Seward: P&Z Regular Meeting 11.3.2026

Right, you're alive. All right, thank you.

I call this 3 November 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to order. Commissioner Charbonneau, please lead us in the Pledge. Of course. Thanks. 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.

Okay, Miss Clerk, can we, uh, have a roll call please? Yes. Charbonneau. Here. Hubbard.

Here. Wilder. Here. Ziptra. Here.

Chair Sullivan. Here. And Hornseth and Verhey are excused. Great. Okay, then we'll move on to the next one is public comments.

And we have citizens' comments for any subject except those items scheduled for public hearing. Time is limited to 3 minutes per speaker and 36 minutes total time for this agenda. Miss Clerk, do we have anyone signed in to speak? We do not. Okay, good.

Okay, and anybody in the audience like to speak at all? Okay, this is gonna be good. Okay, so we'll move on to the next item, 5, which is the approval of the agenda and consent agenda. I will need a motion and a second. I'll make a motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda.

I'll second. Thanks. On the approval of the agenda and the consent agenda. Siptra? Yes.

Hubbard? Yes. Charbonneau? Yes. Wilder?

Yes. Chair Sullivan? Yes. Your agenda and consent agenda are approved, and on the consent agenda are the approval of October 20th, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting minutes. Yes.

Great. Thank you. And we had no, no changes to the agenda consent agenda. So everybody's good to go. Okay.

All right. Move on to the next one is special orders, presentations, reports. And we don't have any special orders or presentations, but I believe we have a report from Community Development and Director Danny, could you give us the report? Sure. Not too much today.

I just want to thank everyone who came out to our open house last week for the wayfinding project and the waterfront master plan project. And so I think almost 30 people showed up and yeah, so we had, Yeah, Tony from the Harbor Master's Office and our office kind of coordinating the two separate projects and looking forward to seeing what our consultants come up with after that feedback. Just for our developing community, letting everyone know if they haven't realized that Courtney will be leaving on maternity leave here shortly. So we're excited for her. So you got about another month-ish, maybe a little bit longer, if you have any questions for our city planner.

Life will go on after she leaves, but we'll miss her expertise. So it just might take a little bit longer for us to do a couple things. And this happened a couple months ago, but before Courtney leaves, I just wanted to make sure that she's recognized for something. If you've emailed with her recently, she has a new addition to her signature, says AICP. And so she recently earned her AICP certification, and that stands for the American Institute of Certified Planners.

That's the professional certification offered through the American Planning Association. And so that requires a combination of education, professional planning experience, and passing a comprehensive exam covering law ethics, land use planning practices, and it's widely recognized as one of the highest professional credentials in the planning field. So significant accomplishment. It's great for a small town like Seward to have someone with that credential. So nice work, Courtney.

Bravo, Courtney. Yeah. So that means that you're going to be on the phone when you're on maternity leave.

Just, you know, please. Yeah. And, uh, Today is, uh, Election Day. I took a little break before the meeting. I went home and a friend came over, was watching a hockey game, and during a break there was a commercial for Christmas or something.

We both felt something weird, and it wasn't a political ad commercial. We're like, it's here, we finally made it. But our clerk's office is busy, so shout out to Jamie for stepping up and making her clerking debut for, for us tonight. So yeah, that's all I got. Good times.

All right. Okay, well then we'll move on into, uh, with, uh, public hearings. At this point in time, we have two items for, uh, temp— for consideration. The first is Resolution 2026-0017. Miss Clerk, would you read that into the record?

Resolution 2026-017 of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Seward, Alaska, granting a conditional use permit to Thomas Swan to operate a hotel at 504 Adams Street within the central business Zoning District. This is a quasi-judicial item. Commissioners may not discuss it with the applicant, commissioners, or the public. Comments must be emailed to the city clerk or provided during public comment period. Great, thank you.

All right, since it's quasi-judicial, I'll, uh, like to ask any of the commissioners to disclose if they have any conflicts of interest or have had any ex parte communication on this item, or if anyone seeks to disqualify a commissioner from participating in a decision on the basis of perceived conflict of interest which has not been declared as yet. And if we have no conflicts of interest, we'll move on. Do any commissioners have any conflicts of interest or any concerns, ex parte communication? Good. Alrighty, then we will go ahead.

And what I'll start out with, I need a motion and a second. We'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-017. I'll second. Okay. Administration, do you have any comments for us on this?

Yes, thank you. I'll provide a brief overview of the application. So the property— this— the application is located at 504 Adams Street. Many people will recognize the building as the location for the Seward Bike Shop as well as the Swan Nest Inn, which is what, um, the application is 4. So the Swan Nest Inn currently operates as nightly rentals.

It has 5 nightly rentals, which under our zoning code, 5 or less nightly rentals falls under short-term lodging. And so, um, the building is operating as a short-term lodging with a short-term lodging permit. And this conditional use permit application is showing that the Renovations to the building will increase the number of nightly rental rooms from 5 to 12, which then puts it into that hotel category, which requires a conditional use permit, as well as other building modifications which would be handled by the building inspector and such. But, um, if you look at the application materials provided, you'll see on a site plan After the numbers, I think it's page 24. It got really small on my page.

So the site will accommodate approximately 8 off-street parking spaces, which previously, on the most recent hotel CUPs, Commission has required half a parking space for each room. So with 12 rooms, that would be 6 off-street parking spaces and there's 2 additional ones to accommodate extra parking or there will be an on-site manager apartment as well in the unit. Then page 13 lists the proposed conditions for this CUP.

Many of them are the basic ones. That we've required on other hotels. Exterior lighting shall be children-directed downward. The half space— half off-street parking space per guest room. Providing a watertight animal-resistant waste container.

And then of course making sure that the building is in compliance with all building fire and life safety code requirements.

Good, thank you. Um, well, we'll move on to the next thing. Is, uh, the applicant is here? Mr. Schwan, would you like to come up and speak? Nope.

All righty. Okay, it's good to go. All righty, so then what I'll do is, uh, I'll open for public comments. Anybody has any comments in the audience at all? No?

Okay, so then I will close the public hearing. Quicker than I thought. Now it's time for deliberations and discussion amongst the commissioners. And are there any comments or amendments from the commissioners?

Um, I mean, I think it makes sense here, meets the conditions. It's already a nightly rental, so moving to a hotel is pretty straightforward. I'd like to thank the applicant for all these fantastic drawings and actually making it, you know, taking the effort so we can actually see what's going on. Clearly, you mean not a bar napkin? Yes.

But yeah, straightforward. Great. Any other commissioners have any questions or anything? I have a question, Mr. Swan. You have a lift identified in your, um, I believe in one of the— in the building itself.

Is that a— for a luggage lift, or what is that? I'm sorry, it's an elevator. I'm not sure if it'll be, um, you know, like the elevator they have down at, um, the Fish House. Fish House. So it's exterior.

Okay, underneath the COVID Okay, so it's exterior lift of some sort. Yeah, well, it's underneath the—. There's a roof over it, right? It's not inside the building. Okay, okay.

I just want to be sure of that as far as it— because, uh, you know, just My understanding and research on some of these things, and you probably have already researched this, lifts, elevators are required, but lifts, the state was no longer certifying. So I guess, and you may have already talked to an engineer in your—. We'll deal with that. That comment's come up, but we'll deal with that with the building department. All right, okay, well, just make sure that you're aware.

I have to have something to get people up. Okay, all righty. Okay. The food service is upstairs and the room's downstairs. Got it.

Handicap capability, and there is a full ADA room. Okay, in the building, in the ground floor. Okay, so that comment has come up, and that's what I just want to encourage, because I've seen different areas where if, you know, if you had a pre-existing lift, then you're sort of good to go, but if you were actually putting something in new, uh, the state was mandating lifts were no longer considered good for people, but you had to have an elevator. And I just didn't know where you were in the process, if you had a pre-existing existing one. So yeah, if one goes in, it'll be in the same location.

Alrighty. Okay, that will work. Any of the commissioners have anything else on that to that effect? Okay, well then that'll be good. So are we ready to vote then?

Everybody good? Okay, well, Miss Clerk, can we call for the vote? Voting on Resolution 2026-017.

Cipriano? Yes. Wilder? Yes. Hubbert?

Yes. Charbonneau? Yes. Chair Sullivan? Yes.

That resolution has been approved. Okay, all right, well then we will move on to the next one. Thank you, Mr. Swan. Um, our second public hearing for tonight is Resolution 2026-0018. Miss Clerk, we read the title into the record.

Resolution 2026-0018, -018 of the Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Seward, Alaska, recommending City Council and Kenai Peninsula Borough approval of preliminary plat of Lot 1A and Lot 15, Fort Raymond Subdivision, creating Lots 1A-1 and 1A-2 and 15A, Fort Raymond Subdivision Cemetery Addition. Okay, all right, well, I will need a motion and a second for this, please. I'll make a motion to approve Resolution 2026-018. Okay, I have a second out there. I'll second it.

Okay, great. All right, um, Administration, do you have any comments on this, please? Yes, I'll provide a little background on this preliminary plat. So on April 13th, 2026, the City Council approved a resolution which authorized the City Manager to negotiate the terms of conveying a portion of the city cemetery property to the Katoochick Tribe, which would be the portion that is known as the Jesse Lee Cemetery. And so before negotiations can be made and to convey the property, it needs to be its own separate parcel.

And so this is the first stage of that process to divide out the land that would encompass the Jesse Lee Cemetery. So if you look on page 41 of the packet, you'll see parcels highlighted in yellow and red. Everything highlighted is currently city property. City cemetery, but the red portion is what is known as the Jesse Lee Cemetery, and that red outline will now be what is proposed to be the boundaries, the actual lot lines for that cemetery. And then once the plat is finalized, then the city manager and city council can enter into negotiation with the Katoochick Tribe about that parcel of of land.

Okay, alrighty. Thank you for that. It's always interesting to see those— how the cemeteries are divided up into those 5 different areas like that. And I learned a little bit about the one jog there that was actually part of the— I think that's the Odd Fellows, or is that the other one there? So that's sort of an interesting one there.

Okay, well, what I have now is I'm gonna open this up for public comments because the applicant is the city, and the city just spoke. So is anybody in— want to make any comments in public here? No. Is that— I'm assuming nobody signed in, Jamie? No one signed in.

Okay. All right, so what we'll do then, I will close it for public hearing, and no further discussion, no further comments or records will be accepted. And now it's time for our deliberations. If any commissioners have any concerns, comments, or otherwise. I have a question.

Is there any exchange of funds, or is it—. So that would be determined at the next point of this process when it comes back to City Council to negotiate that. So then they would have the option then to determine whether they're going to appraise the land and, and how they're going to negotiate that conveyance. Okay. Yeah.

You just gotta cut it into a little block so they can make decisions. Yeah, carve it out like that. Yep. Okay. Anybody else have any concerns or questions?

Quick question. Yeah. The proposed access, the 15-foot access, that— does any pathway exist in that area right now, or that entire pathway needs to be created in order to make it available? Uh, that is— that's the road, as I recall, that comes through, right? That's the pathway right through it.

You know, an Aspen Lane comes right to there. That's that, that road that comes up and jogs around and goes around the cemetery. If you go to page 37, okay, you'll see that. Thank you. Yeah, correct.

Yeah, so that is the existing cemetery road. And, and you'll— you may have seen in the packet that there were some exceptions that our surveyor is requesting from the Kenai Peninsula Borough, and those exceptions are because Typically, the borough will require much wider access easements, but being this is a cemetery, there are burials located quite near to the road. That's why she's requesting the exceptions that it just be a 15-foot access road, and that's like the exact width of the current road there. Yeah, glad you're bringing that up. Thanks.

Anybody else have Anything to offer or concern? No. No. Okay. Well, um, just— yeah, go ahead, Rhonda.

Yeah, is there a— this might be a little bit outside the boundary here, but can there be any conditions or requests for parking spaces? Rooms that have nothing to do with this? That's outside. That's outside. And I don't know, I'd be hard-pressed to put some parking in there.

You might be rolling over somebody's grave. Yeah, well, I see other places in the area that there could be parking, but down below the city at one time talked about below the Legion Cemetery when they were going to take on the Parks and Rec warehouse there and possibly parse that out somewhere, and they were going to actually put parking down there. And I think that's still on the plate. I think the council had to discuss that as possible. Well, maybe this, uh, this will help encourage that.

I hope so. There's going to be more activity going on there. I expect there probably will. Yeah. Okay, well, if there's nothing else, are we ready to vote?

Yes. Okay, Ms. Clerk, could you call for the vote? Voting on Resolution 2026-018. Citron.

Yes. Wilder. Yes. Charbonneau. Yes.

Hubbard? Yes. Chair Sullivan? Yes. Resolution 2026-018 has been approved.

Great, thanks. So we go on to number 9, which is unfinished business, and which is great, we have no unfinished business. And under new business, we really have nothing, no resolutions or anything we have to worry about. But under other new business, we need to discuss a new business item, which will be for our work session. On the 17th of November, and I think Community Development may have some input to that.

Yeah, as we're getting near the end of the year, looking at our— your 2026 priorities and kind of moving through those pretty well, uh, we want to kind of target two of them for the November work session. One of your priorities was to evaluate contemporary approaches to zoning and development regulations to determine whether alternative models could Better Advanced Community Goals. And part of Courtney's preparation for the AICP exam was to learn a lot about the history of zoning and different, you know, paradigms that can be used out there and that what the city uses. And so she's been working on a great presentation. So we're going to use that for kind of the training portion of the— at the beginning, it's just kind of an overview history of zoning and specifically getting into Seward and then kind of just to share what some of those paradigms are that are out there.

And then when we kind of talk about priorities for next year, if there's anything that resonates with the Commission, we can add those and do maybe a deeper dive on those in 2027. And then another priority was to review and update rezone application procedures and requirements. And so after the training, that is what we will focus our time on. And so just looking at our current process, doing some research on what other communities have and, yeah, see how we can improve that process. Sort of eliminate spot zoning and recognize the different ones that are out there.

Yes. Okay, great. Well, that's good. I think it'll be good for all of us because we've all been exposed to spot zoning to some extent. New people haven't, and they— but you might discuss why those things came in or how they did and their origins.

So that'd be good. Okay, I'll move on to the next one. Is the information— will informational items and reports. And it's just a reminder of the work session on November 17th in the council chambers at 6, and a regular meeting at 7 PM on December 1st, also in council chambers. And so we're also on to final public comments.

Um, we're done with all the business and we're on to citizens' comments. Is there anybody signed in to speak? No, Chair Sullivan. Anybody would like to speak? Nope.

Okay. All right. That's even better. So we'll go from there. So from there, I'll bring it back to our, our comments if we have any.

So we have administration. Do you have any additional comments as we close out? Well, thank you for a well-run, efficient meeting. I like efficient meetings. And nice job, Jamie.

Yeah. Courtney? No comments. Are you changing your phone number so we can't get to you?

No, yeah, but I'll be happy to answer any questions while I'm on maternity leave, but—. Kidding. But, uh, I'm sure—. I drive by her house on my way. Okay, good.

Stop and ask questions. But I might not check my email, so— Okay, I don't blame you, don't blame you. Okay, Andy, anything to offer? Oh, congratulations Courtney on your new surgery. Certification.

Thank you. Yeah. Nathaniel, congratulations, of course. Nice job running. Yay.

Thank you. Rhonda. Yeah, I wanted to highlight the housing summary survey that came out by Kenai Peninsula Borough, and I thought it highlighted Seward well, and it really showed how progressive we became in addressing our housing issue, it seemed like we were ahead of most other communities in the borough. And I actually took that document and utilized AI and said, tell me everything about Seward in this document. And it was a really good summary.

And I think we've—. This body has been a part of that. And so I appreciate all the work that you guys brought forward and that we've been able to do. And good luck with everything. I hope you all— it all comes out well for you.

And congratulations, it's your baby. And, um, yeah, and also your, your new, uh, leveling up on your profession there too. So thank you. Great, thank you, Tina. Same.

I want to thank the, uh, Community Development and the whole crew because you do a lot of heavy lifting prior to just to provide this so we can go through it fairly simple, you know, fairly quickly and have an opportunity to have an understanding of what's going on because none of us have this background to speak of. Over the years, many years, we are exposed to things, but, you know, as you go through it, it becomes very clear. And I really appreciate how you organize it so it's not so laborious to go through to figure out what's going on and back and forth with the applicant, the rest. So I think it was pretty clean. I really appreciate all of that.