Borough Postpones Rezoning Land in Larsen Bay

Mitch Borden/KMXT

The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly postponed a rezone of two parcels of land in Larsen Bay at its regular meeting Thursday night. These requests deal with two different hunting lodges operating on land designated for residential housing. Both lodges are applying to be rezoned to comply with borough code.

Their public hearings opened for comments last night. Bill Nelson made the trip from Larsen Bay to represent its city council.

“We would like to see if we could stop all the rezoning for the lodges in Larsen Bay till we can get some more information. We would like to see if the Borough Assembly could come out to Larsen Bay and revisit our comprehensive plan.”

Nelson was not alone in opposing the rezoning. A group of concerned Larsen Bay citizens came together to call the assembly. As the phone passed from person to person you could hear the squawks of a young child as residents outlined why they thought the rezoning shouldn’t take place.

Most of the assembly agreed that more time and consideration was needed. Assemblyman Matthew Van Daele said the assembly should listen to the community’s concerns, especially since it’s so hard for the borough to communicate with villages.

“The request from Larsen Bay, I think it’s absolutely reasonable to try and put the brakes on this until you can start trying to determine what’s best for your own community. I think it’s important for our village communities to have much, much, much, more of a say and a determination of what happens in their own community because it so hard to effectively represent them.”

The assembly decided to table the requests until May of 2018. Until the borough makes a decision, the lodges will be allowed to run normally.

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