Kodiak Borough: Planning and Zoning Commission of July 8, 2026

All right, we're going to go ahead and start tonight's Kodiak Island planning and zoning work session here at the assembly chambers. Today is Wednesday, July 8th, 6:30 PM. Bronwyn, can we get a roll call? Miss Frazier, Mr. Neff, Here. Mr. Dagan.

Miss Craig. Miss Williamson. Here. Mr. Delgado. Here.

You have a quorum.

All right, that gets us to citizens' comments. Citizens' comments are limited to 3 minutes per speaker. To make comments, call the local number at 907-486-3231 or toll-free number 855-486-3231.

492-9202. Comments are for general topics only.

If you wish to speak, come up to the podium, write your name, state it for the record.

Okay, seeing no comments, no phone calls, we'll go ahead and move on. Items for discussion: Plan 20 45, Chapter 1 Introduction Draft Review. Chris? Thank you. Chris French, Community Development Director.

We just wanted to have the first chapter come to the Commission, and then once the Commission is done reviewing each chapter, we will be taking those on to the Assembly for one of their work sessions to review those.

The chapter referred to is the Introduction Chapter, so nothing really controversial or anything there. It's really, as you see in your agenda statement for this— on your discussion item, it's really, you know, what is a comprehensive plan, how is it organized, how is it used, what are goals, objectives, and policies, how they're used, how this plan relates to any other plan that we have at the borough, what the community engagement process has been, what's the public review process. There's a review of Kodiak Island Borough and its communities, which deals with everything from history to demographics and everything else. We have the discussion of cities within the borough, census-designated places within the borough, other important locations within the borough. We do a dive into demographics and other census and Alaska data related to Kodiak, and then also we talk about the visioning process and the vision statement and guiding principles for the Comprehensive Plan, basically what we use to come up with goals, objectives, and policies for the different topics that you'll see as we go through later chapters.

So this is a long chapter, but it's long because, you know, the chapters regarding, you know, history and regarding the terrain of the borough and things like that. It is a pretty long chapter. Also, the Census Data chapter is full of tables and things that add length to the chapter. And if you all have any questions, I would be happy to answer those. Since this is like a 130-page chapter, we have decided that we were going to have this come to the Commission for two work sessions.

So in the July and August Work Session for review. So this gives the Commission time to take the document that you received for this meeting and then also be able to review it for the next meeting so that you don't have to feel that you're rushed to review this first long chapter. So if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer those.

I have a couple of questions. First of all, how are these chapters decided? How is it decided which— how, you know, how it's going to be like with the land use, housing, transportation? How is it numbered like that? I mean, how do you decide that?

Well, there's plenty of like flexibility in that. Typically, though, for most comprehensive plans, that discussion on land use is usually right after the kind of the introduction piece because land use is the most important chapter in a Comprehensive Plan because when we talk about future development, how we handle land use, what are the goals, objectives and policies related to land use and development, that's kind of an integral part. In terms of how the chapters fall after that, a lot of times it can be importance of the kind of feedback that we receive from the community. So in this regard, you have housing after land use because in our— outreach and community engagement, there was a huge amount of input regarding housing. And so housing was looked at as second.

Based on after that, we go into like the normal kinds of things you see in most comprehensive— usually transportation follows, and then it can be, it can be moved around. So there's not a whole lot of, uh, necessarily, uh, a lot of, um, restriction on how we do the chapters after that. We just kind of put them together based on what seems to be— to make sense and also to a degree how much length to those chapters we feel it may be needed or how complex those chapters may be. I think one of the reasons that I ask this is one, Chapter 6 says Arts, History, and Culture, and I remember getting hired at a place that we were sent to the Aleutic Museum to learn the history and the culture of Kodiak. I've heard over the last number of years a lot of that being talked about in the context of the United States, saying how our country is being diluted and ruined, as it were.

One could say the same thing as a state. And as a borough, that people are all coming in and changing. A lot of people come to Alaska saying that this is a pristine, beautiful place to come to, and it's unlike any of the places that we live down in the United States, which in many cases are rat holes. One of the biggest concerns that we as an indigenous people— and now I'm speaking as a native person— is that We've seen what's happened to the United States from the East Coast all the way up to here. Many of the policies and the things that they're putting into place make no sense, and it actually destroys the country, the land, the earth, the water, and that kind of thing.

One thing that we must remember is that we need to get as much input from the Native communities as we can because As it states in our history here, where I was reading, you know, we have over 7,000 years of living in Kodiak. Much of that knowledge could be used to make the future better. Hopefully we can undo some of the things that has been done. I was just out in the skiff this last week, and if anybody has been out there lately, you look in water and you look at how many seabirds there are. There's hardly any.

I drove from here to Yazinkia and maybe saw 30. And just not even 10 years ago, there would be thousands of seagulls in the harbor here. You go out in the sea and you see all sorts of seabirds, fish jumping, and this and that. So this has to be taken into consideration. What we're doing now, how is it going to affect us in the future?

Because that wasn't happening in the past. Now when we have no fish, A lot of our livelihood has been changed because of it. So this plan is important, and we have to remember to keep those things in the backs of our minds as we're thinking about how we're making this place better for the people that are coming after us. You know, we want to make it a place that people want to come to, but we don't want to destroy it in the process. I think that's my only point on that.

And I will point out we do have a chapter on environment in the Comprehensive Plan. So a lot of, Commissioner Delgado, that you are talking about from an environmental standpoint is discussed in that chapter, but also in the arts, culture and history chapter as well. But we are looking at those factors with regards to development because as a Comprehensive Plan, that focus is always on how it relates to development and especially development into the future. If your Comprehensive Plan usually is a horizon of 15 or 20 years, and so we are looking to how development would take place in the future. We look at current issues, but we also try to look at what potential future issues it might be.

So the plan usually tries to cover issues that are there today as well as issues that are emerging and trying to define goals, objectives and policies that can be implemented as we do many different things with the Comprehensive Plan. It's used for land use decisions, but it also can be used for infrastructure planning. It can be used for planning for different types of land use decisions, not just those before the Commission, but even, you know, borough lands and things like that. So it does have an importance, but its focus primarily is on development and how it relates to— how that all relates to many of these topics.

I think that we've got a lot to continue to go over, and I think, as like you said, we've got a little bit of time so we can continue this discussion at—. Yeah, and feel free if you would like, if any individual Commissioner has a question on anything in this chapter, please feel free to email me and I can bring your question up to the Commission at the next work session too. But I would be happy to give individual answers to any of the Commissioners if you have a question on anything that's in the plan and also relay that to your fellow Commissioners when we meet again next month.

We see that add map Kodiak Island Borough is highlighted, as is add map of cities. Can you explain that? So there's— I'm still— so actually, we updated that, so I don't know if that's been— OK.

So we did add the one with the maps in there. So the current version that's on the website has the maps in there. At the time we published on Friday last week, they weren't ready, but we got them in there on Monday. So they are in this chapter now that's live, current on the website. Yeah, I think that helps to visualize what it is that we're planning, so it will be good to have them in there.

Okay. Seeing no more discussion on that, we'll go ahead and move into the packet review.

These are public hearings. No public testimony will take place at this work session. We'll go ahead and start with Case 27-006. New Venture requests a conditional use permit for the remodel of an existing detached garage to convert into a detached accessory dwelling. Brahman will be— this is Brahman's case, so Brahman will be handling the, uh, this case review.

Good evening, Commissioners. The proposed conditional use permit application meets the review criteria listed in KIBC 17.200.050. Based on staff analysis and the information provided by the applicant, staff recommends that the Commission approve the CUP. As stated in the project summary, this is an existing structure already. So what he's planning on doing is just converting a small portion of the, the top of the garage into an ADU.

Um, the original building, the current building, has already been through inspections, um, through the building department. I believe I have the dates somewhere in this report. Um, but so it's already been inspected. It was passed for completion in '92, I believe. Yes, in '92.

Um, so it is currently— well, it was current up to date in '92. Um, upon them remodeling it, anything that's below code now will be brought up to code. So anything that is a previous code compliant will be brought up to current code compliance. So we are recommending approval for the remodel of this into an ADU.

So I think I just— one question, um, this was a garage, so like no running water, no septic, like, um, and will that meet? Yes, it would. Yes. So I wanted to make sure you're done with your questions. Sorry.

Uh, no, no, not at all. Um, yes, so he is planning on having all of that. It'll all be up to date, um, once once he starts to remodel, and it will have a bathroom and a kitchen, and it'll have a room and everything. He doesn't have the plans finalized just because he wants to see if he can get this approved prior to going and paying for those plans. But yes, it'll, it'll have all functioning functionality of a regular dwelling unit.

Thank you. We're going to go ahead and move over to case S27-001, Oceanfront Kodiak Request a Subdivision of Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Edition 3, Block 5, Lots 1 through 5, creating Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Highliner Subdivision, Lot 1. Uh, common addresses: 5957 Cliff Point, 5963 Cliff Point, 5965 Cliff Point, 6001 Cliff Point Road, and 90— or 5979 Cliff Point Road.

I'm going to go ahead and go to you, Chris. Okay, thank you. So you have, um, just kind of give you a summary of the cases before you, just so that, you know, we're covering it now. So you have 5 cases before you related to Cliff 5th point. 4 Of them are subdivisions.

All 4 of these subdivisions are consolidations of numerous lots into one lot or into a series of smaller numbers of lots. And so there's 4 subdivision cases that are doing consolidations. And then you have a— the 5th case is a rezoning case to rezone from the RR-2 to the Sea Conservation District. The main difference there, they're both residential zones. The main difference is that RR2 is a 2-acre minimum lot size and Conservation is a 5-acre minimum lot size.

And the rezoning is— the applicant is here to address, you know, why they want to do the rezoning, and so I'll let them discuss that with you. Staff's review of the subdivision For this case, for this first case, is on page 2, the staff analysis on page 2 of the staff report. Your proposed findings are on pages 4 and 5 of the report, and then conditions of approval are on page 5 of the staff report. Most of your conditions of approval are the normal conditions of approval you see on most plats. There is one condition related to making sure that it's clear that the— 3 covenants related to the private roadway easement are listed on the final plat.

And with that said, I don't have any other thing to say about that unless you have any questions.

So are we okay? Do you want me to read off each one of these, or—. I just have something here though. I see in— I don't know how to pronounce that word— Andromeda stream. What is that, and how is this affected By the building, the—.

So you mean the Anadromous Stream? You mean the salmon stream? So there was a— in the original rezoning that went to RR-2 from conservation, because this had been previous— this area had been previously rezoned to conservation, there was a requirement that a 50-foot setback from any Anadromous Stream be provided during zoning compliance permits. Does that mean fish to run up the stream? Correct.

So it means any kind of stream that salmon would run up the stream is an, an anadromous stream in accordance with the State of Alaska. And the reason why I'm saying it's not an issue with any of these 4 plats is because, first of all, they're going from the RR2 back to conservation. In the actual conservation district zoning requirements, there is a requirement for the 50-foot buffer if there is an anadromous stream on your property. So there is no need to put anything into a plat note or anything because the actual zone of conservation already has a requirement that needs to be met at time of zoning compliance permit. In the RR-2, there isn't such a requirement.

And so that's why that was an issue that was discussed when the rezoning happened in the past that rezoned it to RR-2. Now that they're going back to conservation, that requirement is part of the zoning district, and so they don't— we don't need to address it here in the subdivision. So what kind of— are there salmon that run up that stream? There's one Anadromous stream in there. I think it may be in the report.

I believe there is a map of that stream from State of Alaska. I'm trying to remember what page that was on. I see one on 305. Okay. And that— yeah, so on page 3 of 5, you'll see where the stream is.

This is from the state of Alaska's website. This is what I'm worried about is if there are salmon going up there now, they won't be. You give them 2 years, they'll be done. It'll be killed off.

This has happened throughout on this island many different times, many different places. It's part of the reason that we have struggling fisheries. Not— certainly not a large part, but it is a part. And I'd like to make sure that we protect that as much as we can. I think that people coming after us are going to be looking at this and saying, you know—.

So what I can say to that is that, you know, so this particular code requirement, there's a state requirement for a 50-foot buffer from a natural stream. And also the borough has it, but only in the conservation district that I know of. So with that, with the applicant going back to the C District, it brings that— at least at the borough level, it brings that requirement in place for any development that takes place. So you would have a borough review and potentially even a state review if it's, if it's required.

All right. Good evening. So my name is Michael Martin Jr. I'm the manager of Oceanfront Kodiak, the Cliff Point Estates development. And the stream that you are referring to is Cliff Point Creek, I believe, or Cliff Point Stream.

And to my knowledge, every couple of years, there is a small pink salmon run. As you've noted, there are two properties that are currently purchased alongside it. On one hand, I believe this has come up because the larger tract— we refer to it as Phase 3, it's the large section across that creek on the Coast Guard side— is one of the sections that we are wanting to rezone to conservation, which, as you noted, actually increases the protections for such areas. Additionally, about 7 years ago, Further up the creek, there is another property that has been owned there for quite some time. And while it's not every year, there are continuing to be several small, small trickles of pink salmon that do go up it.

It's not a very large creek, but it does have a little bit. And as someone whose family has been here since 1952, not quite as long as some, but, you know, enough to be very appreciative and very much someone who has always valued the unique and pristine nature of this island. The one thing that I have brought to the development since I entered into the picture back around 2019-2020 and took over as the developer and manager overseeing the development is to go back to more of that traditional Kodiak model. I did not like the original 2-acre design that was originally envisioned by the previous project developer. And so fortunately, things have, you know, moved in a way that it makes more sense for us to try to go back to that more traditional style lot layout and zoning.

Certainly, that has been expressed by a number of the people who have been interested in Cliff Point and Kodiak, but ultimately did not choose to settle here or to purchase here. Among other, you know, of the difficulties that we face, you know, on our island. And so after taking into consideration their interests as well as the desire to keep Cliff Point as pristine and as beautiful and as, you know, traditionally and naturally Alaskan as we can, by going to this larger model, we're one, reducing the footprint of potential homes, increasing those environmental protections, and getting back to that sort of model that Kodiak was known for that makes it such a special place. So concerning the stream and your— and the concern of salmon, we also think that it's a beautiful natural feature of Kodiak and we want to preserve it. And we take great care to try to avoid anything that would encroach on those areas because we want to see it continue into the future.

That's, you know, if we lose our salmon, if we lose our nature, then we're just, you know, another expensive remote island, and that takes away our magic and it takes away part of the reason we all like to live here. So just from my heart to yours, that's our thinking behind it. Well, certainly, thank you for that. I'm glad to know that somebody that has been here for a longer period of time is involved in this. I think that sometimes when we get these newer people in there, they're coming all with these new ideas and things, and it just changes the place from what it used to be into what we don't want it to be at times.

So I appreciate that you have some sight from beyond, from the past, and I think that helps.

Thank you, Mr. Martin. Any other questions?

Chris, you want me just to continue reading off? Yes, if you—. Okay. Okay. So next case is S27-02, Oceanfront.

Kodiak requests a subdivision of Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Addition 3, Block 2, Lots 1 through 3, creating Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront, The Cliff subdivision, Lot 1. Common addresses, 6170 6186, 6190 Cliff Point Road. All right, thank you. Similar to the case before, the applicant is proposing to— a subdivision to consolidate 3 existing vacant lots into 1 lot. The proposed plat does meet the requirements of Titles 16 and 17, those that are applicable to this.

The staff analysis begins on page 2 of your staff report. Proposed findings can be found on pages 4 and 5 of the staff Staff report, and the proposed conditions of approval can be found on page 5 of the staff report. And these are virtually the same conditions of approval as you saw on the previous case. And again, the subdivision request to consolidate is related to the rezone request to go to the Conservation District, which has a minimum lot size of 5 acres, and therefore, the consolidation is needed to meet that minimum lot size. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and move on to case S27-003, Oceanfront Kodiak requests a subdivision of Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Addition 3, Block 4, Lots 3 to 5, creating Cliff Point Estates Black Rock Subdivision Lot 1. Common addresses are 6091, 6103, and 6115 Cliff Point Road. Thank you. Similar to the two previous cases, the applicant proposes to consolidate three existing vacant lots into one lot. Proposed subdivision does meet the requirements of— applicable requirements of Titles 16 and 17.

The staff analysis for this particular case starts on page 2 of your staff report. Proposed findings on pages 4 and 5 of the report, and the proposed conditions of approval are on page 5 of the staff report. And these conditions, as I mentioned earlier, are virtually the same as the other two cases. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those.

Okay. Seeing no questions, we'll go ahead and move on to Case S27-004.

That is Oceanfront Kodiak requests a subdivision of Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Addition 3, Block 3, Lots 4A and 5A, and Block 2, Lots 6A and 8A, and Block 3, Lots 1 through 3 and 8, creating Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront The Point subdivision. Lots 1 through 3, uh, 6255 Cliff Point Road, 6265 Cliff Point Road, 6271 Cliff Point Road, 6275 Cliff Point Road, 6277 Cliff Point Road, 6274 Cliff Point Road, 6272 Cliff Point Road, 6266 Cliff Point Road, and 6254 Cliff Point Road. All right, thank you. Uh, it's a little bit different than the previous, still a consolidation. The number of lots are a little different.

So we're— the applicant is proposing a subdivision to consolidate 9 existing vacant lots into 3 lots. Those 3 lots would meet the 5-acre minimum. Actually, they're larger than that 5-acre minimum that's required by the Conservation District. The subdivision— proposed subdivision does meet the applicable requirements of Titles 16 and 17. The staff analysis of this subdivision is on page 2 of your staff report.

The proposed findings in support are on page 5 of the report, and then the proposed conditions of approval are also on page 5. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and move along to Case 27-005. That's Oceanfront Kodiak requests a rezone of Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Edition 3, Block 5, Lots 1 through 5, and Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Edition 3 Block 2, Lots 1 through 3, and Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Addition 3. Block 4, Lots 3 to 5, and Cliff Point Estates Oceanfront Addition 3. Block 3, Lots 4A and 5A. Block 2, Lot 6A and 8A.

Block 3, 1 through 3 and 8. Okay. Thank you. The applicant has proposed a rezone of 6 lots that are created through subdivision requests S-27-1, 2, 3, and 4, which we just discussed, that consolidates 21 lots into 6 lots. The applicant proposes that the 6 lots be rezoned from the RR-2 Rural Residential 2 District to the C Conservation District.

The C District has a minimum lot size of 5 acres. Therefore, the related subdivisions are needed to consolidate lots to meet that minimum requirement. Staff does recommend that the Commission forward a recommendation of approval to the Borough Assembly. The staff analysis of the rezone begins on page 2 of your report. Proposed findings of the rezone are listed on pages 4 and 5 of the staff report.

And for the Assembly ordinance, staff will draft that the rezoning will take effect upon submittal of all 4 final plats. So with that particular statement, it's very similar to what we've done for the subdivisions that were related to rezones in Uzinkee and Old Harbor, that the subdivisions have to have their final plat submitted before the rezoning takes effect. And that's pretty common for this type of situation where we have subdivisions and rezonings happening at the same time. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer those.

Okay, seeing no other questions at this time, we're going to go ahead and move on. We don't have any old business, uh, new business and reports. Uh, next regular meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 15th at 6:30, located here in the assembly chamber, 710 Mill Bay Road. Our next work session is scheduled for Wednesday, August 12th at 6:30, located here in the assembly chambers at 710 Mill Bay Road. It looks like we've got 1 abbreviated and final approval subdivisions and 1 planning and zoning case result letter.

That brings us to staff comments. Chris or Bronwyn? I don't have any comments unless the Commission has any questions on either of those final plat approval or communications.

Okay, thank you. All right, we're going to go ahead with commissioners' comments. We'll start Tracy.

Thank you everybody for all the work that you did, and thank you for coming in and speaking about Cliff Point. That was good, good to know, and I guess that's it. Everybody enjoy your evening.

Okay, uh, thank you for being here, everybody. Um, try and stay dry and warm. Um, seeing as we've got nothing else, I'll go ahead and adjourn tonight's meeting. It is currently 7:03 PM.