20 years ago

Debating economic impacts and the rationale behind a 35,000-square-foot size cap for stores, the city council and Advisory Planning Commission came one step closer to the pending approval of large wholesale and retail development standards for Homer. “I think we’ll look at this era as the planning commission that goes down in history as the commission that molded the change people have been looking for for a long time,” said Mayor Jack Cushing during the joint work session Tuesday evening at city hall. The council will get a final version of the revised city code from the commission by the end of the month after two public hearings, the first of which was Wednesday evening. The council will then hold its own public testimony. It is set to approve the new standards by April.

— From the issue of Feb. 19, 2004

30 years ago

Homer could have a new $10.7 million elementary school by August 1996 is voters approve a bond issue for a third of the bill next fall. The bond vote isn’t a sure thing yet, but Kenai Peninsula School District officials are doing the groundwork before launching an effort to get voters behind the project. At a meeting of the school board Feb. 7, the board recommended that a school design contract be given to Kenai-based Kluge & Associates, turning down a recommendation by associate superintendent John Dahlgren that an Anchorage company, Cash Barner Usher, Architects, be chosen.

— From the issue of Feb. 17, 1994