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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11022022 PACAB Minutes City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4,Page 83 CALL TO ORDER The November 2, 2022 regular meeting of the Port and Commerce Advisory Board was called to order at 12:00 p.m. by Vice Chair Lynda Paquette. OPENING CEREMONY Assistant City Manager Stephen Sowell led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. ROLL CALL There were present: B.a a;; O'D oaga presiding; and Lynda Paquette (presiding) Bruce Jaffa r�.,,-'� Benjamin Smith Fred Woelkers Dwayne Atwood comprising a quorum of the Board; and Stephen Sowell, Assistant City Manager Norm Regis, Harbormaster Kris Peck, Deputy City Clerk Excused—O'Reagan, Hughes Absent—None CITIZEN COMMENTS ON ANY SUBJECT EXCEPT THOSE ITEMS SCHEDULED FOR PUBLIC HEARING—None APPROVAL OF AGENDA AND CONSENT AGENDA Motion (Atwood/Jaffa) Approval of Agenda and Consent Agenda Motion Passed Unanimous The clerk read the following approved consent agenda items: Approval of the October 5,2022 Regular Meeting Minutes. SPECIAL ORDERS, PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS Proclamations & Awards—None Administration Report City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4,Page 84 Assistant City Manager Stephen Sowell reported there would be a community meeting on February 23, 2023 to discuss the housing issues in Seward. There would also be a City Council special meeting forthcoming to discuss the latest survey on the community recreation center. low Sowell asked the board for feedback on the December 21, 2022 PACAB work session to see if there would be attendance due to the holiday season. Harbormaster Norm Regis reported the G, K, and L Floats were open and nearly complete. There was an issue with the fire extinguisher boxes and life-ring boxes not fitting properly and this was currently being resolved with the manufacturer. Other Reports and Announcements Alaska Railroad Report.Port Operations Manager Dwayne Atwood said the US Coast Guard Cutter Munro was coming to Seward and would be at the Alaska Railroad dock. The Halloween Carnival just concluded at the cruise ship terminal and the next public event would be the Holiday Craft Fair in December. The terminal currently offered senior citizen indoor walking three days a week. This winter there would be a closure on the main line railroad track with more details to be announced as they became available. There were laydown areas by the Alaska Railroad terminal where large items like fracking sand and pipe could be stored until the main line tracks were cleared. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kat Sorensen said she was proud to receive the Alaskan Chamber of the Year Award. The chamber recently created a fun passport for attending Winter Weekend events with several prizes available. The chamber was also in the process of launching Start-Up Week with various ways for new businesses to get started. Sorensen �— intended to send out a community-wide survey to see what time the locals would like to watch the New Year's fireworks;the feedback received so far was that 8:00 p.m.would be a family-friendly time. Presentations—None NEW BUSINESS Resolutions Resolution 2022-007, Adopting The Port And Commerce Advisory Board (PACAB) Priorities For The Calendar Year 2023. Motion (Jaffa/Woelkers) Approve Resolution 2022-007 Jaffa said the resolution was very forward thinking. Sowell wanted to address the item regarding PACAB's involvement with the Chamber of Commerce in their city marketing role. The board decided to keep it exactly the way it was written in the resolution. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4, Page 85 Motion Passed Unanimous Resolution 2022-008, Recommending City Council Approval Of The Seward Boat Harbor Plan Motion (Jaffa/Atwood) Approve Resolution 2022-008 Regis said all the notes from the last PACAB work session on October 19, 2022 had been incorporated into the Seward Boat Harbor Plan. Jaffa said he endorsed the resolution the way it had been written. Paquette liked the addition of the South Harbor Uplands development and asked about upgrading sewer and septic in that area. Regis said the current system could handle one building, and more upgrades would follow as needed. Motion to Amend (Paquette/Atwood) Amend Resolution 2022-008 by adding a new line to 4.18 to read, "to develop a lift station on the South Harbor Uplands." Motion to Amend Failed Unanimous Main Motion Passed Unanimous Other New Business Items Formulate PACAB's Conclusions and Recommendations to the Seward Housing Problem. Paquette said that there was very little land within the city to expand; this problem would only worsen over the next 40 years. Smith asked for clarification about what the actual housing demand was and what was considered affordable. He felt starter homes in the range of half a million dollars was out of reach for most people. Jaffa said PACAB received feedback from a certain demographic of the community, but didn't go far enough to get input from contractors and builders. He noted there were multiple developable lots with utilities around Seward today. Jaffa wanted to continue to invite people to PACAB meetings to provide more input. Atwood wondered what the community wanted the overall density of Seward to look like. If Seward moved in the direction of higher density, there would be losses in other categories, such as viewshed, sunlight and quality of life. Atwood felt that high prices would continue to be a prohibiting factor, as building costs continued to rise. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4,Page 86 Paquette asked how PACAB could best help solve the housing issues. In response, Sowell encouraged PACAB to provide specific recommendations to council to spur residential development; PACAB could seek out items in code that prohibited growth and recommend they be changed with actionable items. Jaffa thought that would be more of a Planning & Zoning Commission role rather than PACAB. Sowell responded that was true, but PACAB could continue with the investigative work to gather community input. Paquette asked if a joint work session with P&Z would be productive. Sowell responded that it might be helpful,but the meeting would need to be prepped with specific recommendations to discuss. Smith wanted to narrow down PACAB's scope to a specific housing issue and demographic to which to focus on; he felt PACAB should focus on groups who supported the commerce of the community. Woelkers asked administration if there was any discussion to annex land outside of the city limits. Sowell responded there were rumors going around, but the city had no plans for any annexation. Sowell suggested PACAB work with the Kenai Peninsula Borough to sell specific parcels of land for development. Jaffa said the KPB was active in development in the Moose Pass area.However,Jaffa noted he didn't see a lack of land as being the issue. There were many buildings around town that were begging to be torn down and rebuilt. He agreed that viewsheds were important to locals and tall buildings would block the view of the bay and mountains for residents. Smith left the meeting at 1:32 p.m. Jaffa asked if forming an ad hoc committee to tackle the housing problem would be an effective idea. Sowell advised that if an ad hoc committee was formed it would have to be very specific in the scope as to what the committee would be doing. In lieu of pursing the committee idea, Jaffa and Woelkers both volunteered to recruit more guest speakers for future PACAB meetings. Reschedule the December 21,2022 PACAB Work Session to December 14, 2022. Motion (Paquette/Woelkers) Reschedule the December 21, 2022 PACAB Work Session to December 14, 2022. Motion Passed Unanimous Review and Discuss the 2023-2024 Capital Improvement Plan List and Provide Input to City Council. Paquette asked about the current Lowell Point Sewage Lagoon's ability to accommodate City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4,Page 87 -- future development and population growth. Sowell said the Capital Improvement Plan(CIP)would be very specific, such as adding one cell to the lagoon for a certain cost. Jaffa asked for a status on the US Army Corps of Engineers Lowell Canyon Diversion Tunnel project. Sowell responded the whole project was federally funded; five years after completion,the tunnel would be come the city's responsibility to maintain. Sowell said the city paid for three years of US Geological Survey (USGS) hydro- monitoring data in order to be eligible for grants for hydroelectric power. However, low water levels in the winter resulted in a lack of data points to get the needed results. Jaffa wondered if the USGS would be held accountable for the inconclusive study. Paquette asked about development of the South Harbor Uplands and when would it show up in the CIP. Sowell responded the specific topic would be listed as a new harbormaster office. Regis suggested that a city council member could make an amendment to include the new harbormaster office. Motion (Paquette/Jaffa) Schedule A Special Meeting On November 16, 2022 To Provide PACAB's Recommendations To City Council Regarding The 2023-2024 Capital Improvement Plan List. Paquette would rather schedule a special meeting instead of having a work session on November 16, 2022. The goal would be to quickly get a resolution ready for city council with PACAB's recommendations for the CIP list. Motion Passed Unanimous INFORMATIONAL ITEMS AND REPORTS —None CITIZEN COMMENTS Andy Wilder, inside city limits, felt there should be regulations to prevent boats from snatching up the prime moorage only to sit idle over the winter. Currently there were four 120' boats clogging the working area near the fisheries and around the crane in the harbor. Wilder proposed a time limit in that work zone so other vessels could have access for loading and unloading.Wilder felt that he represented at least 10 other local fishermen,perhaps even the whole local fleet,with the same concern. BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION COMMENTS & RESPONSE TO CITIZEN COMMENTS Regis said he would look into the issue of the long-term boat parking and consider possible solutions to free up the area for active working boats. Currently, there was nothing in the harbor tariff that restricted the length of stay for paying customers. City of Seward,Alaska Port and Commerce Advisory Board Meeting Minutes November 2, 2022 Volume 4,Page 88 Sowell thanked everyone for the good meeting. Atwood thanked PACAB for the wide range of interesting topics. Jaffa said he was thankful for citizen comments that brought issues to their attention and hoped a solution could be found. He thanked Paquette for chairing the meeting. Paquette thanked everyone for their time and looked forward to their next meeting. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:11 p.m. all --�' Kris Peck L'y Paquette Deputy City Clerk ice,Chair (City Seal) • ' SEAL • " r r tow r n • 4 T OF rr