Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

The Haines Borough Planning Commission recommended the assembly approve employee housing as a conditional use in industrial and commercial zones.

The commission first considered employee housing in June after hearing a petition to rezone the Jones Point area from heavy industrial to rural mixed use. One of the reasons the petitioners, Takshanuk Watershed Council and Sean Gaffney of Professional Property Management, wanted the rezone was to create employee housing for seasonal workers. Employee housing is not allowed in industrial zones.

At its Aug. 9 meeting, the planning commission unanimously voted on the ordinance, which had come to the group for a fourth hearing. The commission also approved the portage cove harbor sport ramp and parking lot 65 percent design and the biomass boiler 65 percent design to be considered by the assembly.