Homer balks at big box store idea

• Council looks at ordinance to increase footprint allowance to 100,000 square feet

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Mention of expanding the square footage allowed of big box stores that may want to set up in the future was all it took to fill the Homer City Council Chambers on a summer night.
Nineteen out of 20 people testified against the notion in ordinance 10-31; a resurfacing of a tired subject hashed out in previous city debates starting in 2002 and continuing through 2008 that one resident called akin to “reopening a box of snakes.”
It proposed an amendment to increase the square footage allowed of future retail stores in the Town Center District from 75,000 to 100,000 square feet. This is the green belt behind Safeway, along Poopdeck and just shy of Homer Cleaning Center on Main Street.
To illustrate how much space that would consume of tiny downtown, Homer Bookstore owner Sue Post described putting both Safeway and Save-U-More together — then doubling that.
Ironically, shoppers from Kenai and Soldotna — where big box stores abound in cheap products — travel to Homer, Post said. “They tell us they come here to buy their special gifts.”
Some testimony came with tears at the possibility of the town losing its quaintness. Others expressed anger and impatience. Donna Beran said, “Why are we all here again? We have dealt with this issue. I feel like there is a lack of understanding on the value of each other’s time.”
Nina Faust pointed out the poor timing of this measure’s discussion; a full-scale “Check Local” campaign has built momentum by the Homer Chamber this year to help consumers and businesses both. Besides, the debate surfaces during summer when, normally, Homer hammers out its deeper arguments in winter.
“This is not the meeting season,” Faust said. “We need to ask important questions first: Is this the best thing for our community; do we really want to support our local community? Do we want to encourage local businesses and the Homer Chamber of Commerce’s shop local program?”
When it came time to vote, nearly two hours into the meeting, the council voted unanimously against changing the footprint allowed.
City Manager Walt Wrede said this should stamp down future discussions.
Councilmember Beth Wythe explained that not all the details around why this matter was being taken up seemed to be clear to the public.
“There is a side of this story that is not being represented,” said Wythe. “If there is one thing everyone does not universally agree on in Homer, it is this one. (Yet,) there is no demonstrable need to discuss it now. There is one lot that could benefit from this” in Town Center.
But in the Homer Economic Development Commission’s request to clarify this in city code, they were in no way advocating for a change.
“Most on the commission are small business owners, and to say they don’t have a connection to local businesses is unjust and unfair,”Wythe said. “This (topic) came forward only for discussion.”
Councilman Brian Zak, who sponsored the ordinance on the EDC’s behalf, said the idea surfaced at the EDC level and needed to be put to rest or it would come up again. Does the city’s policy allow 66,000 square feet as was decided by a voters’ referendum in 2005? Or is it 75,000 square feet set into code after a court challenge of the public vote by litigant Frank Griswold? The ruling said zoning can’t be decided by public vote. The matter surfaces again when businessman Doug Stark in May went to the EDC and asked for raising the limit to $100,000 square feet.
But the 6-0 vote against possible building footprint increase allowance effectively lays the matter to rest now, Wrede said.
In other council news:
• Kyra Wagner, director of Sustainable Homer, thanked the city council for passing a resolution supporting her application for Homer Farmer’s Market to gain a VISTA volunteer. The volunteer would create a Local Food Network program to increase opportunities and infrastructure. The idea is to forge partnerships between entities like a hospital or school and farmers to produce fresh foods they can then serve.
“There is huge market potential, and it is all local,” Wagner said. The Farmers’ Market awaits word from the UAA Alaska Center for Economic Development on whether Homer is to receive the VISTA.
• Mariner Park or Coal Point Park were approved as sites for an Eagle Lady Jean Keene memorial, the council decided in a resolution. The area on the Homer Spit Trail that includes plans for a public park was a preferred site, but is under state ownership rather than city jurisdiction. An earlier plan to place the Seafarers’ Memorial was nixed as inappropriate. Artist Brad Hughes created a conceptual design for a seating area with an eagle sculpture.
• Rep. Paul Seaton spoke to the council on the vetoed $4.8 million natural gas line that Gov. Sean Parnell chopped to $525,000. Seaton said the money is enough to get started, and he urged the council to consider appropriating $300,000 for a pressure regulation station at Anchor Point to serve both Homer and Anchor Point. The remaining $225,000 could be used for studies needed to launch the project. He also suggested that, once started, other low or zero-interest municipal loans would be available for completing the project as just one funding option.
• The council introduced Ordinance 10-32, a proposal to spend $10,000 from the Sister City Reserve account to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the relationship between Homer and Teshio, Japan.

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Posted by Newsroom on Jun 16th, 2010 and filed under Headline News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.