online to do the surveys, but they're really, I think, better done at the parks because they seem to be asking questions particular to each Park. So I think it would be worth our time to go to Hagen Park and— gosh, I don't know all the names— but actually fill out the survey answering questions particular to that park. And there's also a request for people to serve on Parks and Rec because I know they're short.

Just a comment on that. Commissioner Hunt, how many parks are there? I do not know. Thank you. So that could be an assignment that we should hit all 12 so we know the geography of our town.

Thank you, I think that's a wonderful suggestion. And when does the survey end so we make sure we get that done before? August 31st. It's open until the end of August. So maybe we'll get a sunny day.

Any other questions or comments on that? Report. Okay, we will move on to audience participation. If there is anyone in the audience wishing to speak on any item that is not a public hearing on tonight's agenda, please state your name and put your name on the form on the front table. Mr. Palmer, to the chair, you have 3 minutes to speak.

I'm not super prepared today, but, um, good evening, and my name is Michelle Kincaid. I'm the owner of the Valley Hotel in the Kozlowski Center next door. And just as, um, as you guys look over the respect parking and pedestrian plan as it comes up for review, I ask that you please use caution. What sounds good or looks good on paper does not always pan out. A good example that they use is the Sandpoint, Idaho town, and that just recently went into effect, and if you Google it, you start to find out there's a lot of unhappy people, and they went with the 2-hour, 3-hour parking zones that are free, but then after 4 hours or 5 hours, sometimes there's a fee.

But what you don't understand is when you park for 2 hours for free, free, you have to log on with an app and put down your license plate number and a credit card that you're parking there in front of Valley Hotel, and then if you go over the What are the— the consequences that you would have to log in, put in your license plate number, credit card, so if you stayed over the free time you would pay. A lot of people don't use apps I don't like QR codes. That's how scammers get into your phone. And, or else there would have to be a kiosk, but I don't see the city of Palmer putting a kiosk on every block. Like, my mom is handicapped and she can't walk that far.

She doesn't use a phone. Um, so it puts a handicap on everybody. Otherwise, how else are you going to administer to a 2-hour parking spot if you don't do something like that? But the other thing is That will go viral. Palmer will look like the silliest town here in Alaska.

This is not Alaska. We don't do kiosks. We, you know, we don't need that in Palmer. The other unintended consequence is this just went into effect. There's a Willborn Custom Shop, father-daughter-owned business that does repairs on instruments.

Their sales had fallen 75%. This is in Sandpoint, the account that they use as an example. 75% Care—. Uh, failure compared to previous July months, and they've been in business a long time. The decline coincides directly with the launch of the parking fee system, which charges customers $4 per hour after allowing 2 hours of free parking.

So there's, there's so many things that can go wrong with this thought that you could limit parking, and I understand there's a lot of reasons I don't know why people block a business all day long because they don't provide their own parking, but there's just so many extra consequences. The other thing that is really important— I see there's 9 of you up here today, and I know, Barbara, you might have walked here today. I'm not sure. Um, but the parking code for restaurants is 1 spot for every 5 places. So if we were all going to the restaurant walk today— whoops, do I have a couple minutes?

We would only have 2 parking spaces. If 2 people walk today, where do the rest of the people park? I guess I'll finish at the very end, but there's some important information for that. Thank you.

Good evening, Chair and committee members. My name is Lori Koppenberg. I know that, you know, sometimes you've— the council, the commission, the city council have given a few extra minutes for someone to finish their comments, so just saying. Um, certainly there are consequences to the Respect Report. You have to be an inviting town.

Now, these are the things that If you look back at the things that I've shared with you, it's everything that I told you would happen in your report. Paid parking, time limited, all of that. But we have to remember, we need to be a welcoming town. Trunk Road is happening, and if we're a town that requires paid parking or limited parking, they're not coming to Palmer. Or if— remember, parking is important.

An undersupply of parking also makes them go elsewhere. So H5 is building their shop, their main office on Trunk Road. They're going to be putting a restaurant there. They've already filed their business license for it. Guess what's coming next?

A small Takotni Center right across from Three Bears. That's who owns the property, is Siri. So if we are not an inviting, welcoming town, we will see business go to Trunk Road and to Wasilla and not come see our small historic town that is so sweet and so precious. So there's a lot to talk about, but I certainly am curious as to what this board is going to talk about tonight with regards to the Respect, uh, report. There's nothing in it that I didn't expect.

It's everything that you see when you look at studies across the state or across the country. Says the same thing in every state. This is what it is. So there's nothing new. And I'm curious where you guys are going to take this.

And the city shouldn't be funding and subsidizing private industry with parking.

Howdy. Thank you, Mayor. My name is Sherman Leifer. I'm one of the owners of the Palmer Bar. Thank you guys for having me.

Um, I just want to say, in regards to the respect in the parking report, there are some things that I saw in there that bothered me. And I would say the, um, the public-private, uh, interaction, um, they talk about it and it sounds like a good idea, but, um, it's not really a feasible one, mostly because, um, how do you get that? There's insurance liabilities, uh, on that, or liabilities for insurance. Um, there's, uh, there's just a lot of things that just don't make sense with that. Um, additionally, we've got a pretty good system going on in Palmer.

Yeah, there's some issues, but it's during the big events. So, you know, your Friday flings while you got a concert going on, all that stuff. Um, the rest of the time it's pretty good. And it's, it's not broken yet. Um, so let's, let's slow down and take a look at it.

We've got a report here, but, um, I kind of feel like it's, uh, slanted or, um, it's advocating for things that are not something we need in this town. We've already got some higher taxes right now than Wasilla. Um, we've got lots of little issues that pop up here and there, but Honestly, the best thing to do is slow down and listen. Let's not change it if it ain't broke. Thank you.

I need help. My daughter comes forward. I let the heavy hitters come first. Linda stole my thunder, and I wanted to talk about the Palmer Pride picnic. 20, 37 Years ago, Palmer was finalist in All-America City.

This was a huge deal. And the council and a few active citizens such as myself went to Chicago and did a little thing. We didn't make the final, but we had a good time and we set a good precedence on Palmer. We came back in September and thought, "Ah, we're gonna have a Palmer Pride picnic. We're gonna show us how proud we are." We neglected to think how cold it is in September.

Very cold. From that day forth, we had it the 4th Friday in July. Much nicer. So, it's happening this Friday, the 24th, from 3 to 6. I'm gonna give the clerk a copy of the poster, and hopefully she'll print one for everybody.

So, I hope to see y'all. Free hot dogs. More important, free veggies. There was a day when we had a beef factory here in town. And the peas were the pride of having Palmer Pride.

Unfortunately, we don't have a pea factory anymore, but boy, they were good. But our veggies here were sweet and good, and so we'll have some samples donated by local producers. So it's a fun event and a time that you can say you're very proud of Palmer. So thank you very much.

I can't believe it's been 37 years. I was young.

Is there anyone else from the audience wishing to speak during audience participation?

25 Years. I moved down here to raise my kids as soon as my wife got pregnant, and I love this town.

I live in Cedar Hills, and I don't know if this is the right time to talk about this expansion I'm planning on doing. Is this the correct time? What they're proposing is basically taking away the whole Greenbelt. The whole filter for the cars, they're covered by headlights, sirens, everything for everybody in that neighborhood. Proposing approving all the trees down and building such a lot of housing,.

And I believe it's supposed to be like fourplexes or duplexes, and it's going to totally ruin our neighborhood. That green belt's gone, everything's going to be mowed because we're right up by that Right now I live right on the greenbelt. I hardly hear the cars, but there's a salt fence and I see the lights and that's about it. So when that greenbelt is gone, the neighborhood is going to be loud and it's not going to be as safe either because just the kids play there in that greenbelt right now. They go out and play out there.

It's like a nice open field to play and it's just, uh, I don't know. I really propose that— I hope you guys don't mind this— to change the variance code or whatever it is so that he's able to build there.

And that is the— let me see, it's the request from Gary Lars, Liberal School, where we have the Cedar Park properties.

Aside and see where it goes. Track 4, number 2, phase 1. I don't think the section of land there is big enough for what he's proposing anyways. I think it's going to encroach really close to that way also. That's about all I have.

So if you look at item H, public hearing, in your agenda on page 1, the public hearing scheduled for July 16th for resolution number 26 607 has been continued to August 20th. That's why it's not in your packet. We had to have a continuation. So this, this applied to the hearing that is in August? Yes, but that's it.

But it, it did— it had to be continued, and, um, you will receive another opportunity to comment, another announcement for The continuation.

Is there anyone else from the audience wishing to speak during audience participation? Seeing no one, audience participation is closed. And as Letter H H in our agenda. The public hearing scheduled for July 16, 2026, for Resolution Number 26-007 has been continued to August 20, 2026. Moving on to letter I, unfinished business.

There is no unfinished business. New business, uh, moving on to IM 26-001, review and discuss respect Parking and Pedestrian Access Plan solutions and evaluate for suggested implementation. Do we have a motion to enter into committee of the whole, please? Madam Chair, I move that we move into the committee of the whole to discuss, um, the information memorandum 26-011. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to move into committee of the whole. Um, can we have a vote, please?

Commissioner Parren.

Aye. Chair Jackson. Yes. Vice Chair Combs. Yes.

Commissioner Laffey. Aye. Commissioner Murphy. Yes. Commissioner Hunt.

Yes. Commissioner Per— Motion passes. Yes. Okay, just a few ground rules with Committee of the Whole. A lot of the formalities have been dismissed with— we can't make a motion during Committee of the Whole.

It's just an opportunity to discuss this report. And anytime you want to speak, you just want to push that button so that you can be recorded, and your red light goes on, and then That means you get called on to speak.

Yes, thank you.

So I want to thank those that— oh, Commissioner Laffey, I apologize. Go ahead.

Um, so I, by happenstance, happened to be attending the City of Palmer's council meeting when this report from RESPECT was discussed with the council. I think the mayor was there, I think the director was here, and I think a couple members of the audience might have also been there. I had also been there as well.

Um, at the time, the report wasn't published. Um, and I must say, a comparison between what has been provided to this Commission and what was discussed by the people on Zoom from Respect is— it's very different. Um, they The closest in this report that we've been provided to what was actually discussed can be found on page 33 to 35— excuse me, page 33 to 36 of their report, which is Master Strategy Action Table. This report itself really contains no real details about any of these potential action items.

And in general, like, just, this seems like a really bad report, very poorly written. I understand this was requested by a prior iteration of this commission and approved by the city council in the prior iteration several years ago, different city manager. Like, this report is very frankly, not helpful at all. I still don't really know what the issues are. I don't know what issues they're trying to fix, um, and I don't really know how this report is going to help this, this commission make any sort of recommendations about parking to the city council.

Um, it sounds like from audience participation and just talking with the community members.

Like, we— people have concerns about the amount of parking, and I think there was an incident like 4 years ago about some restaurant wanting to move into town, and the parking requirement needed for that restaurant ended up that that restaurant wasn't open, which is part of the reason I think this study got commissioned. I haven't lived here in Palmer that long enough to really pay attention to really know all the details about that, and I don't really know. But this report's not helpful.

In terms of what these— what's on pages 33 to 35, I really don't see why we need to do any of this at this point. There may be some congestion at some events during downtown, but I don't see a way— but I went to the Freddie Flint last week. I didn't have any trouble finding parking. I brought a couple people with me. We carpooled together from the neighborhood and some people that were visiting walked around, went back to car, drove back.

That was totally fine. We didn't— we weren't inconvenienced at all. Maybe I don't spend enough time down here enough, but I really don't see why— I'm really not in support of any sort of paid parking downtown at this point. I don't think we enough square footage to actually collect parking or enough usage to collect parking fees from people, much less have that actually be enforced with an app or with somebody else. I don't think we're— I don't think that's— there's enough square— there's enough store frontage, there's enough road footage.

I don't think the city owns enough land or has the ability to turn enough land that could be paid parking. I don't think that's ever something we should consider as a city at this point. We need to grow, or we need to build like a parking garage, which again, this report doesn't recommend we do, and I don't think people really want. That's the only way parking is actually going to be like a feasible alternative, feasible thing for us to make any revenue from. Pedestrian infrastructure seems to be making progress in this town regardless of this report.

Notable thing is the construction of, um, the construction, the removing of the rail tracks and putting new crosswalks just down the street from here.

Lighting upgrades, road upgrades, like though we talk about those quite frequently for other parts of town, those are concerns that I think everybody agrees on.

I mean, some of these like general topics that are mentioned in these recommendations, like this recommendation list, those aren't— I don't see those as bad things. And the last thing I would talk to about, though, all the shared use partnerships, these were talked in great detail, and which— and they're not talked about in this report— at the city council meeting by RESPECTS people, and they went into great detail. To summarize what this What this means is they envisioned— the Respect People seemed to envision that the city would help private landowners who have parking contract with other entities that want to have a business within them, need parking, and create a contract with them that apparently the city has some part in. Um, frankly, why? When I heard that idea, I thought that's a terrible idea because people can already do that already.

Like, if the Palmer Bar decides that they need more parking, I don't know, they could make a deal with the credit union that's a block away and be like, hey, can we rent some spaces from you during X, Y, and Z hours if they felt the crunch? I don't see that how the city of Palmer needs to be involved with that at this point. That's something people can already do. I also don't think it's a good use of city resources given the size of the city, the city's budget overall, and everything else for people to— for the city really to be involved with that. People want to do that, great.

I don't think there's anything in the city code that prevents a business that require— like a restaurant that requires a certain amount of parking per capacity from coming to the city, applying, saying, hey, we have We have leased this parking space with— that's, uh, or these parking spaces from somebody else during X, Y, and Z times, and this is going to be— we've got all the steps we need to enforce that. I don't think that's a situation that is a problem. So for respect, those. Are my comments about the report. I would recommend in general that we not adopt, um, or recommend any of this stuff because the report isn't clear enough for us to make any real recommendations.

And, uh, some of the recommendations I think are just not needed at this point for us. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you. I have comments as well, and I want to lead with the fact that I have a professional planning degree.

I've studied planning. I've created reports like this.

And after many, many years, I realized that it was a great writing experience for me. I learned how to research and so on. But this reporting has absolutely—. And I honest to God mean this— has absolutely nothing new in it. It's a terrific compilation compilation of past history.

It's got some really nice maps in it. It has some nice conclusions in it, some nice suggestions in it, but it does not feel authentic. It feels antiseptic. I mean, it feels— I can't even think of the word in our writer. Feels contrived to come up with an answer to answer City Council, the mayor, and the Planning Commission with what I consider are rather rote answers.

I walk in Palmer every single day. I have been in Palmer for decades. I look at things, I study them, and nothing in this report helps me. And I wish I wasn't saying that because I kind of like reports and so on. But I don't feel like this is the guide to solving any problem.

I think all it is is a very, very expensive plan that is worth itself— worth, I guess, the idea that it's all this other stuff repeated and put in one place. Collection. That's its value. I think our commission, and I think the city council, has done a far better job in dealing with some of the safety issues that are in our face, as opposed to a lot of theory and some statistics, but not enough statistics to convince me it's viable.

Commissioner Combs,. Thank. You. I have to say that I am just really pleased to hear both of the commissioners, and I'm in 100% agreement with both of them.

Um, the one-page, two-sided, uh, report that we received tonight, that is Palmer Chamber, downtown working survey report is much more valuable than what we made. And you guys, some of you that were here might remember that I voted against doing a parking study, but whatever. Um, you know, because of exactly what the two commissioners just said. Hey, this, this analysis, this report or whatever, is not helpful in my opinion. It does not address we've already addressed, we already know.

Um, I have no idea why, uh, why, and I have absolutely no intention of voting for any portion of it, um, to be honest with you. Um, I do think that we need to study the report that was provided to us from the Chamber of Commerce, and I appreciate the fact that they, they made the effort there. You know, one of the things that we have to remember is a great deal of the parking, the viewpoints about it, etc., in downtown Palmer come from our businesses, and those are not individuals, plus their sweethearts, that live within the city limits and vote, you know, etc., but they, they have a huge stake, uh, and we, we need to be supporting those businesses. So, um, I would propose that we set aside the Respect, um, report and that we, uh, start working with some of the awareness that might have been made through the report from the Chamber of Commerce and go forward from there. We have made some changes in parking since this report work was requested 3 years ago, I believe, and they're working, you know, so I frankly think that we were doing a better job without it.

That's just my opinion.

I did look through the report, and I don't have a problem with the expertise that others may have to analyze it for its validity or whatever. What I took away from that was at the very beginning of the report what they said the action plan were, and, um, and I think there were some things that we already knew. This validates what we already knew, and those things were to ensure accessible, reliable, and safe parking year-round. And that we still do, I believe, need to conduct an assessment of our ADA parking. I don't know that we— I, maybe we are in compliant with what we need to be parking downtown, but I know that when I park downtown, I don't often see And he kept parking on the street.

Anybody can park anywhere, so that tends to make me believe that maybe we're not in compliance. And some of our railroad tracks and the inability to walk from the Pioneer Home to the Pavilion, those things have been taken care of because of the upgrade of Fireweed, the upgrade of Evergreen. So some of those are being taken care of, and we're adding more sidewalks. There's still a real problem, and the study did point this out, in pedestrian and bicycle safety. And we've spoken to this, that we would like to see flashing lights at high traffic areas—North Valley Way and Arctic and other places—so that if there's a pedestrian walkway there, the, the pedestrians or bicycles are alerted to the cars that are traveling.

So I think that we're moving in the right direction for pedestrians and bicycles, but we still can do more. Um, and to that end, there was also the part of the deal about because we have such long winters and all of the businesses are told to clean their own sidewalks in front of their businesses. And I know from personal experience that I went down to, um, uh, the south side of Colony Way after a snowstorm, and some people had swept and shoveled, some people hadn't, some people left them in piles. So to get from the street to the sidewalk, you had to go through the pile of snow. So One of the suggestions in the study was that the city create a handbook for all property owners that this is the way you should clean your sidewalk.

And I, I think there's simple things to create some continuity there.

Um, and then to build a comprehensive event parking and mobility mobility program, develop a master plan. I mean, we already have really good things in place. We have Friday Fling, so we can divert people there, but create better signage so that that is usable for all of our big events. And then when you're coming off the Glen Highway onto Colony Way, put some signage up there. We need better signage directing people to the borough building or to the library or where else.

But then there were some other issues that there are— there's— we talked about this already. There's only so much town room in the town of Palmer, and you do have some buildings that would like to open for business that cannot provide adequate parking. There just isn't room. So I think it would be One thing they said in this study that I took away was that you could add a parking exception for existing lots, um, in our code where it says where an applicant demonstrates that because of the size, shape, topography, or existing development of a lot, the minimum off-street parking requirements cannot reasonably be met, the Planning Commission may recommend that City Council approve a reduction in the required number of parking spaces upon finding that the applicant has made every reasonable effort to provide parking, strict compliance is not physically feasible, the reduction will not create an undue burden on adjacent properties or public safety, and the proposed use is compatible with available public shared or nearby parking. I think that would be helping Palmer to be welcoming to new businesses that don't have parking.

And if we— I mean, really, a lot of that space, the big parking lots, that's all the space we have in downtown Palmer. You know, our CBD is only so big, so we don't want to make more parking. I think we want to have more business. So those are some things that I took away and some things that I would like to suggest as a commission that we, that we adopt, um, Yeah, so Mr. Cooper, our mayor's going to add to our discussion. Thank you.

Okay, so, you know, I appreciate the comments that you're making.

I— what I guess is that bothers me a little bit is that I don't think they should be as negative as they are. I think you need to look at this as this is a different view that's just providing different information. Different way to look at what the problem is that we have. Do we agree with all of it? Absolutely not.

But there are some things in here that actually make sense to me, you know, and it's things that we are doing. But, but it also brings it up. For example, under 2, pedestrian-activated beacons, sidewalk curb ramp, crosswalk upgrades, crosswalk additions, lighting upgrades, integrate complete streets, new sidewalks, railroad right-of-way conversion to parks. All those things make sense to me. You know, the parking problem is, you know, you've heard me say many times, we don't have a parking problem, we have a walking problem.

Um, and you can see it at Friday Fling. You can park down by the cop shop and they're willing to walk into Friday Fling. It's not, it's not a problem. My suggestion would be that the commission would look at this, forward it to the city council with your recommendations, either yes or no on these different issues, and say, hey, I'm not in favor of— and I am not in favor of paid parking. I think that's absolutely ridiculous for the city of Palmer.

I'm in favor of title parking in the city of Palmer. That doesn't make any sense either. We don't have a problem currently. I think if we go with what we have, there are waivers, exceptions in the code that allow for people to come to us if they have a problem.

You know, I, you know, I owned Just So Fabric Store a long time ago. Zero lot line in a railroad right-of-way, absolutely no parking. Off street. Uh, did we have parking on the street? Well, no, but people did park in the Depot parking lot, they parked on the street, and everything worked out.

So anyway, so my suggestion would be, you know, please, you know, don't push this down the road. Look at this, come forward to the council and say, hey, we've read this, we're not in agreement with this, with the exception of certain items that we want you to continue to look at, of which, like I said, said we are doing. We are, you know, the public works director and I are driving around town looking to see where a new crosswalk should be, new lights, uh, you know, that kind of stuff. So we are looking at that, but this is just another, uh, different view, another set of eyes looking at this and bringing it up forth to us so that we can, you know, not forget some things, you know, all the virtually all the parking requests and comments in here are—.

I wouldn't pay attention to those, but I am kind of happy with them coming up with we need new crosswalks, we need new sidewalks, we need new parks, we need new whatever. And that would be my suggestion. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Appreciate your input. Commissioner London. Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think what our direct—. Or what our— pardon me.

I think what our chair has said and what our mayor has said is also what we have said, which is there are pieces of this that are valuable, and I want to put my name on those. I don't want to put my name on this whole thing. I feel it's redundant. And I have to tell you, when we started this whole game, I wanted this study to solve something. I wanted to like it.

I didn't go into it with negative feelings at all. I think what we should do— this is just a suggestion— Let's pick the elements that work. Mr. Mayor mentioned a few, you mentioned a few, I can find a few that— seriously, go through this one more time, highlight the ones that we want to carry forth, and we forward that. And we dispense with a lot of the generic stuff. And yeah, keep it as a recorded document.

Fine, I mean, we paid for it. However, in terms of the Chamber downtown parking thing, there's some valuable stuff on this that should be in our final report, which would be we take the jewels out of this one—. This one— take the jewels out of this one, we make sure that the priorities are covered, and we come up with a 3-page document and let's put our name on that. That's my suggestion.

I think that's a good suggestion. We did just receive the Palmer Chamber downtown parking survey report as we walked in this evening, so I've not had a chance to read it.

But yes, Commissioner, um, Perfect. All right, all right. Um, one of the things that I have a question actually, what was everybody expecting to get out of this plan? Were they expecting to have this epiphany of how we're going to solve our parking problem? Is that what everybody was thinking about?

Because if It's not, it's not going to come like that. For one, we can't go out because we're restricted in that way. The only other way is to go up, and people aren't going to go for that, I can tell you that right now. So we got to be strategic in what we do to make parking more accessible. Eventually we're not going to be able to have any more parking spots downtown.

I think we're already at that point, we're darn close to it. Um, and a parking garage isn't going to be an option. Um, so we got to be a little more strategic in what we're doing. I've seen in here one of the maps that shows a shuttle going from the MTA Center into town. I'll be honest with you, that'd be my last choice to do.

Um, kind of with the mayor, I'm one of those that has a walking problem. I don't like to walk. I used to live off the Valley Street. I wouldn't even walk downtown for the parade. I did some other way to get here.

So that's me though. Um, but I think, Tiki, I agree, we need to pick this apart a little bit, take the pieces that we like, recommend those, and if we can think of anything else to kind of supplement that, we need to go that road too, you know.

Um, you know, just— we just need to really dig into it and think about it before we move forward.

Thank you.

Any other comments during Committee of the Whole? What I'm thinking is that we could— I mean, I've already gone through that, so I've kind of made my list, but I'd be happy to go— we could discuss some of the things that each of us has said and what the mayor has said they're doing as far Commissioners looking for pedestrian crossways, I think we can take these home and email to Kaylee what each of the Commissioners' suggestions are and discuss it at the next meeting to get a resolution to pass to City Council. But I don't want to— I do want to get something done from this report. I would hate to think that we, we paid for this study and we don't then take it to heart because even though some of it is common sense and some of it just is not applicable to Palmer, it is good information and I think with the local information from the Chamber, and I've talked to people when I go into businesses, "Do you think there's a parking problem? What do you think?" And you get all sorts of answers depending on where people are and what they have.

But I think overall, people in Palmer just want to get along, and they want people to come to their stores and their shops and their businesses. Businesses. It's a really, really welcoming community. And what happens is you get these little teeny things that create division. But really we're all working together.

And I think that's what we want to do. But I'm looking for other comments. Commissioner LaFeé? Well, just for my comments, I wouldn't recommend anything in subsection 1 of the Master Strategy Action Table.

33. I would— let's see, let's see this. Here, I'll share with you. I would recommend 2.1, 2.2, 33 and 34. I would not recommend 2.3 or 2.4.

3.1 Is fine, 3.2 is fine, 3.3 is fine.

I really don't see why it's—. Why we really need to— well, I really disagree with pretty much everything in goal 4. And for part 5, 5.1, that's fine.

But I disagree, I mean, 5.2, I think they meant 5.1. 5 To 5.2. I think there's a typo here, but traffic event management, event wayfinding kits, additional event parking, additional event parking. Again, I don't think those are particularly good at this point. Those are my two cents.

Thank you. Mr. Hunt? Uh, I'd like to see us bring this back. I would like to see see us individually go through the plan just like he was doing. Specifically, I will color code it because that's the way I can understand it.

And we go through and we pull the gems out of this. We make our own report. We do it individually. We don't send it to Kaylee. We come back and we go through it page by page and say yes or no.

Be as brief as possible, but find the ones that you want. Look at the Chamber thing, do the same thing with that, and then add your own. And that's our report. We will have used this. We will not have squandered the money.

We didn't squander it, but we will have used it as a source. We will have used this as a source, which frankly should have been part of this. But it's not, but we have a separate. And any other possible surveys or comments you've heard from a storekeeper or someone else, send it to council with our stuff, and then they can add theirs, and then we've got a roadmap. Thank you.

I'd like to hear from our director if he has suggestions as to what 99% of my staff recommendation, which is exactly what should have happened, right? The entire purpose was to get the creative juices flowing, right? Read it. Don't throw the whole bath— or baby out with the bathwater, but literally pluck. That is— that was exactly what my staff recommendation was.

So what I wanted you guys to do is to take that provided analysis and the assessment and the review and the conclusions and the options, right? The whole reason— correct me if I'm wrong because I was not the director when this came about— this report came from a recommendation from PNC up to council and then pushed out to staff to issue this RFP, which stemmed from a public sentiment of a parking problem, and that the city and its constituents and PNC wanted an objective analysis not only of parking but of pedestrian access and how the CBD works and doesn't work, and then options to do so. I think at the start And then all of a sudden you guys came around and I agree, thank you. I 100% agree to take it back. And that is my recommendation.

Dig through this thing, throw out things you don't like. Give a reason why you don't like them. Don't give a reason. But each and every one of you pull things out because this thing is not supposed to be adopted as one giant biblical document. It was The purpose of RESPECT was to literally have this giant net for you and catch every— all ideas, good and bad— suggestions.

And you guys are the decision makers, right? You don't have to move forward with what you don't like. I recommend you don't move forward with what you don't like, especially as staff. So this whole question study came about because of a perceived parking problem. And so from that, the analysis came out of what is the parking problem in an objective way, right?

And RaceBEC essentially came back with what we already— at least my opinion and professional recommendation was at the time— that we don't have a parking problem, we have an event parking problem. We have this balloon event this last year. Um, sorry, spacing out, a long day. Um, Colony, uh, the Colony Parade or the Colony Days Parade, 72 floats, the most floats we've ever had, right? We had a little bit of a contraction with Friday Fling during the COVID years, and then now it's expanding back up, right?

The library is literally added almost double the square footage to serve the surrounding communities. Palmer is growing in the sense of the attraction of people coming, and so with that we see the constraint of event parking issues. Uh, Mayor Cooper said that we have a walking problem. To alleviate that, on the planning side, you create nodes for people to park in and then distribute out. That's the pedestrian and bicycle strategic plan analysis of creating central nodes for people to go out.

Another thing is the— that has been identified more on a bad side of things is once we get people here, how do we keep them here? The two residents— I had a report on Tuesday.

Delaney and Mary Jo came in and said that they've had an increase in 27% of bus traffic, tourist bus traffic, right? Just 27% bus traffic, not people, buses, more buses. How do we keep those people here more than just a bathroom stop? How do we get them to go and travel out and spend extra time, right? Or be ushered back to the bus because they're spending too much time and all of a sudden they're going to miss their due date.

So now they want to come back, right? That is what we're trying to create. And with that, we can attack those things in here. And that's what you guys are tasked with, right?

Um, so I, I 100% recommend exactly what's already been recommended. You guys literally stole my thunder on that. Um, for me, if you guys are curious about what my staff in my office is is more interested or would like you guys to plan to tackle is— and I want to correct, because the shared use parking can be— I don't want to say hijacked, misinterpreted, or maybe it was interpreted correctly the way it was, because it was put forth in a fashion of private to private, public to private. So I think shared use parking strategies I think, for instance, across the street, right, we have a building that was built for a specific purpose, you know, Fred Meyer Marketplace, right? Huge parking lot.

And then the new owner, essentially because of their larger retail establishment constraints, are not allowed to house extra vehicles. It's not vehicle storage. It happens to be that that's their motive. Business, right? So essentially, their parking lot remains pretty vacant because that's what they have to— they cannot store their trucks there for durations of time.

They have to have movement. So the city side of things, including Public Works, myself, are in the middle of conversation of how can we utilize that parking lot for the best of the community. And one of those options, it's not necessarily— we're moving there, right? Is to have a conversation from the city to private. How can we accommodate that parking lot to be more efficient?

And that's the biggest thing is the efficiency of our parking, the underutilized property, the underutilized possibility of, of public parking if we go that route. I agree, right? Like, um, Commissioner Lafferty— um, sorry, Butcher, I apologize— had commented most of the time private to private, we're already in that conversation. That's not a big deal, right? These are just things that are highlighted ways to attack a perceived problem or an actual problem.

Um, secondly is event parking. Parking signage. This is a big one that actually was an aha moment while we were working through this, is when we were talking with Public Works, Jude had mentioned that people can park along South Valley Way right across the PPD and the Troopers and the Madden's Subaru. I had no clue. It was new to me.

I'm like, well, I'll tell you what, I wouldn't risk parking there in front of the PPD. I think I go to Friday Fling and get towed. He's like, oh no, you can totally park there. How many people don't know that? How many people aren't gonna risk parking there because it might be towed, right?

Signs like that, and that's just one-off, right? Things of that nature of planning for event parking, right? That can be a little bit more of like, hey, where are spots in town that people are allowed to park that perceived People wouldn't perceive that that would be a good parking. So, granted, that's just one thing.

So if that parking sign actually verbalizing like what is public, what isn't public. I liked Chairman— I was trying to refer to your first name and I didn't want to do that. So I like the comment about, um, you know, I don't really recognize or can't think of handicap public parking, right? We, um, public and private businesses have to offer per code handicap parking, but where are there actual public handicap parking spots? It's a great, it's a great analysis, right?

I don't know, I can't think of it off the top of my head. They're there, but like Making sure that those things are identifiable. Like Papa Murphy's, right? They have an In-N-Out to go, right? Like, so that variance for them, technically, they're takeout, right?

So their restaurant status is different because they— there's no seats, right? So these kinds of things, you have really— it's time-consuming when you look at these things in your analysis. So that's our job as staff. Enlarged sidewalks, better walkability, more sidewalks, more ADA-compliant sidewalks. I think we've really hit a home run, not only with the public, but I think Public Works has done a great job with the projects with Evergreen, especially Fireweed, right?

That was the first cut on the railroad tracks, which, let's be honest, Wasn't the most popular conversation a couple years ago. We're going to cut the tracks, right? But now everybody's like, oh my gosh, this is a great idea in the sense of that area, right? Now we have ADA-compliant, lower the grade, it's easier for people that might be wheelchair-bound. It creates people to be able to drive their backing in and out.

Visibility is better for, um, for any flight, those types of things. So, and then signage, you know, get people down here. I agree, right? The purpose of business and the purpose of Palmer is to bring people in, bring as many people as we can in and keep them here. And looking at parking, the holes, the successes, and looking at being able to make it more walkable to spend more time, that is our job.

Are your guys' job in this. And I recommend that you don't adopt it as whole. I recommend that you push it forward. And that, that is what I'm asking you guys to do. And let us go to work for you with what you guys recommend for us.

Thank you so much. Thank you. One of the things that I'd like to point out, and I, you know, I'm not famous for this. Um, prior to the shutdown for COVID, uh, we had events in this community that taught thousands. Okay, it was wonderful to have a big parade for Colony Days.

We've had parades that big before, maybe not as many entries, but we've had— I saw the drum pictures and stuff like that, and I've I've been to a lot of those parades, and we've had those parades, those sites, we've had events that were huge. I remember having the, I can't remember what we called it, Barbara would remember, where we had it was on the, the grass between the library and the borough building one day in July. We were would have a great big event, and we developed a way of trying to keep some numbers with the vendors, and we quit counting when it reached over 5,000, you know, and that was for one day. So one of the things we do need to remember is, is if we have to dig up the people that were involved, let's dig them up and say, what were the solutions for those times? Because we've had I worked with several people, some of them are sitting in the audience, and so that we would have large events, you know, between 2010 and 2020, and we got shut down.

So now we, now we're, now we're going back, and we can't forget that we've had big ones before. We must have had a few solutions. We must, you know, so let's dig those people out to do and find out what were we doing before. I remember, I specifically remember one event, and I wish I could remember which one it was for sure, but I think it was a parade, and somebody had put a sign on the parking on the north side of the train depot that said "handicap parking only," and there was an individual standing there there that was talking to people as they were trying to work. And I remember thinking, I wish we could do this all the time for big events because handicapped working is at a premium, particularly for big events.

Um, and I only know that because I have to use it myself. So, um, but let's dig out the people that maybe would remember memories of what we've done before. Because we, we were able to do it, and I don't remember turning people away.

Are there any other comments from the commissioners about this? One thing I'd like to see when we do come out of committee as a whole, we will be looking for a motion, and I know that probably at most will include getting information back. I think part of that getting information back would be to prioritize what you see we should do, number 1, 2, and 3. Commissioner Frazier, please. I was— did not have a chance to look over this whole thing yesterday, and I did start it and I decided not to finish and just get some history and stuff from you guys.

But I was thinking the same thing about the parking. If you had somebody that could direct traffic during those big events, send them this way. I think, um, Palmer is only so big, you know, we're not a big metropolitan city, and we have events And everybody's not going to be happy. I think that there shouldn't be this big of an issue with getting parking, you know, having places to park. You know, so you don't get to park right in front of the door and you have to park over across the street and walk a half a block.

That's good exercise. That's part of what Palmer is about. We're a small town, and that's what I like about it. It's small. I can walk from here, go downtown, and walk back home.

I don't get what the big problem is. That's it. Thank you. Yes, we are a walkable community, and I think part of What we could do is public awareness, you know, walk, bike, it's good for ya. That could be part of our plan.

I have a question and this is probably the wrong time, but I gotta ask anyways. If you outline the public quasi-event parking, not public parking all the time, but event parking. Couldn't you use— couldn't you identify the courthouse, the— let's see, the library when it's done, the City Hall, the post office, South Valley Way, and make some sort of agreement with U-Haul? I mean, wouldn't that provide a lot of parking? And if that's the case, couldn't we post that and say, you're coming to Palmer for some event, these are places that you can park free for the day for that event?

Is that a possibility? I think it's an excellent idea. I think you ought to put that in your notes when we come. But is that true? Could we do that?

You're asking for like posting online for events? Can we use the courthouse for marketing?

I mean, that would be a state question, right? That would be a conversation with the state, right? So I can't say yes or no, right? I'm not the authority to say. We have a lot of paved parking and it seems like if we were to make that clear that, "Hey, yeah, there's 6 places that are identified for parking during events here at Chief's Winter.".

Yeah,. It's a tough one. "Where are. The senior centers and other events?". To tackle your question, so, yeah, I mean, City Hall is public parking.

Keep in mind, City Hall does share with MATSU, right, the clinic around here. And surprisingly enough to me, actually, the clinic actually owns all the parking spot right here. I'm almost certain, like, the majority of that parking lot is actually their parking lot, not City Hall. Um, but yes, yeah, and then those are conversations to be had. And like, definitely, we can definitely post any city property that has a parking or public public parking.

Yeah, absolutely, this can be used as a public parking. It's a very easy thing to do. Now, we're getting in a conversation with the state, the courthouse, Pioneer Home, Q Home, the Magic Blank next door, anything like that. Yeah, I mean, those are essentially shared use agreements that are being proposed in those things. So, you know, that's why I was saying That's why I was saying, like, don't necessarily turn your back on the shared use thing.

It does sound like, if you look at it one angle, you're like, well, that seems like a pause for us. But if you look at it at a different angle, like, well, there might be something there. I agree that there are risks of legality and things of that nature, which is why they actually recommended consulting with the attorney, right? Because this is the type of legislation needs to go through legal scrubbing.

Are we ready to come out of Committee of the Whole then? I'm looking for a motion to come out of Committee of the Whole.

So moved. Thank you, it's been moved. Is there a second? I second. It's been moved and seconded that we come out of Committee of the Whole.

Do we have to vote on this? Okay, we are— we are— we do.

Yes. If you don't want to vote on it through the chair, you can ask if there's any objection. If there's— Mayor says we have to vote. Okay, let's just vote this time and we'll look at it. We trust that he's Got it.

Um, Commissioner Palmer? Yes. Commissioner Perrin? Yes. Commissioner Hunt?

Yes. Chair Jackson? Yes. Commissioner Murphy? Yes.

Vice Chair Combs? Yes. Commissioner Laffey? Aye. Passes.

All right, we have discussed the RESPECT report. Is there anyone that would be able to make a motion on this, please? Commissioner Hunt. I can make a motion. I make a motion that we, um, each commissioner review the report from RESPECT, especially concerning their action items.

And the report that was put on our table tonight from the Palmer Chamber and bring their suggestions with priorities to our August meeting. I'll second that. All right, it's been moved and seconded.

Okay.

Well, no, we have to finish this and then we have a session.

Oh, I don't know why. Oh, okay. Okay.

It's in movement. Seconded. Nope. Combs. Commissioner Combs.

So for each commissioner to review the RESPEC report, especially the action items and the Palmer Chamber report, and bring suggestions with priorities to the August meeting.

Commissioner Laffey, well, is there any discussion? Second, is there any discussion? Commissioner Laffey.

Yes, I was called to vote.

Seeing no discussion, uh, Recording Secretary, will you call the roll, please? Now, Commissioner Lavey. Aye. Vice Chair Combs. Yes.

Commissioner Murphy. Yes. Chair Jackson. Yes. Commissioner Hunt?

Yes. Commissioner Perrin? Yes. Commissioner Purr? Yes.

Motion passes.

All right, we are moving on to, um, item on our agenda, which is— yes, we are in plat reviews. IM-26-012, preliminary plat review to create 2 lots from Lot 2A, Air Liquor Industrial Park Lots 1A plus 2A, plat number 2012-122, to be known as Air Liquor Industrial Park Lot 3A and Lot 4A, containing 10.90 acres plus or minus. This property is located within the city of Palmer— excuse me, within city of Palmer city limits.

And I need staff report, please.

Um, so it's, uh, just exactly how it is, just creating two lots from Lot 2A right over the Queen Industrial Park lots.

Looking to separate one lot into two. There were no comments other than from Public Works. As part of this action, connection to city water or city of Palmer water and sewer is required. There's no onsite wells or septic systems are authorized. And that's, um, that's it.

So recommendation, I go ahead and authorize.

Commissioner Holmes, if I might make this— they're, they're not saying there's any problem with the connection, they're just saying, they're just pointing out to us that it's necessary, correct? And the reason is because there's water and sewer connected currently with the building, um, to 1, 2, what will be 2A, um, sorry, 4A. Um, so by separating the lots into 2, that creates Lot 3A without water and sewer, and making the note that septic is not authorized.

Forward to the borough with this.

Yes, Mr. Palmer. So there is just— water and sewer is available for that lot, just not ran there yet, correct? Correct. So right now it's one lot. It's being requested to subdivide into two lots.

So right now, as the lot sits, there's water and sewer. As once it's split into two lots— lot, I just lost it again, 4A, which has 4A, 3A goes with that. 3A would be the westernmost lot that gets divided. That would create no water or sewer connected to that lot, which would make it— they would have to bring it in, is what Palmer works to say. Okay, and it doesn't run right along the property or anything like that?

There's utilities on the back. I don't actually— I don't recall looking up where the water line runs. I'm just curious. Okay, saying that access is to be commercial drive from both lots once they split it, so okay.

Commissioner Hunt? Thank you. Your suffix light is on. Commissioner Laake. Thank you.

I actually walk past here quite frequently because I worked in a lot before, and I don't necessarily have a problem with this split. The one suggestion I would make is is that, um, there is not actually as much road frontage as it might appear on this map between these two lots. And if we're making a new lot, um, Lot 3A, it might be advisable that the Planning Board require that Lot 3A and Lot 4A get some sort of like joint easement put together so that if somebody ever— like, so that if they, they can have the same entrance and exit if necessary. Um, because there's again not a lot of road frontage. This is an industrial area.

That would be my one concern walking by this place. Thank you.

Are there any other comments?

So I guess we would decide whether we want to— Commissioner Lafe's comments to be moved forward to the borough.

Yep. I was by there today on my bike and I didn't really see that— I felt there was a problem, but If you feel that, I mean, it seemed like there was just lots of room. Yeah. But we always want to be safe.

So, yeah, there's the Horizon. Horizon is just a big vacant lot with lots of, I mean, I was on my bike and I felt real kind comfortable, and there's no sidewalks or no bike lanes.

So, Commissioner Hunt. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the opportunity whenever we come to a lot to throw in that accessibility walking, some sort of easement, just like the last time we were here and we were talking about the easement. Isn't this the opportunity to make that request? Absolutely. Put in a comment.

Sorry, through the chair, my proposed comment to the planning board would be for them to consider whether or not requiring as a part of the subdivision an approval that the two properties have. An easement between an e-access easement between the two of them. A joint access easement, I think, is what you'd call it.

All right, so I guess we have to vote on that comment if we want to include that to be sent and included from planning as well. The comment is consider requiring The two properties have a joint access easement. If you vote yes, you want that comment to be forwarded to the borough.

Commissioner Hunt?

Yes. Chair Jackson? Yes. Commissioner Perrin? Yes.

Commissioner Murphy?

I don't know if I can say this or not, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a joint easement to the one great big driveway going into both, both. Is that what you're talking about?

I'm sorry, I can't do that right now. I know, I'm gonna have to go now.

Commissioner Purr. Yes. Commissioner Combs. Yes. Commissioner Laffey.

Yes. Motion passes.

Your comments forwarded. Okay, moving on to our next plat review, um, I-826-013, a preview plat review to create one lot by unit. 2 And 3, Snodgrass, Newcomb Subdivision, plot number 61-37, to be known as Snodgrass Newcomb Subdivision Lots 3, Lot 2A, containing 0.68 plus or minus. The property is located north of Evergreen Avenue, south of East Arctic Avenue, and west of South Palmer Airport Road, within the southeast 1/4 Section 33, Township 18, North Range 02 East, Silver Grady, Alaska. This property is located within the city of Palmer City Limits.

Are there any staff comments, please?

Comments from the departments. Uh, so there was no comments except for airport superintendent because the proximity to the airport. And, and so the airport superintendent responded, subject property is located within approximately 1,000 feet of Palmer Municipal Airport. This is subject to routine aircraft operation. Future owners and occupants should expect aircraft overflight, engine propeller noise, vibration, airport landing, other activities normally associated with airport operations.

Development on the property should recognize the presence of the airport and potential use of those impacts. My comment on that is there is already a residence, um, on the south property, and so combining it is actually— Palmer's that that is for them to basically have more property. So I don't assume that they're adding another residence that they're not already aware of. But that said, there are no current building permits for that property due to the combining of the two lots into one.

Does anyone have any comments they wish to forward to the borough.

Let me show you how your light is on. So hearing none, um, yes, Commissioner Malaffey. I, I do. Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Perrier. Okay, uh, I just got a question, clarification.

So what you're saying is this house here, they want to buy the lot next to them?

They want to combine those two lots and make it one lot.

Okay. All right, hearing and seeing no comments to be forwarded to the borough, we are done with plat reviews at this point. At this moment, we will open the audience Public comments. Is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak at this time? If so, please address your remarks to.