HomeMy WebLinkAbout03282023 City Council Laydown - Written Protest from Kathy Repko RECEIVED 230328 CC
LAYDOWN
MAR 2 8 2023 Repko
24 March 2023 OFFICE OF THE
CITY CLERIC
SUBJECT: Do NOT support Resolution 2023-029
Dear City Council,
Without federal, state or city funding to defray the anticipated cost based on the engineering feasibility study, I
do not support Resolution 2023-029.
1 first visited Seward in 2016 when my son was stationed as an AF pilot at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage. He
brought me to Seward to hike Exit Glacier and fish in the Gulf of Alaska. During that trip we stayed at the
military resort in Seward (I am a retired Air Force nurse). In 2021 my daughter took a summer guiding position
with Liquid Adventures. I eagerly visited her that summer and explored the area with her and met many
delightful residents. I left feeling that this small city would be a perfect retirement location, where I could
become an active community member. When my daughter and her partner became aware of the parcels for
sale in Forest Acres, they knew how much I loved the area and suggested I purchase the parcel next to theirs.
My dream is to live in this small community, to be close to my daughter as she starts her nursing career in
Alaska and to share year-round Alaskan adventures with my children and grandchildren. I have a strong nursing
and telehealth operations background and would look forward to supporting the city on healthcare initiatives.
When I purchased 307 Cottonwood St, Forest Acres Sub Afognak Addn Lot BE2 I understood there would be a
cost to install utilities. I did not know the deed was restricted and required water and sewer connections, and
that we could not start building until all utilities are in place. I expected a cost to hook up my parcel to the
public infrastructure. I did NOT expect to be directly billed (taxed) to establish the public infrastructure hub
expansion. Indeed, I understood that the city had available funds to defray the cost of the public infrastructure
and has a history of supporting developers on new communities. I was unaware of the city's history with
Afognak, and do not understand why an exception was made to subdivide and plat these properties without
having the public infrastructure put in place and without grandfathering the city's support to the new property
owners.
I understand that the funds the city uses to develop utilities is intended for a single owner/developer, not
individual property owners. Could the city recognize an Owners Association, as that single `developer' for the
neighborhood? The Owners Association could request the RFP for utilities, and expect the city to subsidize the
uliliEy exparisiui i ii, FuresL Acres' If the city could also amortize the payment of the utilities, I believe this would
help most of the property owners in the special interest petition to be able to move forward with building our
homes. I sincerely hope we can find a way to support the development of these lots by getting started with the
utilities!
To summarize, until there is a clear funding from city, state or federal source, I do not support Resolution 2023-
029. 1 would support creative options, e.g. Owners Association, to request and score RFPs, and work with the
city to fund and amortize the apportioned costs to the property owners.
Best regards,
Katherine Anne Repko
307 Cottonwood Street (Forest Acres Sub Afognak Addn Lot BE2)
M: 801.450.1894
Current residence: 8017 Springshire Dr., Park City, UT 84098