1. The number of building permits issued went from 52 in 1999 to double that at 108 in 2004.
2. The total value of these permits went from almost $11 million in 1999 to more than $22 million in 2005. Doubling again.
3. The total value of new commercial buildings in 1999 was just over $2 million while it rose to almost $8 million in 2005. Four times the value in six years.
This is the reality of growth in Homer: It is steady, strong, extremely self-sustaining and consistent growth. When it comes to growth and economic health, Homer leads the way on the southern Kenai Peninsula. That Homer is anti-growth is a perception not a reality.
As I reflect on my last five years of involvement with the city of Homer, one observation is that for the six years of such incredible growth, Bill Smith served on the planning commission and was chair for four of these years. After serving on the planning commission and the Town Center Development Committee with Bill, I have learned some important things about citizen Bill Smith that are worth sharing.
Bill is a stickler for detail and he has a memory like a steel trap. He is as familiar with Homer City Planning Codes as an IRS agent is with tax rules. He has helped write planning codes that are tight and has taught other planning commissioners to do so. He believes that a well-written code is a meaningful code.
Bill also is very farsighted. He could see the inevitable years ago and knew the city had better get its codes in readiness for that evolving event called growth. He helped write many of the planning codes because for four years there was a high rate of turnover in the City Planning Department which put great pressure on the planning commission to do additional work. With the planning commission, Bill helped write planning codes that have teeth in them that will help guide the growth of Homer in a way that is orderly, thoughtful, kind to the environment and aesthetically pleasing.
Are these codes perfect? Probably not, but perfect codes don't really exist as codes are always evolving. And most importantly, Bill has helped write codes that hold our feet to fire when it comes to building structures that will help us be good neighbors to each other, be good citizens of the earth, create minimal negative impact and help create a city that we want to be proud of, one that is reflective of the beauty of our natural environment. Such codes will not be held in high favor because they demand that we conform to them ... for the good of the whole.
I am wondering if this is what is perceived as "anti-growth"? Is "anti-growth" a euphemism for having strong planning codes that we have to conform to? Do we really want to have a city planning code that will make Homer look like Wasilla, Spenard or Palmer?
Bill Smith, at the very least, deserves our respect for his citizenship, his courage, his foresightedness, his patience, his leadership, his tireless hours of work, his ability to look at an issue from all angles before making a decision with acuity and thoughtfulness and for his ability to manage the leadership of a quasi-judicial body such as the planning commission for four years.
My dear Homerites, let us take our hats off to a fellow citizen that has left a positive legacy to this community. He may not be appointed by the city council to fill my seat, but please, if you see him on the street or at the post office, tell him "thank you." And when you have to comply with one of the many city planning codes, please remember that it is for the good of the whole community, our Homer community.
If you are not yet convinced that Homer is and always has been pro-growth, then look around. See the changes of the last three years: a new animal shelter, a new ice rink, a new bank, the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center, doubling of bed and breakfast lodgings, the Kenai Peninsula College addition, the building of a new Homer Library, new business buildings, permanent housing for nonprofit agencies, newly faced and remodeled older business buildings, refurbishing of Old Town, remodeling of the Lakeside Mall, a new Save U More building, subdivisions of new homes, a Habitat for Humanity home, the Brookside Apartments, and the list goes on.
We have so much of which to be proud, to have real civic pride in how our community is growing. Please be good stewards of this sweet little hamlet by the sea as it grows and changes and remember the good of the whole.
Rose Beck is a former member of the Homer City Council. She leaves Homer this week to begin new adventures in Montana.
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