Planning Commission hears updates

The length of the packet for the Nome Planning Commission’s Tuesday, April 19 regular meeting may have scared some attendees away, but the commission worked through the agenda quickly. The Commission renewed the General Permit with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which regulates dredging or filling in wetlands; heard next steps for the Historic Preservation Plan and discussed tackling the city abatement list.

In an email to the Nugget, City Engineer John Blees explained how the General Permit works:

“For fill or excavation within the City limits, a fill or excavation permit must be obtained from the City. If the fill placement falls within a wetland area, a second permit from the U.S. Corps of Engineers (USACE) is required before the City Fill Permit can be issued. If the wetland parcel being filled falls within the General Permit boundaries, the application to the Corps can be made under the General Permit. If the wetland parcel being filled is not within the General Permit boundaries, then an individual permit must be obtained from the Corps. The individual permit process generally takes longer which is why the General Permit is beneficial.”

Any amendments to the permit would require a field study, which comes with a fee. At the last renewal, which happens every five years, five or six areas were added into the permit, and the study cost around $65,000. As amendments can happen in the future, as well, the commission decided not to make any at this time, and all members voted to renew the General Permit as is.

The next topic was the Historic Preservation Plan, which has been ping-ponging back and forth between the Planning Commission and the Nome Common Council. City Manager Glenn Steckman explained that members of the community are saying that the plan isn’t reflective of the heritage of Alaska Natives. Having been at all meetings of both bodies, having spoken with residents with comments on the plan, and being without a city planner, Steckman offered to try and integrate the comments received into the plan himself. “This should be a document that we should be uniting around,” he said. The commission had no objections.

During citizen’s comments, the commission heard from Nome Common Council Member Scot Henderson on a plan to incentivize rental housing construction. Many of the commissioners had been at the March 28 Common Council work session where Henderson had originally presented a proposal, but he announced that in May he would be bringing three new ordinances to Council. May will be the first reading, then there will be a work session and public comments, followed by the second reading. The general purpose of all three measures is to incentivize the construction of long-term rentals which would be leased to the general public.

The first ordinance addresses renovations of deteriorated buildings, which could be exempt from property taxes for up to 10 years. The second is for new construction, and the tax exemption is only available on the portion which is unused after the Nome Public Schools levy, but has no term limit. The third ordinance looks at city fees such as building permits and could allow for sales tax rebate on construction materials.

While the topic of water and sewer hook-up fees came up, seeking those incentives through the utilities doesn’t seem to be a viable option. As was mentioned in the March council work session, unlike a private developer whose primary incentive to develop is profit, NJUS’s goal is to provide utilities to Nome, and their revenue pays for their operations.

The incentives as written would have an impact on Nome’s revenue, but in addition to lacking a city planner, Nome is also without an economic development specialist. The exact amount of the impact, or when it would be recouped through these developments, was unclear.

In the City Manager’s report, Steckman announced that the 2022/2023 budget is being worked on. The council is looking at not having the May-August sales tax increase, which he said would cost the City at least $1 million in lost revenue. With the impacts of the pandemic still being felt, this might be an incentive for people to save money. Steckman also said that as the weather improves, he and the building inspector will be updating the abatement list.

Finally, in Building Inspector Cliff McHenry’s report, he said that Nome’s codes are “way behind the curve,” and that updating them would lower insurance for the whole city through a community rating system. Nome’s building and fire codes are from 2009, the electrical code is from 2011 and the plumbing code is from 2012. The most recently available code is 2021.

There will be a public hearing at the next meeting regarding the Port Road Reconstruction. Steckman said he will try to get someone from the state to explain the project.