CBJ Assembly Meetings

Amy Mead is the new city attorney for the city and borough of Juneau. She was appointed to the job late Friday by the CBJ assembly. Since 2010, Mead has been the assistant city attorney.

She takes over for John Hartle who retired last week after 20 years in the CBJ law department.

“His institutional knowledge of the city and borough of Juneau is enormous. I learned a lot from him while I was here,” Mead says.

Mead was selected from a pool of four finalists. Her appointment came after the assembly interviewed each candidate on Friday.

“The assembly had a lot of really qualified candidates in front of it. I’m really honored that the assembly was confident in my ability and is supporting me in this way,” she says.

Originally from Boston, Mead got her undergraduate degree from Boston University, and her law degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans.

Prior to joining CBJ’s law department, Mead was in private practice and was an assistant attorney general and assistant district attorney for the state. Mead was also city and borough attorney for Wrangell.

“My time there solidified my desire to return to public sector work and really made it clear for me how much I do enjoy municipal practice. I really like it. I’m just so excited about this appointment,” says Mead.

Mead begins her new position as city attorney Monday. She’ll receive a salary of $130,000, plus standard benefits.

Jane Sebens will continue as CBJ’s deputy city attorney.

Owners of the Honsinger Pond property want to change the designation to Industrial, General Commercial, and Resource Development. View Honsinger Pond in a larger map.

The CBJ assembly will hear an appeal of a Planning Commission decision to not amend the Comprehensive Plan Map. The appeal was filed by Bicknell, Inc., owners of the 83-acre Honsinger Pond property near the Juneau Airport.

The former gravel extraction site is now a popular spot for water fowl. The property is surrounded by Egan Drive to the north and south, and the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge on the south and west

The site is currently designated as Resource Development in the 2008 Comprehensive Plan. Bicknell, Inc. requested an amendment to the Plan by changing the current designation to a mix of Industrial, General Commercial, and Resource Development.

The Planning Commission denied the request by Bicknell, Inc. at a hearing in April and issued a Notice of Decision in May. The appeal asks for the Planning Commission decision to be reversed and the amendment to the Plan approved.

At last night’s regular meeting, the assembly voted to accept and hear the appeal. Assembly member Mary Becker will serve as presiding officer.

 

The Juneau Planning Commission has approved a new boat launch and parking facility at Statter Harbor.

Only one commissioner voted against the project Tuesday night; just the reverse of the May 14 meeting, when all but one member voted to deny a conditional use permit for the city facility.

The commission reconsidered that action and directed CBJ Docks and Harbors to work with the Statter Harbor neighborhood to fix some of the problems with the project. Even neighboring Auke Bay Towers condominium owners said the plan had significantly improved.

The commission placed six conditions on the permit, ranging from lighting to vegetation and green space to construction hours. While city code allows construction activities to take place until 10 p.m., crews will generally have to stop their work by 8 p.m.

A major question still looms: The impact on property value and harmony with the neighborhood.

Dan Bruce is attorney for the Auke Bay Towers Homeowners Association.

“It has been an interesting juxtaposition here that somehow the burden of establishing the impact has shifted from the applicant in this case to the residents in the neighborhood.”

The area has been zoned waterfront commercial for years, and homeowners said they knew that when they purchased their condo.

Property values, said CBJ Port Engineer Gary Gillette, are subjective. He rejected the homeowners’ comparison to other waterfront condos that are in areas zone residential and protected from commercial development.

Several condos will lose their water or wetlands view; instead, they’ll see a parking lot. But at the end of the three-hour public hearing, planning commissioners said a new and improved Statter Harbor will be an asset not only for the boating community, but the entire neighborhood.

Commissioner Dan Miller put it this way:

“I don’t believe that their property values are going to go down. I believe that their property values are not going to go up as much as everybody else that lives there.”

Nicole Grewe was the only commissioner to vote against the conditional use permit. She said she supports the boat launch ramp, but not the parking plan.

“And I definitely don’t think this is the highest best use of upland property. I think it’s the highest best use for the boating community but not the community as a whole.”

She called phase two of the Statter Harbor Master Plan “a parking lot with an elegant vegetation plan in selected areas.”

Port engineer Gillette was adamant that all 184 parking spaces for vehicles and boat trailers were needed. Grewe and Commissioner Nathan Bishop tried to amend the plan for more green space by taking away up to four parking spaces. The other commissioners agreed even four were too many to lose.

Planning for the three phases of Statter Harbor improvements began in 2005. The four and a half year Environmental Impact Study began in 2008 with about a dozen alternatives narrowed to the current project through a public process.

Some Auke Bay users who testified last night said congestion in the area, especially in the summer, borders on the dangerous. Most said the project couldn’t start fast enough.

Related Stories:

Statter Harbor phase two in limbo

Debate over Statter boat launch, parking lot slow construction

City attorney John Hartle received a standing ovation in assembly chambers last night for his 20 years of service to the city of Juneau. CBJ assembly presented Hartle an Award of Appreciation.

Mayor Merrill Sanford recounted Hartle’s early career, “John worked for the Alaska State Legislature as a legislative aide to Senator Vic Fischer and Representative Brian Rogers in 1979 and 1984. He also was chief of staff to Representative John Sund from 1985-1988, so he has particular skill sets on handling the legislative people on the hill, for sure.”

Before starting his 20-year career in the law department for CBJ, Hartle also worked for the Civil Liberties Union in Boston, served as a legal intern to Alaska Supreme Court Justice Warren Matthews, and law clerked for Superior Court Judge Larry Weeks in Juneau.

Assembly member Jesse Kiehl gave a heartfelt thanks to Hartle for his many years of hard work.

“The best lawyers are good thinkers in addition to good writers and every time I have crossed paths with John Hartle doing work for Juneau, he just is a remarkable thinker and it has paid dividends for our community so I can’t say enough to thank him for those years,” Kiehl said.

Hartle has held his current position of city attorney for ten years and this is his final week on the job.

CBJ is in the process of hiring Hartle’s replacement. The full assembly will interview four candidates. Karen Jennings is the administrative hearing officer for the Mat-Su Borough, Debra O’Gara is an Alaska Court System mediator and Planning and Development Director for SEARHC, Amy Mead is CBJ’s assistant city attorney, and Jane Sebens is CBJ’s deputy attorney.

One-hour interviews will be conducted with each candidate this Friday starting at 8:30 am.

Until the vacancy is filled with a permanent city attorney, the assembly appointed deputy city attorney Sebens to serve as acting city attorney.

In other assembly news, the body heard from JDHS ninth grader Sarah Mertz, a swimmer with Glacier Swim Club. Mertz spoke about the future early closures on Mondays at Dimond pool, a decision she heard was made due to budget cuts by the assembly.

“We were told that Dimond Park Aquatic Center on Mondays would not affect kids when it would be closing early and I want to say that’s not true. Closing the facility on Mondays will cut down every swimmers’ opportunity to take part in a sport they love,” Mertz said.

Mertz said the early Monday closure would cut practice time for swimmers impacting the performance of over 500 kids in Glacier Swim Club. During the school year, the pool at Dimond Park Aquatic Center is normally open Monday through Friday from 6 am to 8 pm, with additional weekend hours.

The Club also sent a letter to the assembly with signatures from around 60 students in grades K through 12. Several members of the club wearing GSC t-shirts were present during the assembly meeting.

According to city and borough manager Kimberley Kiefer, the parks and rec director will be negotiating with the Glacier Swim Club and the aquatics director on changes to the pool schedule. Kiefer says the pool would actually only be impacted by 2.5 hours on Monday.

Regarding the in-school swim program, Kiefer says the school district can adjust the morning hours, but not the afternoon hours. There are also plans, she says, to use Augustus Brown Pool to make up some lost swim time.

Currently, the Dimond pool has modified summer hours.

 

June 24, 2013
Agenda

The Juneau Assembly has appointed a tourism specialist and commercial fishing advocate to the CBJ Docks and Harbors Board.

Bob Janes, owner of Gastineau Guiding, and Mike Peterson will each serve a three-year-term beginning in July.  They replace outgoing member Eric Kueffner – who could not be re-appointed due to term limits.  Outgoing member Mike Williams decided not to seek another term.

Assembly member Jesse Kiehl chaired the Human Resource Committee of the Whole, comprised of all nine Assembly members.  They reappointed Greg Busch to the board.  Busch is currently Docks and Harbors vice chairman.

“We felt that the folks we ended up appointing are going to make for a more diverse Docks and Harbors Board than we’ve had in the past, and an even stronger one,” Kiehl says.

 

The Statter Harbor master plan was a recurring issue during the Docks and Harbors interviews, he says.

The Planning Commission recently turned down a conditional use permit for the second phase of the harbor, including a new launch ramp and parking area.  An Auke Bay neighborhood group opposes some of the proposed changes. The commission will reconsider its vote on Tuesday.

Kiehl says the Assembly did not give the Docks and Harbors Board direction about the harbor, “but I think it’s fair to say we were looking for folks that have a very balanced approach and who put a lot of value on reaching out.  So we remain hopeful that the Docks & Harbors Board and the Planning Commission will find the balance that works for everyone.”

The issue may be one that drew a number of people to apply for the seats.

Kiehl says there does seem to be more citizen interest in certain CBJ boards lately.  The city had 23 applicants for nine seats on the three enterprise boards of Docks and Harbors, Eaglecrest, and the Airport — so many that interviews for the ski area and airport board will be held next month.