The Juneau Assembly has adopted a new land use ordinance which keeps development restrictions in avalanche zones that are located in the downtown area, as well as easing restrictions for areas of landslide.
It was approved unanimously at Monday’s meeting following a public hearing that mostly favored of the change in policy.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”This isn’t an ideal text in any manner, form or form.” mayor Beth Wheldon before the vote. “But this is the most effective document we could possibly make.”
For areas with avalanche hazards, limitations on development will remain roughly the same as ones that were in the previous hazardous ordinance, which was in effect from 1987. But there’s a significant change: the landslide regulations will be removed from Juneau’s Land Use Code.
Many of the people who attended the meeting which included Juneau condominium the owner Mary Ellen Duffy, praised this changes.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Not taking a decision to adopt the new landslide maps as well as the land slide ordinances could cause massive economic consequences for many of your neighbors Juneauites,” Duffy said.
The restrictions until recently were similar to those for the landslide and avalanche zones. This is because the land use code was based upon low-resolution maps of hazards that were developed in the 1970s that put the two hazards in one.
In 2020, however, the city was able to commission updated maps created by more precise scientiststhrough a grant of $205,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These maps doubled the amount of Juneau properties that have the designation of severe or high risk.
While the avalanche areas did not change The new mapping put certain neighborhoods within zones of landslides for the very first time. They also increased their hazards to extreme. This sparked widespread opposition from homeowners who expressed concerns about their ability obtain mortgages or insurance policies.
The new ordinance stipulates that property owners be informed that the municipality is aware of the risk of avalanche. Even though the updated maps for landslides weren’t approved however, the Assembly preferred to keep them accessible on the city’s website.
A lot of people including downtown resident Shawn Eisele, opposed those measures too, citing that any information regarding the risks could affect their potential to sell their home in the near future.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”We do not want to see an instance in which the Assembly hasn’t ratified zones, yet the city has been sending postcards to residents each year, warning them of the risk zone they’re currently in,” Eisele said. “How does their mortgage broker determine that ?”
However, certain Assembly members, like Christine Woll — who believes that the maps are the most accurate information available about the dangers — moved back. Woll claimed that her first house in Juneau was located in an area of landslides, but she wasn’t aware of that when she first moved in.
It’s a style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”Shortly after I moved out of the home, five trees fell into the home,” Woll said. “I as a person who grew up in the area would have liked to know that the city had details about how dangerous it is to reside there. .”
In the moments before the vote member Alicia Hughes-Skandijis spoke about the recent landslide of November in Wrangell which resulted in five deaths and one missing, as well as the landslide of 2020 in Haines which claimed the lives of two.
The span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”I Naturally as with all of you, I wish that this does not happen in Juneau. However, as climate change progresses and the weather gets more humid and warmer, that could be a serious risk,” Hughes-Skandijs said. “As we’ve been through this procedure, we’ve not communicated with this piece with enough .”
Juneau has a record of destructive and deadly land slides, including three that were triggered by Mt. Roberts in the early part into the second decade of 20th century. A huge 1936 landslide at South Franklin St. killed 15 people.
The new law states that construction in severe or moderate areas of avalanche will be restricted to single-family houses. The construction of apartment buildings as well as the addition of mother-in-law units will be banned however property owners may request exceptions.
The Assembly will be discussing the hazard notification system at future sessions. The landslide maps that are not adopted are still available on the site however, with a disclaimer stating that they shouldn’t be used to assess the risk of landslides on particular property.
the city’s Attorney Robert Palmer, who helped to write the new ordinance, told reporters that it’s not a guarantee banks will not be able to ignore landslide risks due to the fact that the city opted not to implement the maps.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”It’s like an egg and a chicken concept. Did the danger of landslides first appear? Or, did the maps arrive first?” Palmer said.
Even even if the city decides not to regulate landslides, he added the assessors, lenders, lending institutions and insurance companies can make their own choices.
