Alaska News • • 33 min
Cordova: Planning Commission Public Hearing & Special Meeting of Tuesday, June 16, 2026, at 6:30 PM
video • Alaska News
I don't have any comments right now.
Well, my only comment really goes to Cordova in general. Um, we were laid out in a simple grid. The main part of town was laid out in a separate— a simple grid that didn't take into account the topography of what the land is, and it made a lot of unusable lots by putting them the way they are. Um, this is not part of that part, but it's another area that's an older— another old subdivision area that was not— there's all sorts of stuff in it, and it wasn't until they got into construction or to laying it out that they— it just doesn't work. That's yours.
And so it's like, well, this isn't going to work. It's, it's really Plan B, um, because there is such a tight area because of the size of the lot, which is so minimal. But there's a huge percentage of the lot that is not usable regardless of the setbacks. And that's, that's the reason. That's the only reason.
Normally If it was a big empty clear lot, I wouldn't grant it. But because of the size and the location of the easement, the utility easement taking so much out of the front, they just have such limited area. And that's, and that's why we have variances, are for the conditions of the lot, not the design from the subdividers when they did the original subdivision. The original subdivision was just The feds did it. They just went around, drew lines.
So, so that's why I'm actually for it. Any further discussion? I just want to remind the Commission we're making— that they're making a decision based on the application and if the application meets the requirements.
Do I have a motion for this, Mr. Chair? Sorry, uh, I move to recommend that City Council dispose of the requested portion of ATS 220, approximately 4,100 square feet in size, as outlined in Code Municipal Code 7.40 uh, 0.060(b) 0.060(b) by negotiating an agreement with the party who submitted a letter of interest to lease or purchase the property.
Okay, do your motion, sir. Okay, um, so I watched the Harbor Commission meeting, and I think that they did raise, uh, some good points.
I was also listening to audience comments, and I think some good points were raised there as well. I have a few points and opinions of my own that I'd like to share on that.
One, as someone who works in the tourism industry myself, In terms of my opinion for, you know, beautifying the harbor and that being a priority for the city. I think that it would take a whole lot more investment than, you know, putting a, you know, a picnic table out there, or even like a gazebo out there to make that like a destination type thing. Like the amount of effort that places like Valdez and Sitka and Juneau put into their harbors to make it a tourism destination is, you know, on the orders of millions of dollars. This is a working town. It looks like a working town.
It certainly smells like a working town. I take people down to look at the harbor. You know, they think it's neat. They— it's not a place to go hang out. Mm-hmm.
As far as a place for the community to go, I understand that point more. Certainly I've been known to go and have my lunch out of the Great Water to, you know, watch the boats coming in and out. There are a lot of places to do that though. The docks are open to the public. So I don't think that the community is missing out if we were like— and this isn't really even what's being debated because this is about— that's the specific lot that's in the water portion that has already been litigated.
But just to answer those points, as far as this dock being a hazard to navigation, I do not see that as an entirely credible argument in my opinion. As someone who does utilize that harbor entrance pretty much daily, I do not have a huge boat myself, but it is a very wide channel.
And specifically to the point raised in the Harbor Commission meeting, like, you know, specifically having a tug pulling a tender into the harbor, that is also a very special use case scenario. So arguing about one special use case of, you know, a cannery building a dock to service their operation versus a company who has a tug who's pulling derelicts in and out of the harbor. Those are two contrary industrial use cases. And I haven't seen the numbers, but I suspect AmTuz contributes more in tax revenue. So I would— Thank you.
Be interested to see if that argument doesn't bear out. But that is my gut instinct on who is paying more in terms of tax revenue and what kind of use cases. Certainly South— Southville dock has a lot of advantages. I'm sure that M2S has been weighing those advantages significantly on their own.
It would be a very expensive project just at its face. I can see why they're pursuing this stock location as their primary at this point. So I'm in favor. Mayor. But this is just a tough choice, but It's between really good territories.
You know, if I had my way, we would have came to Santa Super Duper, come to Cordova that you can see from the satellite. You know, really. And I wish that the town had the population that would come to the table and support buying this property. For that, but we did not get that. And I beat any drums that I could find, and nobody came to the table with real live money but CAM 2.
And CAM 2 comes to their community already, not only with money but function. They meet our needs. They're doing their best. So I think— Now, according to purchase of the job and adding this to make it more viable, if there is a true real option to move on, if we don't start moving on real options, We will lose them. Other businesses will be looking at us and making a decision whether to throw money on other projects.
Other Audubon people will be looking at us to see where they might have the option to. I think this leaves room for everybody. Reality is we're—. We're in a tough spot. We're at the table with this one real bad woman, and we need to— so thank you guys, everybody, for showing.
Sean, do you have any comments on this one?
I think it might, you know, make coming and going from the mouth of the harbor a little bit more congested than it currently is, but I think there's still probably enough space there for the biggest boats to move around. But yeah, like, kind of to Chris's point, like, the lot acquisition is the waterfront lot. And, you know, it's not the— like, the fill lot already has been purchased by CAM 2, or it's in a lease agreement with the city. So this is just— Uh, an additional piece of property so that they can build the dock that would then allow their business to kind of, you know, do what they need and want to do. So I'm for it.
I have a question for the planner. Okay. This is going out to lease with the option to purchase. Does that require construction before we sell it? Um, so we're— I— we are negotiating right now a purchase and sale agreement with ChemTues, um, but there are requirements within that.
So not lease with option to purchase, the purchase and sale. But if they don't do what they—. Yes, there's a substantial completion component, and if they don't do what they have stated, um, then we can take the lot back. Okay, so that answers one of the questions from the Harbor Commission. They, you know, they're just not going to sit vacant if they don't do this.
Yeah, and what we're— what we are talking about today is this ATS 220 triangle, not the Breakwater Field lot. Right. That one, that's a separate one. They still can build a dock on that one. It's just not big enough.
Yeah, if you look at the photos, it shows it just needs— where they're proposing just needs to extend out into that area of tidelands there. Right. So that is the request. The other question is, How far is the dock going to be from their lot line? Do we know that?
If you look, if you look here in the photos, it's where they're going to re-flat this area. They don't have, they don't have the engineered drawings of this yet. So we don't exactly know where it's going to lay in there currently.
But this is what they're gonna try to— yeah, this is what they're gonna try and engineer. Can we, like, limit— put a limit on how far from the dock? So if we go to 30 feet, so that it prevents 2 30-foot boats, it allows a 30-foot at most, but really allows those 25-foot to be on their lot. And then if they're not in that, just basically do a 30-foot from, from the dock as the western boundary. We can, we can explore what limits we can put on that, but it's— that's public area beyond that.
So— Right. Well, I'm, I'm saying the non-public area would be that first 30 feet from the dock, although when not in use it becomes public area. I don't know, it's just, it's just one of those things that possibly could be done in negotiations, or do we need to do a recommendation that we limit—. I'm, I'm, I'm not well enough all the way, but—. Well, yeah, I'm not sure if there would be a mechanism to Right.
Well, it's, it's like parking on your lot versus parking in the street. You know, they have the right to park 30 feet if the lot line is actually 30 feet from wherever the dock finishes. They have that, they have the— that's on their basic property. Anything beyond that is public, and then it's subject to control by this by the city or whoever's in control of the harbor. That guy back there.
Um, we can definitely explore the options of that, but I don't know how viable it is. I can make a note that you've suggested it. Right, but we can just move forward with this. I think that you would have to— or do we not make it like a have to go through the Coast Guard and have it be like, oh, past this would be a hazard to navigation, right? Like that.
But I'm not sure how these—. So it was just a thought. I don't, I don't know. Yeah. But as is, I, I do not use the harbor at all, so I'm not one to really So I don't have a boat that goes in and out of there, so I'm not really sure.
I'm going to leave that up to the Harbor Commission. So unless there's further comment, vote on the motion as is. Yeah, so those are, those are state waters and federal waters, and so it's state and federal navigational laws in that area. So we, I don't think we can make any kind of restriction on that. But if their lot only goes that far, then beyond that would be state and federal navigation laws.
Yeah. And then blocking, they have to go to the state. So it was just a thought. So do we want to vote on the motion, or As is? I think I heard.
All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Shawn? Aye.
Any audience comments? We have the guest speaker coming in. Oh yeah. She showed back up. Nope, she did not show up, but I want everybody to turn to page 19 of the packet and scan that QR code and take the survey for Safe Streets for All if you can, please.
Too late. You already did it? Already did it. Yep, so the survey closes July 15th. This is going to be important for our community input for transportation network safety in Cordova.
So if you can take that survey, we need your input for safe streets in Cordova. Thank you. Of course. Thanks, folks. Is there any audience comments at this time?
Ma'am.
Casey Babbick, 3.5 Mile Lakeshore Grove. It's as good as we get out there. I just wanted to say I'm here if you guys had any questions. You're approved. Awesome.
I'm good to go. Also, my daughter was watching, so she wanted to see me on TV. So I had to come up. Thank you. Congratulations.
Okay. Also, I have like a blanket approval of anything Cam Chu wants to do. I'm supportive. Thank you. Commissioner Novitz, ma'am.
Thank you, guys. Sunshine.
Sean. Yeah, thank you, Amanda, for, uh, putting another great packet together. Thank you, sir. So yeah, I know this one was a bit of a contentious one, but I'm glad that Audience came out to, uh, yeah, the community came out to, uh, voice their opinions on the matter. And, uh, I'm ready for dinner.
I've already had my dinner. Um, thank you, Amanda. Appreciate it. Wish Tanya was here.
Can I get a motion? Mr. Chair? Sir? I move for adjournment.
Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Sean?
Aye. 7:20. Yeah, thank you guys. Take care. Have a good dinner.
Peace. Thank you. Even if we didn't, in reality, this is going to be going to.
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