Ben Walters Lane open for business

• Griswold, Conifer Woods owners protest ‘Residential Office’ rezone

by Aaron Selbig
Homer Tribune
Thanks to efforts spearheaded by representatives of the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, Ben Walters Lane – where the clinic is located – could soon become home to a smattering of new clinics, medical facilities and other businesses.
As of Oct. 27 – the day after the Homer City Council approved it – 30 parcels of land along Ben Walters Lane between Smoky Bay Way and East End Road have been rezoned from Urban Residential to Residential Office, meaning they could be home to either residences or commercial offices.
The process to get the rezone took the better part of a year, beginning with a Feb. 24 application from KBFPC that requested one property – 3957 Nelson Lane – be rezoned to RO so the clinic could expand across the street from its current location. The rezone would allow KBFPC to expand its office space and “increase capacity for outreach and education programs,” according to the application, signed by clinic president Kathleen Gustafson.
But when word got out that KBFPC was willing to go through the lengthy rezone process, several of the neighboring property owners said they wanted on board, said KBFPC board member Tarri Thurman, who led the charge on the project.
“There were a lot of properties with split zoning, where half of their lot was residential and the other half was RO,” said Thurman. “Within that whole corridor, people were stuck with UR zoning that they couldn’t really use.”
So the rezoning request – with a total of 30 properties affected – went to the Homer Advisory Planning Commission, which held public hearings on the matter on April 1 and Sept. 2.
At its Sept. 2 meeting, the commission reviewed a list of the 30 affected property owners who were contacted regarding the potential rezone. According to the list, 19 were in favor of the rezone, three were against, one was “neutral” and seven had not responded. No one at the meeting testified against the rezone.
The commission found the rezone compatible with the 1999 Homer Comprehensive Plan, which calls to “evaluate the neighborhood behind Lakeside Mall for similarities to Residential Office zoning,” and noted several potential benefits to the rezone, including an increase to the tax base, a new area for businesses to locate and a potential increase in the property value in the affected area. The commission then passed the matter to the council, recommending approval.
At least two people, however, vocally opposed the rezone, including Michelle Abbott, the regional manager for Legacy Management Group, LLC, the company that owns the Conifer Woods apartment complex on Ben Walters Lane.
Although the Conifer Woods property was not included in the rezone area, residents of the complex would nevertheless be affected, said Abbott in a May 20 letter to Mayor James Hornaday and council members.
“We are concerned about the general safety and welfare of the residents at Conifer Woods Apartments,” said Abbott. “We feel that the quiet, peaceful enjoyment of their apartment homes would be at stake should this ordinance pass.”
Abbott’s letter was an “unofficial” response to notices, said City Planner Rick Abboud.
“The only effect I could foresee for Conifer Woods is possibly a little different traffic count coming down Ben Walters,” said Abboud. “Nobody has testified against this at meetings besides Frank Griswold.”
Griswold – a citizen litigant and frequent critic of city officials – raised several objections to the rezone in a four-page Oct. 23 letter to Hornaday and council members, challenging the legality of the rezone on the grounds that only one person – Gustafson – originally applied for it.
The Ben Walters Lane rezone is an example of illegal spot zoning, said Griswold.
“Arbitrarily changing zoning designations to accommodate private interests is not a sound, or legal, public policy,” said Griswold. “Neither is cronyism.”
In an opinion refuting Griswold’s claim, City Attorney Thomas Klinkner quoted the Alaska Supreme Court’s definition of spot zoning – “the process of singling out a small parcel of land for a use classification totally different from that of the surrounding area, for the benefit of the owner … and to the detriment of other owners.”
The Ben Walters Lane rezone – due to its public and private benefits and its compatibility with the Comp Plan – does not meet the definition of spot zoning, said Klinkner.
The rezone benefits the entire neighborhood and will provide a “buffer” between the commercial area to the west and the residential area to the east of Ben Walters lane, said Thurman.
“I knocked on doors. I wrote letters. What I found was overwhelming support of what we were looking to do,” said Thurman. “It was pretty amazing.”

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