Palmer council approves airport lot rezoning; Victoria Hudson resigns

Palmer’s city council approved a controversial rezoning of property parcels adjacent to the city airport from residential to commercial after a lengthy meeting Tuesday night, Jan. 13. The vote was 6-1 vote in favor of the rezoning with the only “no” vote coming from council member Victoria Hudson, who also tendered her resignation at the end of the meeting, citing difficulties in working with other council members and city staff.

The meeting followed an equally long meeting the night before, Monday, Jan. 12, in which the council approved a one-year contract extension for operation of the Palmer golf course.

The rezoning action Tuesday will allow Cruz Construction, a long-time Palmer business, to expand its support facilities. The action prompted criticism, but also some support, in public comments Jan. 13 as well as in a December council meeting where the rezoning was also considered.

One critic raised concerns over loss of property for residential development in the city, saying that the Palmer’s airport already takes up 15 percent to 20 percent of the community and the incremental “chipping away” of available land for housing will result in Palmer being dominated more by commercial businesses than by families.

Also, the rezoning smacked of “spot zoning,” which is discouraged in municipal zoning. Spot zoning where a single interest is favored in a decision outside the outlines of broad local government policy. However, in answering questions from the council, Nathaniel Ouzts, the Palmer’s community development director, said this was not a case of spot zoning, although it may appear that way, because there are adjacent airport tracts that have been rezoned from residential to commercial to support of aviation activity.

Ouzts also pointed out that the city planning commission has applied special limitations on the rezoning to protect nearby residential areas from nuisances from commercial or industrial activity. Still, council members were concerned about the longer-term implications of the rezoning, such as if Cruz, after having purchased the property, could subdivide the property to allow additional development.

Sherry Carrington, a council member, asked whether an action to subdivide would require the property owner to come back to the city for another approval or whether the action could cause the zoning to revert to residential.

Ouzts recommended against this arguing that this would amount to a temporary rezoning, which is generally considered not a good practice because it would erode the confidence of business developers in making long-term investments.

Some Palmer business owners who are not connected to aviation or the airport voiced support for the redesignation of zoning. Sherman Leifer, co-owner of the Palmer Bar, pointed out that Cruz Construction is a major statewide business that has opted to headquarter in Palmer and become a major employer in the city. It is the kind of economic development that Palmer has always encouraged, he said.