A Sterling developer will be allowed to turn a piece of property near Mackey Lake Road in Soldotna into a storage site. That’s following the Soldotna City Council’s vote to uphold the developer’s conditional use permit, which was approved by the city’s planning and zoning commission. The city council vote came amid a petition opposing the permit from the development’s neighboring property owners.
Savaty Reutov applied for a conditional use permit for the property in April. His short-term vision is to turn the property into a storage yard for boats and trailers. His long-term vision is to use the land for multi-family residences.
“The reason why I want to do a conditional use permit for storage and just have a gravel pad for now is just not to have that investment not get me any returns. You know, right now it’s an expensive piece of property. I purchased it. I’d prefer to do something on it so it generates a little bit of cash flow and pays for itself while I’m ready to develop it.”
The property covers just over 7 acres off Cahill Lane in Soldotna. It’s already zoned for commercial use, but Soldotna requires a special use permit specifically for commercial properties that will be turned into storage sites.
The property is partially bordered by a residential area. After Reutov submitted his permit application, residents from neighboring properties were quick to voice their concerns. To access the property Reutov wants to develop, vehicles would have to travel the length of Cahill Lane. Lori Conner lives on Cahill, and says the road is already too narrow to accommodate regular traffic.
“We are right in the center of Cahill Lane. We are the only ones that have a big circular driveway and I know what’s going to happen. As soon as two things meet going this way, we have the potential to just have people coming right up through our house just to avoid each other all the time.”
The quality and capacity of Cahill Lane was debated at length by planning and zoning commissioners as they considered Reutov’s application .
John Czarnezki was Soldotna’s planning director until Wednesday. He told planning and zoning commissioners in June that the city inherited Cahill Lane. That means it wasn’t built to the city’s current road standards. Soldotna grades and plows the road in winter, but it’s not one the city formally maintains. It was rated poor in a 2016 Soldotna streets plan.
If traffic on the street goes up significantly, Czarnezki said the road would need to be brought up to city standards. What wasn’t clear was who should be on the hook for those improvements.
“For me, it's a chicken and egg thing as far as the road goes. It's unfortunate at this point that it's not brought up to city standards and at some point, the question is, yeah, do we improve it first and wait for development to follow? Or do we involve the developer as part of the mix when it comes to improving that facility. And, what is that appropriate mix?”
Reutov told the city if he became responsible for road improvements, the associated cost would prohibit him from developing the property at all. Reutov and residents said they’d prefer the property’s access point to be along the Sterling Highway. But Czarnezki said the state is reluctant to permit a new split from the highway when existing roads could be used instead.
Ultimately, the planning and zoning commissioners approved Reutov’s application. They decided Reutov won’t have to upgrade the road until he redevelops the property from a storage site to residences. They also tweaked the permit to require a vegetation buffer that surrounds the developed storage lot, rather than around the property’s boundaries.
Nick Conner, who lives on Cahill Lane, formally appealed the commission’s decision. In his appeal, he reiterated residents’ argument that Cahill is too narrow to accommodate commercial traffic.
During their regular meeting last week, the Soldotna City Council convened as the Board of Adjustment to hear the appeal.
Amber Hilleary lives near the property Reutov wants to develop.
“We just are worried about the safety in our neighborhood and community. And we feel like until all the information is gathered and everybody has been talked to that needs to be talked to for due diligence should be done before moving forward. And we understand the frustrations with delaying his business, but his potential revenue for one individual should not supersede the safety of an entire area.”
As part of the board of adjustment proceedings, council members also heard a presentation from Czarnezki, explaining why commissioners approved the permit. He said commissioners considered other access points and decided traffic associated with a storage yard would be less than traffic associated with other types of permissible development.
“It would have been easy for the commission to require that Mr. Reutov improve Cahill Lane as a condition of the permit, thereby effectively denying the permit without saying so. Instead of the easy path, the Commission engaged the more difficult question: If not this use, what? It essentially concluded that until Cahill Lane is upgraded, this development, subject to restrictions that the condition use process enables the city to impose, is preferable to the by-right commercial development alternatives.”
After private deliberations, the council voted 5-1 to uphold Reutov’s permit. Council member Dave Carey was the lone dissenter.
“I think the road is insufficient for emergency services vehicles. And I don't think that the Planning and Zoning Commission provided enough evidence that they had duly researched that issue. And therefore, I believe the appeal should be granted because of lack of information from the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
Council member Jordan Chilson said he changed his mind while listening to both sides present.
“I came to the conclusion that regardless of my feelings on this, I believe the standards are still met that traffic can get through there, even if it might be considered one way and certain circumstances still can't flow even if we don't necessarily like that. So I begrudgingly am voting no to deny this appeal. However, I would like to see that road improved.”
Reutov told commissioners he thinks it will be between three and five years before he redevelops the property into residential housing.
