The Homer City Council has postponed their decisions on two actions related to Doyon, Limited’s proposed Lighthouse Village development until their next meeting on Feb. 10.

Ordinance 25-01, which would authorize Doyon’s rezone request from rural residential to General Commercial 1 at 1491 Bay Avenue, and Memorandum CC-25-028 to vacate the B Street right of way were brought before the council at their last meeting on Jan. 27. A public hearing was held for Ordinance 25-01; the council also received several public comments from the community at the beginning of the meeting.

The Homer Planning Commission previously reviewed Doyon’s request to vacate the B Street right of way, and in a 5-2 vote recommended the city council deny the vacation. This action took place during the on Jan. 3, 2024, special meeting, prior to the commission’s denial of Doyon’s original conditional use permit application and Doyon’s subsequent application and site plan revisions.

On Jan. 13, 2025, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission approved the B Street ROW vacation; the council has 30 days from that decision to veto or accept the borough planning commission’s decision.

Memorandum CC-25-028 recommends that the council “voice non-objection” and consent to vacate a portion of the B Street ROW and associated utility easements lying south of Bay Avenue.

Over a dozen community members, both in attendance in the Homer City Hall Cowles Council Chambers and over Zoom, provided their perspectives on how the council should proceed with the right of way vacation. Testimony was mixed, with some saying that the city should not vacate the right of way, others speaking in favor, and still others expressing conditional support of the vacation.

The B Street right of way is currently and has historically been used as a pedestrian path to the wetlands at the base of the Homer Spit — also a prime bird-viewing area. Doyon’s revised site plan includes a 20-foot pedestrian easement, bordered by a 30-foot vegetative buffer between their property and the adjacent neighborhood, with connection to Bay Avenue and access to Mariner Lagoon. Several people speaking on the right of way vacation said that they’d like to see the easement and public access be made permanent and binding.

“I want to see something (in) perpetuity,” city resident Robert Archibald, who also sits on the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, said. “B Street has been a pedestrian right of way forever, since they put the road in. I don’t want to see something that is going to be owned by the new owner and could change down the road. That should be in the plat and legally binding.”

Zach Dunlap, operations director for Doyon, attended the meeting. He said that the current pedestrian trail on the right of way was “pretty rough” and not necessarily accessible to all community members.

“Our intent isn’t to block any kind of access to any of our development for the public. Our plan is to fund and develop, on our dime, an ADA-compliant trail,” he said. “And there’s a piece of the right of way that will be in perpetuity — this was hashed out during the Borough Planning Commission meeting.”

Homer Planning Commission member Mike Stark said that part of the consideration for ROW vacations is receiving something of “fair and equitable value” in return, and that Doyon’s revised site plan addresses this with their proposed pathway and viewing platforms.

Nine community members stood up again during the public hearing on Ordinance 25-01. Several urged the council to wait to decide whether to approve the rezone until the matter of the ROW vacation had been settled.

Homer’s Planning Commission at their Jan. 3, 2024, meeting recommended that the council approve rezoning 1491 Bay Avenue to GC1.

“I would like to see this stay rural residential,” said resident Tammy Shrader. “We’ve got a long-established neighborhood that I believe deserves more protection than just a 50-foot buffer. Fifty feet isn’t very much between your housing development and a large-scale development.”

Some concern was raised during council discussion that the rezoning of 1491 Bay Avenue was considered “spot zoning,” which generally occurs when a specific parcel within a larger zoned area is rezoned in a way that is at odds with a city’s master plan and/or current zoning restrictions.

City attorney Michael Gatti said that he did not believe Doyon’s rezone request was a spot zoning situation.

City planner Ryan Foster agreed, giving an example of what actual spot zoning might look like.

“Basically what we have is a rural residential district next to a General Commercial 1 district, and the ask here is to take one parcel that’s on the (RR) side and bring it over to the GC1, so it would be contiguous,” he said. “If you asked for that (lot) to be marine industrial, and there’s no other marine industrial (lots) … nearby, that would be spot zoning.”

Foster also reiterated that the rezone is necessary to allow Doyon’s proposed use of the parcel, to build a hotel complex, which does not align with uses allowed in the rural residential district.

The council postponed their decisions on both the rezone request and the ROW vacation to afford themselves more time to consider all the relevant information and public comments and to receive answers to several questions that were raised during the meeting.

Find the full recording of the Jan. 27 meeting and related materials at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/citycouncil/city-council-regular-meeting-326.