February 7, 2022 CBJ Assembly Meeting

Test, test, test, test.

Test. Okay. Thanks, Irene.

We will bring the assembly meeting to order for February 7th. Ms. Hale, will you lead us in the flag salute, please?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

And with all good luck, would you lead us in— oh, excuse me, yep, the land acknowledgement. Sorry, got mixed up and thought we had roll call first. Yes, we acknowledge that the City and Borough of Juneau is on Tlingit land and wish to honor the people of this land, the Aakwaaan and the Taku Kwaan. For more than 10,000 years, Alaska Native people have been and continue to be integral to the well-being of our community. We are grateful to be in this place, a part of this community, and to honor the culture, traditions, and resilience of the Tlingit people.

Boonishcheesh. Thank you, Wahal Gadok, and thank you, Ms. Hale. All right, Madam Clerk, will you call roll? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Ms. Hale?

Here. Ms. Huskandies? Here. Mr. Smith? Here.

Miss Triem is absent. Miss Wall? Present. Bullocki-Dock? Here.

Miss Gladyshevsky? Here. Mr. Bryson is absent. And Mayor Weldon? Here.

We have a quorum present. Thank you, Madam Clerk. So that will move us to special order of business.

Can we start? If she's on—. Madam Mayor, would that be from the office of the president of Tlingit and Haida? That would be my guess. Would you bring— we'll see if that's Heather Gaudy or not here shortly.

Ms. Gaddy, is that you? Yeah. Perfect, thank you. Well, now we see your lovely face too. Uh, would you, uh, let us know what's happening, uh, with tribal activities, please?

Yes, happy to provide an update from Tlingit and Haida. Um, for those of you who I haven't met yet, I'm Heather Gaddy. I am currently serving as I'm the Government Affairs Liaison for Tlingit and Haida. As I briefly mentioned at my last update, the tribe has recently stood up our Community Behavioral Services and Healing Services. We have a live website where tribal citizens can go on and seek services from our clinicians.

We are providing crisis and access help, same-day assistance for tribal citizens who are in crisis situations. Or who need immediate help. We're also providing mental health services. We have 5 licensed clinicians that are culturally providing culturally responsive treatment for individuals, groups, and families. We are providing support and treatment for substance misuse and behavioral addictions, and we can also provide comprehensive services to identify distressing symptoms and treatment options.

You may have seen a recent press release. We are standing up our new traditional food security program. We're looking forward to being able to provide traditional foods to our elders and also eventually integrating it into our daycare so our little babies can also be eating traditional foods. The Tribal Emergency Operations Center We'll be working with our Southeast tribal communities to update and complete their small community emergency response plans. Our Native Lands and Resources Department is working closely with the United States, United States Forest Service to finalize agreements on Tlingit and Haida Southeast Alaska Sustainability Strategy.

This includes some programs for Alaska Youth Stewards. Cultural interpretive training, food security, subsistence and sovereignty, climate change, and our Indigenous Guardians Network program. We are also providing free language lessons for tribal citizens. The links are shared on our Facebook page. We have Hodgkin language lessons with Robert Yates and Tlingit language lessons with Paul Marks II.

I believe those are on Monday and Wednesdays during the lunch hour. And we just reopened our Rescue Small Business Relief Program. So we provide a $5,000 grant to tribally citizen-owned small businesses. In 2021, this program provided relief assistance to more than 440 tribal citizens. Which infused more than $2.1 million into communities where tribal citizens own and operate small businesses.

And as I mentioned last time, we are gearing up for our delegate elections, which is on March 17th. We'll have 117 elected delegates. A new update is our executive council met in January and did vote to move our tribal assembly to a virtual format. So we will be meeting virtually, convening on April 20th for 3 days. And that's my update.

Happy to answer any questions. Thank you for the update. Any questions for Ms. Gabby?

Seeing none, again, thank you for the activities, and we appreciate that your community behavioral services is up and running, as that seems to be a well-needed aspect in our community. So appreciate that and the tribal's work on that. All right, with that, we will move on to Madam Clerk for instructions for public participation. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I do see that we are broadcasting live via Facebook as well as here in the assembly chambers.

We have public seats still available for any of the public who may wish to come down and join us at the assembly chambers. We are following COVID protocols in accordance with the CDC guidelines, CBJ ordinances and resolutions. And attendees are required to wear masks regardless of vaccination status if you are participating in person. For those who are participating via Zoom, the link is at the top of the agenda. And for those who wish to participate via Zoom telephonically, the phone number to call is 1-253-215- 8-7-8-2, and then enter webinar number 91515424903.

If you are participating telephonically, in order to be recognized, you need to raise your virtual hand by pressing star 9, and then when you are called upon to testify In order to unmute your phone, you would press star 6. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Madam Clerk. With that, we'll move on to approval of minutes. Ms. Hale.

Madam Mayor, I believe Ms. Wall has reviewed the minutes. Excuse me, Ms. Wall. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move the assembly approve the October 25th, 2021 assembly reorganization meeting minutes as well as the November Second, 2021 assembly meeting minutes, and I ask for unanimous consent. Thank you, Ms. Wall.

Any objections?

Seeing none, those minutes are approved. Mr. Manager, do you have a request for agenda change? Uh, Madam Mayor, two changes, uh, both on the consent agenda items. Uh, ordinances for introduction 1A and 1C, that's ordinances 2022-04 and 2022-11.

Uh, in packet, the manager's recommendation is introduce the ordinance and set for public hearing at the next regular assembly meeting. I'd like to amend both of those to introduce this ordinance, refer to the Lands, Housing, and Economic Development Committee, and set for public hearing at the next regular assembly meeting. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Mr. Manager.

And, uh, Ms. Hale is excited to see those ordinances in her committee. Anything further? No, thank you. All right, so that moves us to public participation on non-agenda items. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak?

Mr. Quayle, please come up to the— We can. You have to turn your mic on though. Just press the red button at the bottom. Please state your name and area area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. William Quayle, 415 Willow Creek, number 305.

I'm here today in person. I'm, I'm into a matter of health. Um, recently John Hopkins has determined that face masks only on prevent COVID by 0.02%. Now that is major, okay? And everybody that is here, okay, except me— I don't have to breathe my own CO2— that is more hazardous than you, um, trying to prevent from getting COVID.

The face masks are more hazardous than the possibility of getting CO2. That's according to Johns Hopkins. Now, it's just like everybody going into this big, huge white train with white, um, white crosses on it, but they don't say what, what's going on at the end. The end is possible complications of your health because you're breathing your own CO2. Now, I advocate not masks, face masks.

Have your vitamins. Have you had your vitamins today? And have a vaccination. And I trained for the Olympics twice, okay, and also done several different sports inside. It matters.

Breathing your own CO2 is not healthy. I don't care which way you put it. All right, so at least it's 100% more, more dangerous than getting COVID.

Now they're making a big such— guys, I want to stop the mandatory wearing a face mask. I want that stopped. I'm trying. That's the reason why I came in. Okay.

Hey, Mr. Crail, thank you for your testimony. Any questions for Mr. Crail?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

Are there any other members of the public that wish to speak to non-agenda items?

Why don't we let somebody else go first? Let them click. I see a hand up, but I can't see who it is. Come on up.

My name is Albert Shaw, and I'm here to ask you to push the administration to finish the landslide and avalanche study. And I would work with your people on this issue as we do stop kicking this issue down the road. I'm one of the last people who saw the mud on the cold storage, and I was warming one of your chairs when Barrons Avenue came down in the '60s. I'm also responsible for Eagle Crest. Everyone else is behind me.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Any questions for Mr. Shaw? Ms. Hale. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Shaw, for joining us here today, and you did indeed warm one of our chairs, and I appreciate that. Thank you for your service. Mr. Shaw, are you Do you— have you in the past been engaged in sort of working with the city to look at perhaps buyout programs for Barron's Avenue homes, that sort of thing? We, we started a discussion in the '60s after Barron's Avenue in the mayor's office, but the insurance people paid off as wind damage, and we were dead in the water. But we, we started discussing what to do to get people out of the avalanche areas.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shaw, and thanks again for being here. Uh, Miss, Miss Glaszewski. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Shaw.

Again, thank you for your service. You, you mentioned that the state should finish something. I'm not—. I know that the city has, uh, something going on. I, I'm just trying to be clear on what you're talking about.

What the state is doing? Um, it's—. We're talking 60 years ago. Oh, okay. But the thought pattern was that we would buy the houses out, tear them down.

You'd have to— somebody has to go through and identify the most critical spots and work out from there. And if people didn't like the The price arbitration is a well-established system. I mean, we're not talking about inventing the wheel there. So, you know, and my worry is that Barron's Avenue will come down again. Okay.

And next time we'll kill people. Yep. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Okay, thank you for your time.

All right, uh, Mr. Quayle, do you have some other testimony? And this is it for your 2 minutes, so get it all done in 2 minutes. We can't bring you up for every topic. Okay, this deals with the lights on my pedicab. I brought it up with Mr. Barbara, I didn't hear anything from it.

There's several cities in the United States, they're much more dangerous to operate a pedicab. Yet in Juneau, we're the only city in the whole United States that does not let pedicabs operate at night. Okay, there's no reason for it. I mean, the Jim Hout, which runs with with me also is timing on this. There shouldn't be— we should, when it comes to operating at night, very adequate lights, and there shouldn't be any restrictions on that.

And it's very easy to change the regulation. It's only one line about 4 days, and I don't know what— it's just a matter of that. I don't think they bothered wanting to bother changing it. Okay, and that's the only reason I can find. I mean, when it comes to safety, there's a lot of places that are a lot more dangerous than Juneau to operate a pedicab in.

Okay, I mean, this place is really mild, extremely mild when it comes to safety operating at night, and having more adequate lights, um, operating It's very frustrating. I've been keep on working on it and keep on working on it, and it's not—. This is—. I've worked on this at least 3 years, and they just don't want to do the work. They don't want to do the paperwork.

That's it in a nutshell. It's the only thing I can figure, because there's, there's simply no, uh— I mean, whenever I'm passed at night, the cars will come way wide, you know, when it comes to the safety, it shouldn't be an issue.

Okay, thank you. Um, any questions for Mr. Crail on the lights on the cutting edge?

All right, thank you for your testimony. Um, we need to recess for 1 minute.

All right, with that, everybody in the room has done their public participation, so we're going looking at Zoom. Madam Clerk, will you bring over Terry Lauterbach, please?

Thank you, Madam Mayor, Madam Clerk. I have a question first because I don't want to violate your rules. If there is simply an ordinance for introduction tonight, is that something I can address because you're not discussing it, or is that an agenda item?

We're looking to the attorney to see what he says.

Yeah, thank you, Madam Mayor. Uh, the rules are set up such that members of the public provide written comments, but you're not encouraged to provide oral comments tonight. I'll just stop there.

Okay, did you hear that, that we encourage you to write written, but it's not open for public testimony until it comes to public hearing? I understand. I'll just make my comments more general then and not address the ordinance. Okay, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record before you start. Yes, thank you.

My name is Terry Lauterbach and I live in downtown Juneau.

My remarks are that when you think about whether we have $2 million to spend, whenever that is, I hope that you will have two priorities. One, that deferred maintenance on an already existing asset that will decrease its ongoing operational costs should be considered a higher use of that $2 million than the purchase of a new asset that will have higher ongoing operational costs, and even more so in the case of a used asset if you're buying it. Secondly, if you find $2 million somewhere, keeping a community asset running that is used primarily by residents, including families and students, should be considered a higher use than getting a new asset that is primarily aimed at visitors and tourists. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Ms. Lauterbach?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

All right, Madam Clerk, will you please bring over Amy?

Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

Good evening, my name is Amy and I am in the Valley. I am just calling to see if Greg Smith had a chance. To talk to? And, um, you cut out there for a minute. I'm here.

I have a feeling that I'm going to get muted more. Um, I'm just wondering if Greg Smith, who went to the listening legislative session, had a chance to discuss any of the concerns that this community has brought up. Also, if he was invited, why wasn't anybody else coming to this meeting? No one wants to hear us. You're trying to change the wording and you're trying to make it so that our public testimony is limited.

I am an individual that cannot wear a mask. I can't come in public. I have plenty of friends that can't access Zoom or Facebook Live because they don't do electronics. They've had issues calling in. You're making it almost impossible for us to voice our concerns, and we have a lot of them, as Greg can attest to.

So I hope that Greg gets an opportunity or has shared with you so many concerns that the Juneau citizens have about your tyrannical overreach and the continuation of this mask mandate when the research is proven that there should no— not be any mask. And it's just getting beyond ridiculous when you look at the rest of the United States right now. I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish here, but it needs to stop. That's all I have. Thank you.

Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

All right, I see no further hands raised in either the building or the Zoom, so we will move on. Madam Mayor.

Go ahead, Mr. Smith. Thank you. Sorry for going out of order. Just for folks to know that I will be addressing some of Amy's— just some of the things I heard at the listening session and during assembly member comments later tonight. Thank you for that.

I'm sorry, I'm struggling with my phone. Okay, moving on to the consent agenda. Are there any public requests for consent agenda Changes other than ordinances for introduction?

Seeing none, are there any assembly requests for consent agenda changes? Ms. Gladyshevsky.

Well, thank you, Madam Mayor. Oh, you—. Oh, you're sorry. I thought you were asking for changes, Madam Mayor. Yes, you did.

No, I want to change that. No, he just— he did. The manager did that. I would move the consent agenda if you like, Madam Mayor. Yes, well, wait, before we move the consent agenda, Mr. Smith.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I needed to declare a conflict of interest on consent agenda item 5A, the marijuana license renewal. I do work for Always Red Eye LLC. And I believe what my understanding of what I need to say by the attorney is that I am not excusing myself, but as anyway, I am— if we said if the consent agenda is approved as amended, that I will be shown to not have participated in the, on the vote on the marijuana license renewal for Always Red Eye LLC. Hopefully that was sufficient.

The attorney is nodding his head, so thank you for that. All right, Ms. Gladyshevsky, assembly action. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would move the consent agenda as amended, items A and C as amended by the manager, and ask for unanimous consent. Any objection?

All right, the consent agenda is approved.

All right, that brings us to public hearing.

Madam Clerk, item A. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is Ordinance 2021-35, an ordinance amending the Land Use Code to create a Mixed Use 3, MU-3, zoning district, a Neighborhood Commercial NC zoning district. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr.

Manager. The public has expressed an interest to allow small-scale commercial uses in higher-density multifamily residential neighborhoods. There's also an interest to allow neighborhood-scale mixed-use development along commercial corridors. Zoning districts currently adopted in Title 49 do not adequately accommodate those interests, and the proposed NC and MU3 Zoning districts would change that. Some key features of these new districts include smaller lot sizes, densities ranging from 15 to 30 dwelling units per acre, a prohibition on new single-family development, building height limits of 35 feet, and increased setbacks and landscaping requirements when abutting a single-family residential zoning district.

Planning Commission discussed this topic on June 22nd, 2021, recommended that— and recommended that the assembly adopt this ordinance. I recommend you adopt this ordinance. Uh, thank you, Mr. Manager. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this ordinance?

Seeing none, we will bring it back to the assembly. Um, we do have Ms. McClain on the phone if we need to ask her any questions, so since this is a newer topic, I'll entertain questions first before we make any kind of motion. Anybody have questions? Ms. Hughes-Cannies. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I have a question pertaining to— I was, uh, the table of permissible uses for neighborhood commercial and I didn't follow the process. I did— I'm not sure I got all of the conversation throughout the process of these being created. And I was looking at pages 4 and 8, I think, of the table permit Table of Permissible Uses chart, and I was wondering what the conversation was around— it looks like for marijuana retail stores, there's not— there's just a blank square for marijuana retail store for neighborhood commercial, but for restaurants, bars without drive-through service, there is a 1 in a 3. And I thought the 3 was table permissive, or, uh, sorry, I'm like a robot tonight. What I'm trying to say is, what was the conversation around allowing bars in neighborhood commercial but not marijuana retail?

And I was wondering if Miss McClain could speak to that. Well, thank you, Miss Hughes-Candy. Miss McClain, did you hear the question? Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Can you hear me okay? Yes, we can. Thank you. So for the question, the context when these zoning districts were moving through the process, if you'll recall back, we were working on the OC Bay zoning implementation overall.

And so while these two new zoning districts may be applicable applicable in other areas of the community, and, and I do believe that they are, or could be. At the time, there was more focus on Oc Bay itself, and at, at that time it was seen that for the neighborhood commercial specifically, it's intended to be a transition zone from single-family zoning or lower-density multifamily zoning to greater or more intense commercial zoning. And Title 49 Committee and the Planning Commission did not see fit to have marijuana establishments in those, in those transition zones. They thought it was more appropriate in more commercial or industrial zoning areas than in this, this zone that was intended for, for small-scale commercial and to be that transition into single-family districts and low-density multifamily districts.

Ms. Youskany, do you have a follow-up? Uh, thank you, not at this time. Okay, Ms. Gladyshevsky. Just, I just want to be clear on these designations in the TPU. 88.100 Says restaurants, comma, bars without drive-through service.

Is that a bar? Is that just a real bar, or is that a restaurant that sells alcohol? Where is the, um, bar designation?

Uh, Ms. McLean. And nightclubs. I don't, I don't see a nightclub either. So the title of the, the section says restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, and I only see— I don't see nightclubs, for example. Am I missing a page, or is—.

Yeah, Ms. McClain.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm—. I believe the bar— forgive me, this is actually one question I have not— never, uh, run into here in Juneau. I'm not even aware that there are currently any nightclubs. I've heard, you know, anecdotes about ones in the past, but none currently.

In my interpretation, a bar would be a nightclub. I'm not sure why we put restaurant bars and nightclubs in the, the top subject line, if you will, on line 8.0. As far as 8.1, we don't have any bars that would have the drive-through, so the wording— I think the comma, the grammar maybe isn't precise there, but that would be restaurants without drive-through service. Not, maybe not a bar unless the bar serves food, I suppose. I'm not really sure how that works with liquor, so to my knowledge, to my interpretation, bars would be similar to the nightclubs.

Sorry, let me follow up. Yeah, let me just clarify. Where are plain old bars in this TPU? Not a restaurant that serves alcohol, but a bar. Is that 8.100?

Through the—. Through you, Madam Mayor. Yes, Ms. Gladyshevsky, that would be my understanding, is that it would be restaurants without drive-through service and bars would be under 8.1.

And that's why I say the grammar is probably not accurate on that line. That's where the bars would fall under. Yeah, I'm just trying to understand to make sure that that is the bar category. That's all. So in NC, bars are allowed with a, you know, it's with the same restrictions as 1-3, so a conditional use permit, or 1 if it's small, or whatever the 1 is.

Correct, correct, Madam Mayor. Go ahead, Ms. McClain. Sorry, thank you, Madam Mayor. There's a bit of a delay. Bars are on line 8.1, and so they, they would have the 1s and 3s along those lines.

8.05 Is only small restaurants. That does not include bars. So the only line that includes bars is 8.1 in the TPU. Thank you. Any further questions for Ms. McClain?

Seeing none, we'll go to the assembly for action. Ms. Hughes-Candies.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would move that the assembly adopt Ordinance 2021- 35, and I would propose an amendment to the ordinance. Thank you. Go ahead with your amendment, Ms. Blaschewski— or, sorry, Ms. Hughes-Candies. Uh, thank you, Madam Mayor.

I would move to amend the TPU to allow marijuana retail stores in the neighborhood commercial zone. Conditional use permit, which I believe it would be a 3. Um, so that would be on— if you're looking at the TPU, that would be, uh, 2.3 is where marijuana retail store is. And the reason I would offer this amendment is, um, because 8.1 has a 1 and a 3 looking at the overall zoning. As we've considered marijuana retail and throughout our process, personally, I think keeping a certain degree of parity between the marijuana industry and the alcohol industry is a good thing.

So I'll stop there. Thank you, Ms. Hughes-Candies. Any objection to the amendment. Object. Ms. Gladyshevsky.

Yeah, I wish we had some more time to talk about this and to hear what the discussion was. And so at this late date, I'm not really comfortable with this. If it had come up in lands and we'd heard from the Planning Commission and all of that, it's just a kind of a big change to make without a longer discussion. So at this point, I'd vote no on adding this. The TPU can always be changed separately, but for now, that's what I'd say on this one.

Thank you, Miss Gladyshevsky. Any further objection, comment?

Mr. Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just maybe for the, for the benefit of the public, I've spoken with the attorney and you all heard me just give a conflict of interest declaration about the Always Ready LLC that I do some work for. My understanding is that I do not need to recuse myself in this situation on this vote because the ordinance is general and broad in nature and that I'm not deriving a personal benefit based on, you know, based on the passage or failure of this amendment or the overall— yeah, I guess on this amendment. And again, look to the attorney to confirm that I'm Saying the correct thing.

He's giving you a thumbs up. Thank you, Mr. Smith. All right, so we have an amendment and we have an objection. Madam Clerk, will you call roll?

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So this is for Ordinance 2021-35, amending the temporary— the TPU to allow for Marijuana retail stores at 2.3 with the conditional use permit. Is that accurate, Miss Hughes-Kindes? Yes. Okay, thank you.

Uh, Miss Hughes-Kindes? Yes. Miss Hale? No.

Mr. Smith? Yes.

Miss Wall? Yes.

Walachy Doc? Yes.

Miss Gladyshevsky?

No. And Mayor Weldon? Yes. Motion carries, 5 yeas, 2 nays.

All right, that brings us back to the main motion as amended. Any objections to the main motion as amended?

Seeing none, that motion passes.

All right, Item B, Madam Clerk.

Madam Mayor, this is Ordinance 2020-01. 10C, an ordinance appropriating $700,000 for the portion of the Juneau School District's fiscal year 2021 Public Employees Retirement System, PERS, and Teacher Retirement System. Oh, I'm sorry, Madam, I am so sorry, I'm way off base and I'm looking at some old minutes, not the agenda. I'm trying to follow along. I'm sorry, Madam Clerk, but I just can't on that one.

It is a Monday, isn't it? Okay, helps if I go to the actual agenda and not the minutes. Okay, I am in public hearing item B. This is Ordinance 2021-43. Yes, thank you.

An ordinance providing for the issuance and sale of hospital revenue bonds in one or more series in the aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $20 million to provide financing for capital improvements to Bartlett Regional Hospital, providing for the form and terms of the bonds, providing a method of payment therefore, and reserving the right to issue revenue bonds on a parity with the bonds upon compliance with certain conditions. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. Manager. This ordinance would allow Bartlett Regional Hospital to issue up to $20 million of revenue bonds to partially fund the construction of the crisis stabilization center and renovations to the emergency department.

These bonds would be repaid entirely from hospital revenues and do not commit any CBJ general funds for future repayment. These bonds are expected to be repaid over 20 years. I recommend you adopt this ordinance. Thank you, Mr. Manager.

Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this ordinance?

Seeing none, we will move it to the assembly. Ms. Hale.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move Ordinance 2021-43 relative to hospital revenue bonds, and I ask ask for unanimous consent. Thank you, Miss Hale. Any objections?

Seeing none, that motion passes.

All right, Item C, Madam Clerk.

Okay, this is Ordinance 2021-08B as amended, V as in Victor, an ordinance appropriating $265,000 to the manager for the trail improvement, capital improvement project. Grant funding provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Federal Lands Access Program. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. Manager.

This ordinance would appropriate $265,000 as funding to partially relocate and reconstruct the Mount Jumbo Trail from Savaco Park to the Treadwell Ditch. The Federal Lands Access Program is administered through the Federal Highway Administration to improve access from non-federal lands to federal lands with an emphasis on high-use recreation sites. A local match requirement of $28,787 will be provided by previously appropriated funds from the Trail Improvement CIP and in-kind labor. Trail Mix will reconstruct the trail in 2022 and 2023. I recommend you adopt this ordinance.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Is there any member of the public who wishes to speak to this ordinance?

Seeing none, we'll bring it back to the assembly. And I apologize, Mahal Gadoc, because you're up there and not sitting here. This is for you. Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. I move Ordinance 2021-08B as amended be and ask for unanimous consent.

Thank you. Any objections?

Seeing none, that motion is passed. Item D, Madam Clerk.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is Ordinance 2022-02, an ordinance authorizing Docks and Harbors to execute a reservation agreement with private dock owners.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. Manager. Docks and Harbors does not currently have the authority to manage private dock reservations. In 2021, Ordinance 2020-38 authorized a 1-year pilot program so Docks and Harbors could accommodate Goldbelt Inc.'s request for managing the reservations at the SeaDrome dock and Merchants Wharf float.

The pilot program was successful. This ordinance would amend Title 85 by making the pilot program permanent. Docks and Harbors Board believes a mortgage reservation system operated by Docks and Harbors provides both efficiencies and cost savings for the private owner and Docks and Harbors. I recommend you adopt this ordinance. Thank you, Mr.

Manager. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this ordinance?

All right, and we have both Mr. Yucatel and Mr. Etheridge on if we have any questions. So we'll bring it to the assembly. Ms. Hale— oh, excuse me, Ms. Wall. Thank you, Madam. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I move the assembly approve Ordinance 2022-02, an ordinance authorizing Docks and Harbors to execute a reservation agreement with private dock owners, and I ask for unanimous consent. Thank you, Ms. Wall. Any objection?

Seeing none, that motion passes.

Um, since we know the topic next is going to be a little bit lengthy, let's take a quick break and let's come back at, uh, 8 o'clock is probably the easiest.

Bring the assembly meeting back to order. Um, and before we move to Item E, we have, uh, a little correction to make. Ms. Glodyshevsky. Thank you, Madam Mayor. If the assembly will indulge, um, there was a little bit of a confusion about the consent agenda, and I'd like a chance to correct it.

If, um, so I would move to rescind the previously adopted motion for the purposes of making a correction to the consent agenda. Any objection to that motion? Seeing none, that motion passes. Go ahead, Ms. West. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

So now we're back to the consent agenda, and the motion I would instead like to make is I'd like to amend the consent agenda regarding Item I about the, the gondola, and the manager recommends introducing the ordinance ordinance and referring it to the Committee of the Whole. And I would like to add that no further action is taken on this item until the assembly hears from the Eagle Crest Board and the Eagle Crest Summer Task Force, just to make that clear that we need to hear from them. And I understand that they are planning on meeting. So that is the amended consent agenda. So just to be clear, introduce the ordinance but basically hold it until we hear from the other two committees.

Yes, ma'am. So that's the motion for the consent agenda, the amended, and I move the amended consent agenda.

Mr. Smith. Thanks, Madam Mayor. Just want to make sure that my previous conflict of interest statement and kind of recusal from consent agenda item 5A carries over onto the new motion. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith.

Seeing, seeing no objection, that motion passes. And thank you for correcting that. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Okay, with that, we move on to Item E. Madam Clerk. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

This is Ordinance 2021-26 as amended, an ordinance amending the official zoning map by rezoning Channel View Lot 1 Located near 4650 North Douglas Highway, from D-15 to light commercial. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. Manager. This ordinance involves a rezoning request and comprehensive plan amendment for a 15-acre parcel in North Douglas, approximately 1 mile north of the Juno Douglas Bridge.

The applicant requested a rezoning from D-15 to to general commercial. Community Development Department recommended a transition rezone from D-15 to light commercial with conditions and a comprehensive plan map amendment. On May 11, 2021, Planning Commission instead recommended a rezone from D-15 to light commercial because it concluded light commercial conforms to the comprehensive plan. Yet the Planning Commission also recommended the Assembly amend the comprehensive plan to allow requested higher residential densities allowed in commercial districts. On August 2nd, 2021, the assembly tabled Ordinance 2021-27, which would have amended the comp plan for this property from medium density residential to high density residential.

Assembly Committee of the Whole discussed this ordinance on July 19th, 2021. On August 2nd, '21, Assembly held a public hearing, amended the ordinance with a public infrastructure condition, and a member gave notice of reconsideration. On August 23rd, the Assembly reconsidered the rezoned ordinance and referred it back to the Assembly Committee of the Whole. On December 20th, the Assembly Committee of the Whole forwarded the ordinance to the Assembly for public hearing. On January 3rd, 2022, the Systemic Racism Review Committee concluded the ordinance would likely perpetuate systemic racism.

The committee identified the light commercial rezone would benefit the developer. The boat storage intended by the developer would benefit people that have enough income to pay for boat storage, and the light commercial zoning district, as compared to the D-15 zoning district, would likely harm people in need of housing, which are disproportionately racial minority priorities. The committee questioned whether the 500 feet of public notice was meaningful, identified a lack of public support in the record, questioned the legal compliance with the comprehensive plan, and recommend the assembly seek additional public input. The Assembly Committee of the Whole again considered this ordinance on January 24th, 2022. As this is a policy matter, we do not have a recommendation for you.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Manager. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this ordinance?

Mr. Tricano, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. My name is Doug Tricano. I'm one of the local contractors in Juneau. We build houses and buildings all over the area, built gift shops downtown, and everything is going up in price. And the people are wanting to get low-cost housing.

There is no such thing as low-cost housing. The price of the material is going up, up, up, up— 30% on lumber. Where is this low price going to come from? It's the best thing for us to do is shut it down.

Apartments are a possibility, but I as a person do not want apartments because I don't want to be constantly repairing them and the damages that come from them. And that's basically my view on this. It's just It just doesn't exist, this low-cost housing. Unless the Assembly and that can finance it all for everybody, that would be wonderful. Or maybe our president will finance it for us, but I don't believe that's a fact.

All right, thank you. Any questions for Mr. Trucano? Ms. Gladyshevsky. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just a question, Mr. Trucano, are you for— are you speaking for this rezone or, um, in opposition to this rezone?

I just wasn't clear on your testimony Regarding this, we're not against building houses and condos and that, but we can't do it at a low cost. It just doesn't exist. And anybody here that lives in Juneau, if they think they can do that, I would really like to watch that. The freight rates are going up. Where is this money going to come from?

These people have won a low-cost house they can't afford it. So I just don't understand where this is going to materialize from.

So it could probably just come to a standstill because nobody's going to be able to afford to build it.

All right, thank you, Mr. Takano. I don't see any further questions.

All right, I'm not a good poker, so I'm glad to see somebody else come do it. Yeah, you did fine. Any other member of the public wish to speak to this ordinance? Mr. Art?

Travis Art. I was just going to say, please state your name and— perfect. I think I've been— we've been at this, uh, 13 months now. It's almost time for a name tag on the—. Yeah, that can be arranged.

Thank you for letting me speak with you again this evening about our rezone request. We are certainly all for this rezone request. There's some misconceptions out there that are, that are pretty big. This isn't an all-or-nothing thing. We're not asking to rezone it so we can build only boat condos.

We're not asking for it so we can build only anything. We want one more tool in the toolbox for flexibility to make the economics and the cost work. We want to be able to— with the light commercial rezone, that means these structures could be used as commercial condos, whether for businesses, fishermen, welders, carpenters, you name it, can use it as storage, as an office, whatever, while at the same time helping us offset the cost to be able to make housing work on the same property. And, you know, you added marijuana operations this evening to the neighborhood commercial. Well, in D15 where we're at right now, those are also forbidden, but light commercial would make those a 3 with a conditional use.

So we're looking to be able to add other things to go along with housing to make it more attractive and to drive the price down.

The, the irony is, is if we don't rezone it, the whole thought about building boat condos still works. It's still a number 3. It's in the table of permissible uses. It's just now it needs to have housing with it. And now the businesses cannot use them.

They can't be commercial condos. They can only be accessory uses to the residences. Voting it, voting it the rezoned down, we can still build both condos there. The problem is you've just added $150,000-$200,000 to the price. Build a house and you increase the traffic because there is more traffic generated by the residences than there is—.

Mr. Arndt, I have to stop you. Any questions for Mr. Arndt? Ms. Hale. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I apologize for not knowing the table of permissible uses, or whatever that's called, as well as I should. In Mr. Mark, in the light commercial designation, can there be shops in those buildings?

In light commercial, yes. I would have to look at the exact size limits, but yes. Okay, because I have noticed that that's a pretty— and I've commented on this before— in residential areas, we have a lot of very dead zones that don't have shops like where I live. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Hale.

Any further questions for Mr. Arndt? Just a quick question. You said I didn't— you could already build both, or we shouldn't call them both, but a condo with a large— a large thing, a large garage with the house, correct? And you could already do that in whatever the zone currently? That is Correct.

It just will come at a higher price and more traffic than if we were to change it to light commercial. More traffic because— why is there more traffic? Because if you go to the traffic counts for storage uses, which the commercial condos would be considered, they're aligned, I believe, 17 on the table of permissible uses. They have less traffic numbers per unit than do residences. So condos, I believe, are in the 5 trips a day range, and, and the storage is significantly less.

Okay, thank you.

Mr. Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Mr. Arndt, as we've been weighing this for a long time, I mean, one thing that's kind of coming down to me is if we do not rezone, we may be at risk of getting no housing at all. Whereas if we allow a rezone to light commercial, true, it might have more commercial uses, but we may actually get some housing. Is that a fair statement?

Mr. Art, that is a very accurate statement. Thank you. Any further questions for Mr. Art?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Thank you. And then, Madam Clerk, will you please bring over Mr. Hannah?

Mr. Hannah, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is Dave Hannah. I live out on the back loop, and thank you for the opportunity to testify on this. You know, it seems an unfortunate set of circumstances has led us here.

Mr. Arndt had his rezone approved in a unanimous decision by the Planning Commission. It was not received favorably by CDD, and you notice when it was presented to the assembly, it was not presented in a favorable light. And it has bounced back and forth quite unnecessarily because of this rancor. Now, when it looked like the rezoning might be approved, it went to the Systemic Racism Committee. Unfortunately, it was scheduled for a time when Mr. Arndt was not going to be in town.

Inform him of this review. So he was not given a chance to present to the SRRC and inform them of all these things. And my understanding is the presentation to the SRRC by CDD was not very complimentary to the P zone. Well, the committee is not very likely, not very well versed on the ramifications of different zonings and not being very well informed informed or even correctly informed. It appears they made some inaccurate observations.

I mean, they presume Mr. Arnn would only build boat condos. It's very likely not the case. But you know, let's be frank, are we not going to let boat condos be built anymore because not all folks can afford them? I mean, should we not allow grocers to sell steaks because not everybody can afford it? I hope this is not really what we're contemplating.

But back on task. The SRC was led to believe that light commercial would preclude affordable housing, but they didn't seem to realize that the light commercial zoning allows even denser housing, twice as dense housing as D-15, so likely it would be more inclusive. And they didn't seem to realize that by light commercial zoning allowing small businesses, it creates a more diverse neighborhood, and once again, it's more inclusive. I noticed they said there was no support, but it's not true. I supported it, others did support it, I testified.

They also did not note there were no complaints from the neighbors, and CDD did all the correct notification. Mr. Hanna, I have to stop you. Your 2 minutes is up.

Any questions for Mr. Hanna?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony tonight.

Um, Madame Clerk, please bring over the phone number 9217.

Please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

Hi, my name is Amy and I live in the Valley. First of all, I'd like to say that I agree with everything that Mr. Hanna just said. I would also like to note that Mr. Ernst has provided more affordable housing for Juneau than probably any other builder in this community, or possibly all the other builders combined. The fact that this has been brought to a matter of race Wow. Just like Mr. Hannah said, just because certain people can't afford steak, does that mean that the grocery stores are going to stop selling steak?

I'm going to call a spade a spade. I'm calling this out for what it is. This is discrimination against Mr. Ernst. It's absolutely ludicrous. This, that race would be brought into any of this.

Again, I highlight the fact that he has built more affordable housing, whether it's dense apartments or not, in this community than any other builder. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony.

Please bring over Mr. Human.

Mr. Human, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Hello, my name is Bill Human. I live at 6000 Thane Road. I wanted to comment in general, and I think some of my points have been hit on. Boat condos is kind of a generic name for a structure that has many different uses, and I've always felt that They're a wonderful thing for entry-level businesses.

You'll see that many are occupied by small businesses. It gives them an opportunity to live, to purchase living space in a shop, and they can purchase it at residential mortgage rates versus having to pay considerably more interest for commercial rates. And it's amortized over 30 years instead of 15 years. So it gives a tremendous opportunity for, in my mind, for entry-level businesses to get a start, and, and it's a very efficient way for them to operate living right above their shop. So I think that there's— that needs to be taken into consideration that, um, that these are actually serving people who are somewhat disadvantaged as they start their early business career.

Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Hahn? Ms. Hughes-Candies. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Mr. Heumann, just so I'm clear, you're speaking to the benefits of boat condos of the type that have a residence above them, is that correct? The residents above them, uh, yes, uh, able to operate a commercial business beneath them financed at residential mortgage rates.

Okay, thank you. Any other questions for Mr. Human?

Uh, seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Madam Clerk, please bring over Mr. Coogan. Mr. Coogan, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes.

Do you hear me? I can hear you now. Wayne Coogan, Auk Bay neighborhood. Um, I would echo the lady's testimony. I've noted that Mr. Arndt has built somewhat, I think around 100 40 units of residential condominiums, and they're ranging in price from $220,000 to $250,000 or less, and that meets the definition of affordable housing.

And I would support what she's saying, that my study of it shows that it probably constitutes more than all the rest of the builders in general together in that category. Now, I want to speak to the point of zoning. If you look at cities, you know, you look at Juneau, if you look at Juneau from Zoom, it looks like we have a lot of land here, but if you drive around, you'll see it's readily obvious that we don't have a lot of buildable land. It's all generally steep slopes, heavily forested, very difficult terrain, very difficult ground to work on. Then after that, it's saltwater.

So that said, it doesn't doesn't compare to places, urban centers like Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, etc., where zoning is much more easily enacted. So if anything, we should have an ideology as a regulatory agency, we should have an ideology of being very liberal with rezoning. Because otherwise, if, if we don't, if we're, if we're conservative and retentive with that, we're going to send a chilling message which will result in the hollowing out of an economy here that is already fragile because of our isolation and our geographic problems. I thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you, Mr. Coogan. Any questions for Mr. Coogan?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. Madam Clerk, please bring over Mr. Moser.

Mr. Moser, please state your name and area of town you live in for the record, and you have 2 minutes. Hello, my name is Philip Moser. I live in the Valley. I would like to testify in opposition to this rezoning to the ordinance. If my understanding is correct, this piece of property is undeveloped as of yet, it's still kind of in a wild or pristine character.

Um, there's a lot of land that's already been developed in town that's sitting somewhat fallow or not being otherwise utilized that could be used to build housing. Um, any kind of new housing project like this, uh, we've already seen a lot of faux condos go up or other properties like this. A lot of these are being built and maintained by large landowning or landowner-style companies. Um, these aren't what we need to lower the cost of housing in town, and it'd be better to keep this land residential as it is right now. Like the petitioner stated, there's a chance that if it's not rezoned no housing might get built at all.

And honestly, that might be the best use of that space, to keep the wilderness character and the subsistence, uh, value that that brings to deer hunting in Douglas. Um, if there's really a chance to build some more affordable housing, it's not going to be for home buyers. It's going to be for the people that are living in sunlight conditions, uh, that are scraping by a couple of hundred you know, a large percentage of their paycheck to make it month to month. What could be a better use of making housing affordable in town could be passing rent control measures. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Moser?

Seeing none, thank you for your testimony. And with that, I don't see anybody else So we do have Ms. McClain on the line if we have any questions.

And Mr. Smith. So we'll bring it back to the assembly. Mr. Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move ordinance 2021-26 amended, an ordinance amending the official zoning map by rezoning Channel View Lot 1 located near 4650 North Douglas Highway from D-15 to light commercial and ask for unanimous consent.

Is there any objection?

Ms. Hughes-Candies, you want to speak to your objection? Sure. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll start by apologizing to Mr. Arndt because you're right, you do deserve a name tag at the front of the table as long as you've been dealing with this. Um, and that's really on the Assembly for, um, just to be clear, uh, I think there's a misconception in the public that this is in some way being held up by the, uh, systemic racism review committee, which that is not the case. Uh, they have reviewed this ordinance as they review all ordinances that come before the Assembly. This has been held up because the Assembly has kept it with its— within its own committees. The Assembly had a reconsideration vote, which is not common, and we've really taken our time with this one and really kicked it around after it was already amended.

I, prior to the reconsideration vote, voted for this ordinance before. And if this ordinance passes tonight, I don't think that will be the worst thing. I really struggled with what I would do tonight. I, I think it's a difficult question, and I think we're probably all on the same page. We'd like to see development that benefits the community, and we'd like to see housing, and we hear different things from different folks.

A more—. A less restrictive zoning might be what it takes to get a project to pencil out, and it's hard to know what to do. I just want to be clear that when the Assembly is considering a rezone request, rather than consider what the individual project may be, we're looking at what might be best for the community. Within that whole TPU.

And when I have spent a year looking at this ordinance and discussing it with all of you, I've gone back and forth on what it's going to take to get this to pencil out, or if this is the best thing for this amount of buildable land.

And it was an errant remark from a member of the assembly one of the times that we were looking on this that 15 acres might be too much buildable land. For something that's currently zoned for residential when we're trying to put all of our energy on housing. I'm very sympathetic to the idea that if this is what it takes to pencil out, or you, you want it to be less restrictive if you are the, the owner of the lot, but knowing that housing is allowable on it now and that it— that's what it's primarily restricted to. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with this large of a parcel being put into something that's less restrictive when I think from a more global perspective of, uh, commercial uses, if that's really what's best for the community. Um, I would just add on to that that at no time was Mr. Arndt's character, uh, At question at all, based on some of the letters we've received, the Systemic Racism Review Committee only suggested that more public comment might be appropriate.

It is in no way suggesting that Mr. Arndt is racist, or that any of the projects that he's suggesting are racist. This has nothing to do with race. This has to do with their whole process, which is just to look at all of the ordinances that come before the assembly. And similarly, Mr. Jones made the distinction before that what the Planning Commission does is make a recommendation, and then it is our duty as assembly members to decide whether rezoning truly benefits the community. So that's a whole lot of talking, and I apologize, but maybe that's appropriate for something that's been with us for this long.

But, uh, at this point I think I'm going to vote no just based on the, the size of the parcel in question. Thank you, Ms. Hughes-Caniz. We have Ms. Hale and Ms. Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I appreciate, I appreciate your speaking at length, Ms. Hughes-Caniz, because you made some really excellent and very important points.

I As Ms. Houskandis has said, and this is obvious from the manager's report, there's been— this has gone back and forth a lot, um, and it's had a very curious history. I, I want to point out that we have asked the Systemic Racism Review Committee to look at this ordinance as they look at all ordinances through a lens of race. Does this actually impact systemic racism, or does it perpetuate? And we are still working through that process, and that process is a tricky one. It's a, it's a hard thing to do, to set up a systemic racism review committee, and they've got a difficult job.

They don't make any decisions. They make a recommendation to the assembly. This is a particularly difficult project or ordinance to make a recommendation on because it touches so many things. It touches Zoning, it touches rezoning, it touches a lot of things, and the recommendation itself touches a lot of things like public notice. Well, if we had an ordinance on public notice alone, then they would comment on that, but they're commenting on that relative to this project.

And so they commented, they did their due diligence, and they commented on a lot of things that came to their attention as they were looking at this project. And I, I really believe that they really gave it a good effort as they were looking at this complex project. That said, I do support this rezone. I think that we've heard over and over again as we're looking at affordable housing and, and trying to figure out how to make land more developable, speaking to Mr. Trucano's comments about how difficult it is to make affordable housing, we've heard over and over again that there's not easy land available to do that anymore. All the easy land has been taken up, and it would ask, why hasn't this 15-acre parcel been developed?

You know, why has nothing happened there if it's— if it is ready for development? We have someone that is looking to rezone it to make it developable, who he has explained that tonight, and I, I think it's a good idea. And at the same time, I really appreciate the, the lens through which the systemic racism review committee took their look at this.

Thank you, Ms. Hale. Ms. Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I'm going to support this ordinance as well for, for many of the reasons that Ms. Hale just, just spoke to. I think for anyone questioning, you know, SRC's role and what they did or didn't, you know, know going into this, I think they did their job. They did what we asked them to do. They reviewed this through the lens of systemic racism, and they suggested that when we rezone in a way that is— makes it more difficult to, to have housing, then that can perpetuate systemic racism.

And I too believe that to be true. I think, as I spoke to in our committee meetings, where this gets difficult is Will this rezone make it easier or less, or less easy to build housing is up for debate. And I went back and forth, but I think based on what I've heard from the development community and others, that I'm ready to try and hope that this rezone can help make housing easier in this location by giving the developers more flexibility. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I appreciate what my colleagues have said, particularly regarding— we get recommendations from various committees.

We got a recommendation unanimously from the Planning Commission, and we got a recommendation from the Systemic Racism Review Committee. And I appreciate both of those bodies and their expertise that they bring to this issue. And I completely agree that the systemic racism review committee did what we asked them. We've given them a really hard task to review everything we propose and do it immediate, you know, do it in an hour and do it immediately after we talk about things and when we talk about them forever. And so I appreciate their work.

And as someone said, we're just getting going on that and trying to make that as good as possible. So I really appreciate them, but my hearing of their, of their concerns are about whether or not this is, as Ms. Wall said, is going to help or facilitate or, or make it harder for housing. I happen to believe that it will help facilitate. We've heard from multiple developers regarding how difficult it is to develop land. It's not flat cornfields like Iowa.

We don't have that. That's over here. So it's all hard, and, and I believe the developers when they say you need a mix of things to make it work. So, and it's also true that a rezone, you're not looking at the use, you're looking at all the uses. So it gets really complicated, as Miss Euskandi said, which is why we're all going around and around.

So I support this. I—. And the reason I do is because I believe we will get some more housing there, a denser housing. You know, I could be proven wrong, and I hope I'm not. But we all have to make the best decisions as we can at the time.

So I support this, and I appreciate what the Systemic Racism Committee sent to us, and also And one, the other thing they mentioned is about public notice. You know, we do a 500-foot abutters notice and maybe it should be bigger, or we're always looking at ways to make more people involved in the process. And, you know, maybe it should be 1,000 feet or 5, whatever. That's a whole other conversation. It's not just about the notice.

It's about people feeling included to come to the party and that their voice matters. So it's not going to be solved by a technical issue. Of 500 or 1,000 feet, but it's a good point to bring up and I appreciate it. So I do support this. I hope the parcel gets developed because we can use all those, all those developments that we can get.

So thanks. Thank you, Miss Klayaszewski. Wahlgadot. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I appreciate what everyone has said so far. This process started before my time on the assembly, and I really do appreciate the conversations that we've been having.

And I appreciate what's been said about the Systemic Racism Review Committee because their, their job is hard. To identify what could be potentially systemic racism within any ordinance is not an easy task. And I can understand where they may have come from if, if this And given the very limited information on what potentially could happen for this property if it was approved for what is being proposed here, could potentially mean that some minorities who tend to fall in lower income brackets wouldn't be able to afford this space. And they make that decision based on very limited information that we're able to give them. I do want to say that every single one of our meetings, including the Systemic Racism Review Committee, is public public notice, and so I'm sure Mr. Arndt had the opportunity to attend if he wanted to participate in that particular meeting.

I'm thankful for the— for his continued coming into this space and being willing to answer questions, just getting to know him. And I'm thankful for what was said by some of the people providing testimony. If this route of this rezone classification really does mean cheaper ability to build, means that, that, that cheaper building would be then passed on to community members or those individuals who are going to purchase or be able to hopefully rent or purchase whatever is being built on this property that is residential. So as I see it, if, if what is actually being presented to us isn't in fact true, all of those savings would then be passed on to community members to, to attain affordable housing. It's I see it.

So I'm going to be supporting this tonight, and I'm really hopeful that in, in that support, that what was said by Mr. Arndt and other individuals comes to fruition, because we really do need more housing in this community, and we need it to be affordable for every income level, including all of those that may not be able to afford housing. And I also want to say that, that I don't want to see Juneau be a place where only rich where wealthy people or people with a certain income level are able to live and survive. This needs to be a place where everybody can flourish, where all of the people, especially those individuals without housing right now, who happen to be a lot of Alaska Native people and a lot of Tlingit people in their own homelands, cannot afford housing here. So hopefully we produce something, Mr. Arntz fulfills his promise to produce something that is affordable for every walk of life.

Thank you all. Good luck.

Mr. Smith, you might as well chime in. I can't let you have all the fun. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I guess my, my main point, and I kind of asked it during Mr. Arndt's testimony, was housing is a goal of the assembly and of the community. My decision is just based on I believe this rezone will lead— has a greater chance of leading to more housing than leaving it in its current zone state.

And for that, for that reason, I'm going to support the ordinance. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Well, I'm quite impressed, Mr. Smith, that that was so short. Anyway, so everybody has talked, so I might as well say something too. Miss you, Scannies. That was probably the most eloquent I've seen you, so good job on your argument. I believe wholeheartedly in what you had to say.

However, I got swayed a little bit tonight, so I haven't quite made up my mind how I'm going to vote for this one. And I appreciate the developers coming in and saying that you may need help putting some other things on there to make housing. And so that may sway me by the time it comes to vote, and it may not. But anyway, I just want to thank Mr. Arndt for Mr. Mayor for his patience with this. I want to thank the CDD and the Planning Commission and the assembly for all their time that we have spent on this topic.

So with that, Madam Clerk, we have a motion and we have an objection. Please call the roll.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. So this is for Ordinance 2021-26, as amended. Mr. Smith, I think you may be muted. Mr. Smith, you're muted.

Uh-oh, we're not hearing you at all, Mr. Smith. Uh, thumbs up yes, thumb down no.

We can't hear you at all, Mr. Smith. Yes. Yes. Okay, thank you, Mr. Smith. Ms. Hughes-Candies.

No. Ms. Hale. Yes.

Ms. Wall. Yes.

Walla hiigadak. Yes.

Ms. Gladyshevsky? Yes. And Mayor Weldon? Yes. Motion carries, 6 yeas, 1 nay.

All right, with that, let's take a quick break and we'll come back at 10:00. Unless, Mr. Manager, did you have something? Oh, you just leaned forward.

Sorry, let's bring the meeting back to order.

And moving through our agenda, there's no unfinished business, so we will move to new business. Madam Clerk.

Madam Mayor, this is Regulation 05-CBJ-AC-15.060, Vessel Lightering Fees. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Mr. Madry, you taking this one? Yes. Duxton Harbors proposes a regulation change to 05-CBJ-AC-15.060, which is assessed on anchored cruise ships dropping off or picking up passengers at CVJ-owned downtown facilities.

In calendar year 2019, this fee netted Ducks Enterprise $16,200. Proposed change would increase the fee to the cruise ship from $600 to $1,700 per day and adjust annually to the Consumer Price Index. This fee has not been changed since 2005. Additionally, the regulation updates language to reflect the new lettering float, which has been relocated to the Port Field Office behind the Gold Belt Tram Building. New U.S. Coast Guard regulations require additional port security personnel to achieve compliance under the mandatory facility security plan.

Docks and Harbors has adjusted the upcoming budgets to reflect additional staffing level needs. This increase will help to improve the revenue forecast. Current 2022 schedule anticipates 55 cruise ship lightering days. Board considered this action at its November 9 Finance Subcommittee meeting, November 10 Operations Planning meeting, and November 18 regular board meeting. After the requisite minimum 21-day notice period, Duxton Harbor's board held a public hearing at a special board meeting on January 19.

There were no written or oral comments to this regulation change. Change. I recommend you adopt this regulation.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this regulation?

Seeing none, we'll move it back to the assembly. Ms. Gladyshevsky.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I—. I move orders of the day. Any objections?

Seeing none, so moved.

Which brings us—. I forgot what to say.

Which brings us to the staff report. Any staff reports, Mr. Manager? No staff report, thank you. Uh, so that will bring assembly reports.

Um, so for the mayor's report, um, in your red folder you have the Our Goals We meant to do this last assembly meeting and we forgot. And anyway, these are draft goals still, so I need a motion to accept the— adopt the goals. Yes, Madam Mayor, I'd be happy to make a motion to adopt the goals as in our—. Where are the goals? The red folder.

In the red folder, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Any objections? Seeing none, our goals are adopted. So now we can talk about them a little bit more than just saying these are the draft goals.

Southeast Conference is tomorrow. And let's see here. We also have AML winter session is February 16th and 18th. I'm also attending an infrastructure town hall for mayors and managers with Senator Murkowski on February 10th. So looking forward to that.

Please remember that February is Black History Month, so hopefully everybody remembers that. And, uh, I'll let Ms. Hale talk about the chamber retreat, but my highlight of my last couple weeks was Ms. Antea's second grade class came in And I got to answer some of their questions, which are always good, and they held their own meeting on whether roosters should be allowed in neighborhoods, and the roosters lost 7 to 2. So I want the Planning Commission to take note.

Any— with that, we will go to committee reports. Ms. Gladyshevsky. Thank you, Madam Mayor. The committee of the whole met on January 24th, discussed several of the things we've heard today, the North Douglas Rezone. Also waterfront plan amendments, dock charges, and we reviewed our legislative priorities list that was amended by more people voting.

We have a Committee of the Whole meeting next Monday, a week from today. We'll be hearing about the gondola, assuming the Eagle Crest Board gets information to us, dock electrification, Glory Hall requests. There was something else as well, but it will So it will be an exciting meeting. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Ms. Glass.

Shefsky. Ms. Stream is not here, so we won't hear about finance. So, Ms. Hale. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

I'll be short. The Lands Committee met on January 24th, but I was not there, and I didn't review the agenda before I came to this meeting, so I don't even know what happened, but I think it was a pretty quick meeting. There will be another Lands Committee meeting this coming Monday, and by Monday I will know what that one's about. Gave you two topics tonight, so that's right, that's perfect. So with that, Mr. Bryson's not here, that's kind of throwing me with having nobody here.

I miss you, Scandies. Human Resources. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Human Resources Committee met tonight earlier. We have a couple of recommendations.

For appointment, HRC moves that the organized labor seat on Juneau Economic Development Council, that Rodney Hessen be appointed for a term beginning immediately and ending November 1st, 2022. Any objections? Seeing none, Mr. Hessen is appointed. And with that appointment, I'd like to thank the outgoing member, Chris Diamond, who who will be leaving that seat due to relocating to Anchorage for his service. We also recommend the appointment of— I'm actually going to read you the motion because it's a little weird.

This is for the media seat for the Emergency Planning and the Human Resources Committee. Recommend that the Assembly forward to the State of Alaska Emergency Response Commission the appointment of Jennifer Pemberton to the Local Emergency Planning Committee, and that is for a term beginning immediately and ending 12/31/2024. Any objections?

Seeing none. And finally, the Human Resources Committee discussed a resolution pertaining to public participation and our rules of procedure. A good discussion was had, and that was moved to the CAL. So So look forward to that and more discussion on that.

Thank you, Ms. Hughes-Caniz. Is there any committee I have missed that has met so far? I know Mr. Smith has one coming up, and I know Ms. Hughes-Caniz has one coming up.

Say that again. Oh, thank you. Oh goodness, uh, Ms. Wall saving me, uh, some changes in dates, and I'm the most organized lady over here all by myself scribbling it Every which way. Uh, let's see. So there's been a change.

Uh, we were going to meet on the 15th to make an appointment to the Systemic Racism Review Committee. We're getting bumped by the Board of Equalization. Does anyone have— or do members have the ability to meet on the 17th of February at 5:30 PM?

I'm seeing thumbs up. Okay, so mark that on your calendars. We'll now be meeting on the 17th, 5:30.

All right, thank you for that. Anything further on committees? All right, so now we'll go to assembly comments, questions, and liaison reports, and we'll start with Ms. Hughes-Candies. All right, we'll keep going on the fly. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Let's see, the Planning Commission met and discussed change to downtown parking. I think that was introduced tonight. And we also introduced something else tonight that was fascinating, and that we will look forward to seeing. It was a very good meeting. Unfortunately, I don't have my notes in front of me.

Mr. Manager probably knows what it is, but that's That's okay.

I'm having a moment. I'm having a senior moment. I can't remember what else I'm on. The Bartlett Joint Committee will be meeting on Friday, February 18th at noon. If anyone wants to listen into that, we'll be discussing campus expansion.

PracMet. And I would give you guys an update that the— if you're interested in tracking the Juneau Off-Road group and the 35-mile site, the public meeting will be this Wednesday, and I believe it's at 5:30, but check the BRAC website because I'm not solid on that. With that, I think let's just get the mic. Thank you, Ms. Hughes-Caniz. Wahogadah.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. The school board met on January 11th. Good news, basketball players have the option of wearing masks when they're on court and when they're in practice, so that was a big, big deal. And then also testing to stay in the classroom. So if you're exposed to someone in your house is exposed to COVID, kids can test to stay in the classroom.

So that's been increasing the attendance attendance rate this year, which is another big deal for our kids. Budget, budget process is off to a good start with the school board. They've had 2 meetings with public participation so far. Rally is still a budget item that they're really working with to address the cost and access. Riverbend, big thanks to everybody who helped move Riverbend because that was a big deal, and I know so many people from our community showed up to do that.

So thankful for that smooth transition. If anyone's curious, the cost of the damage for Riverbend will be covered 100% by insurance, so that's good news. Hold harmless is being moved forward, and ASB as well as folks are pushing for an increase to BSA because costs are increasing while funding is remaining flat, and this will be the third year. So that's a something to keep an eye on. And then the thing that I was asked to share is that school district is in major need of substitute teachers right now.

They are not meeting this COVID, is, you know, all this Omicron. So if you're curious on whether or not you can actually be a substitute teacher, all you really have to have is a high school diploma, and you can be a substitute teacher if you Google JSD career, you can go online and you can find all the information to apply to be a substitute teacher. There is FBI fingerprinting and background check. I'll amend my former comment, but you just need a high school diploma or equivalent to apply to be a substitute teacher. So I remember having an 18-year-old substitute teacher when I was like 16 in high school, and I was like, what?

This kid was just in high school with me a couple years ago. But Just so you know that we do need you if you're out there looking for a job and you want to work with some kids. Next meeting is tomorrow. Sister Cities got bumped, so their meeting won't be until the 22nd of February. That's it for me.

Thank you. Ahal Givach. Ms. Hale.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. On the 12th of January, the mayor and I met met with the chamber board and talked about assembly goals, and it was a good discussion that had a few distressing moments, and that's all I'll say about that. So, but it's a good board. On the 21st, the Housing and Development Task Force met, but Ms. Gladyshevsky will speak about that. I wasn't there.

You weren't there. Oh, okay. I will speak about that. Yes, we talked a lot about Title 49 potential changes.

Comment that Title 49 work has to come with enough staff to move more. So this is something for us to pay attention to as an assembly. If we want to move things like affordable housing, we have to be attentive to the staff needs.

Mr. Manager attended, and so that was productive, and I appreciated him. Being there. We just learned tonight that Mr. Arndt is the new chair of the Title 49 committee, and that's a good thing.

Hospital board met on the 25th of January. A couple of highlights from that meeting.

It's interesting, staff are preparing in advance for potential medication shortages. Like, they know there's all these supply chain issues, so they're they're really looking up to the future and being prepared for it. In the meeting, a patient wrote a comment in the chat about being in the hospital and what a great job the hospital staff had done. And finally, Lindy Jones, very specifically, who was on the assembly and obviously the head of the emergency department, very specifically thanked the assembly for our leadership on COVID mitigation. Juneau's ER and hospital have done much better than many other locations, and he attributes that to the Assembly's leadership.

And I wanted to pass that on all on to you. And I think also obviously attributed to Juneau's good job. And if I might use this opportunity to mention something that was in the EOC report last Friday, and Mr. Barr can correct me if I'm wrong, but The Bartlett staff have reviewed data and Juneau has done basically, I think, 60% better at avoiding, I believe, deaths from COVID than the rest of the state. And if I've got that wrong— so I just wanted to pass on my appreciation to everybody in Juneau who's worked so hard as we're getting through this Omicron phase now. So thank you.

I think that's all I have. Thank you, Ms. Hale. Oh, there is one more thing. Go ahead, Ms. Hale. Uh, Travel Juno.

Uh, let's see what we got here. Um, um, so, uh, uh, Ms. Huskandies and I met with the manager and Liz Perry. Uh, this is related to the Lands Committee, but I didn't say anything then, talking about Travel Juno providing feedback to the Assembly and the Assembly providing direction to Travel Juno. And Liz is going to work on, on a revised MOA and get that to the manager and to Mr. Rogers and then bring it back to Lands. And so then we're going to speak with, you know, we're going to kind of go through it with Lands Lands Committee and then bring it to— that's probably the Committee of the Whole.

We're talking about potentially having quarterly updates to the Lands Committee, so the Lands Committee will work with Ms. Perry and then bring it to Committee of the Whole, make sure the Committee of the Whole is good with it. My thinking, I think all of our thinking, is by having periodic updates to the Lands Committee, we are staying more in tune. The Lands Committee will get to know what it is the Assembly wants them to do. For example, focus on cultural tourism, for example. Sample, and the assembly will get that feedback rather than once a year getting feedback in a big report.

We'll have more of an ongoing conversation. Thanks. I think I am done now. Ms. Hale. Ms. Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I somehow knew it was going to be raining inches and inches in January, so I got out of town into the sunshine a few times and missed both of my liaison meetings. Pro tip: you can get those meetings, download them, and listen to them while you're on your stationary bike or walking your dog. Highly recommend it. So I listened to the recordings for the SRRC.

They met immediately after following our last assembly meeting, and the results of their review were in our packet tonight. They meet again tomorrow at noon to review what we introduced tonight. Docks and Harbors also met, and there's a few things going on I wanted to let people know about. Um, there'll be a public hearing on the proposed dockage fees that we discussed at the last assembly meeting, or a recent assembly meeting, for boats of a certain size. Um, public comments are due before February 24th, and then there'll be a public hearing on that on the 24th.

Dawson Harbor said— discussed a number of upcoming grant opportunities that they'll be pursuing to acquire funding for both a small cruise ship dock as well as dock electrification opportunities. And then the board also discussed and moved forward to public hearing the idea of tying their fees to the Consumer Price Index so that automatically their fees are changing in relation to that, that index. So I forget at what date that will be discussed, but they'll be open for public hearing sometime soon. I believe that is all I have.

As well, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I attended the Juneau Coalition on Housing and Homelessness meeting where planning for Project Homeless Connect was a big portion of the meeting. At the Joint Assembly School Board Facility Planning Committee, we got updates on bond-funded roof programs. We reviewed the school district deferred maintenance list and then got a brief rundown on the major renovation projects at Marie Drake and Mendenhall River.

We also discussed how the name of that committee is impossible to do as an acronym. We didn't have very much time for the last topic, so we're going to discuss that and more at the next JASPF meeting, which will be happening the week of February 23rd. At the Eagle Crest board meeting just last week, the bulk of the discussion was on the gondola proposal. The staff is there dealing with some wild weather, but still having a lot of people going up there having a good time.

I was— let's see, in the past, since our last meeting, I attended a First Things First discussion and met with the board there. I spoke to the Juneau 58° Innovators Rotary, went to the new town hall public meeting, and then I was a First Tech Challenge Robotics judge. If anyone has any doubt, there is hope for the future with those kids building robots, competing, just doing really, really neat stuff. So that was great. I'd recommend it for anyone who's potentially interested.

As a member of the public mentioned during public comment, I did attend the Concerned Citizens of Juneau listening session about the impacts of COVID mitigation on folks. I was invited on Facebook, and I was aware of it through my day job. I didn't know if we actually had gotten an email to the Assembly. I looked and I didn't see one. So anyway, that's— that may be a reason why some of you all weren't aware of it.

About 150 people in attendance, and I'd say around 40 gave testimony, and very passionate testimony, and there were a lot of concerns brought up. I'm going to just do a quick rundown of them. Masks, especially masking children, medical freedom, vaccine effectiveness and safety, discrimination based on, well, masking or ability to get a vaccine, issues with children's mental health, issues with many people's mental health, impacts on businesses, impacts on the deaf community, censorship and open debate, some really heartbreaking stories about limited visitation at the end of a loved one's life. I also heard about people, about transparency, and people maybe not feeling heard at assembly meetings. I tried to reassure people there that we, of course, want to limit impacts on businesses and families and children, and that we do listen, we do read their email, and they should write and call in and let us know their perspectives.

It was just evident that obviously these last 2 years have been hard on many of us. So it was good to, it was good to hear about those impacts on people and the impacts of our decision. I think they maybe do have the testimony written up, and I can ask that they share that with us too. But I'm hopeful that healing and, and coming together, our community can happen in the near future. Um, let's see, Madam Mayor mentioned that Southeast Conference is starting tomorrow, and then I am looking forward to the off-highway vehicle meeting this Wednesday at 5:30.

Glad to see efforts moving ahead there. That's been a long time coming, but appreciate staff for prioritizing that and getting things moving. Um, I guess I did have a question for the manager, and that was about hazard maps and what kind of timeframe we might be on for— not just hazard maps, I guess, some of the restrictions on development and some of the different hazard risk areas. So just a question for the manager there. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Mr. Watt. Madam Mayor, so the current Title 49 exists. And it's in place until we change or amend. You had an update in the fall on the draft hazard maps and accepted the Planning Commission's recommendation to develop policy along with the mapping.

I think an update for the Assembly is in order. You also have You have a housing grant for the Glory Hall request that, that is dangling out there. So I'm hoping to get a little bit more philosophical direction on hazard mapping to the Planning Commission soon.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Ms. Blaschewski. Thank you, Madam Mayor. The Downtown Business Association met on February 1, and they discussed a lot of things.

They're particularly interested, as far as the relationship with us, about the City Hall process. And so they're— they of course are advocating for any kind of movement of City Hall. They'd like it to be downtown, so we talked about that quite a bit. Um, I, on the following Mr. Smith's notion of— thank you for people within, uh, bringing up the future, if you will— the JDAHS Ocean Science Bowl team won the state title again, so congratulations to them. The Alaska Tsunami National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

So that was pretty exciting. Those kids worked hard and studied a lot and, uh, got the state title. Um, I was going to ask a question about something Ms. Hale mentioned about the— that was in the EOC report from Friday. The quote is, during the entire course of the pandemic, there was a 60% reduced relative risk of death from COVID-19 in Juneau compared to other state— to the statewide numbers. And if we could get more information on that, who did that?

You don't have to tell me now, but how that analysis was done and what that means. But that was a pretty exciting sentence to read. So thanks. Thanks for that. That's all, Madam Mayor.

Thank you, Ms. Klayashevsky. Mr. Barty, want to touch on that now or wait till later and give us some info? Sure, I can. I could do both, Madam Mayor. Works.

So just briefly, the infection prevention department at Bartlett did that analysis in consultation with an epidemiology professor, and they both did analysis on the relative risk reduction of living in Juneau during the course of the pandemic as it related to COVID death and COVID hospitalization. I provided you with the COVID death percentage, but I'll include more detail in a future EOC That's the report. Great, thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Barr. Okay, with that brings us to presiding officer reports.

Mr. Palmer, ma'am. Excuse me, I'm sorry, I forgot to let you guys know that I will be traveling February 19th to March 1st. Glad to hear that, Ms. Hale. Mr. Palmer. Thank you, Madam Mayor, and I have 2 quick updates for you.

Let me, uh, grab those. So the Assembly has 2 appeals that it's considering. You've delegated both of them to a hearing officer. So the first one is with Travis Arndt with TDLH LLC versus the CBD Director. Recall, that's the appeal of the enforcement action along Duck Creek.

The parties have asked that that appeal gets stayed delayed until May 2nd as they work through other permitting options. So no, no action being done on that one. The second item involves A&S Rentals LLC versus Planning Commission. Recall, this is an appeal of an enforcement action on Douglas regarding some apartments. And again, a hearing officer is considering this one.

And again, the parties actually asked for a stay they're working through a settlement agreement, and that was supposed to go to an oral argument, a hearing, soon, so that has been stayed until April 1st. And with that, I'll take any questions. Any questions for Mr. Palmer?

Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Palmer.

Okay, well, that brings us to continuation of public participation on non-agenda items. Any member of the public want to speak to a non-agenda item? Now is the time.

Mr. Quayle.

We— well, 4:15 will be week number 305. In the middle of this month, I got information from Kirby Dave that most of the people that are, are going to be booking for coming to Juneau in the middle of this month. Now, with a mask mandate, I don't think you're going to have— you're going to lose at least 20% of those people.

And that's the financial aspect. And it affects me because I have a business that relies on how many people come here. And that's one of the reasons if I was running for assembly, the mask mandate would be my number one issue because with this new finding with Johns Hopkins Kins. That was okay. But anyhow, I'm asking the assembly, okay, to please put this up to a vote to repeal the mask mandate.

Again, please repeal it, okay? Put it up for a vote. I'm asking for a vote. Please.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Quayle?

Thank you for your testimony tonight. Any further public participation?

Seeing none, we will move on to executive session. Ms. Gladyshevsky. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I move that the assembly recess into executive session to discuss a matter that might adversely affect the finances of the city, specifically collective bargaining contract negotiation strategy. Thank you, Ms. Gladyshevsky.

Any of the members of the public object to going into executive session?

Ms. Wall.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just want to let people know that after speaking with the attorney, I have a conflict of interest associated with negotiating with the IAFF, uh, Local Firefighters Association, and so I will recuse myself from any discussion related to their contract negotiations. Uh, thank you, Ms. Wall. And seeing no public requests, we will go into executive session. At 9:30.

Yes. No, no.

Thank you, everyone that was attending. We will be on a different Zoom. The assembly will go in and we will end this Zoom, um, for the evening. So thank you all for sitting through and We are done for the night.