The City of Homer is hosting a public hearing with the Planning Commission on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the Doyon, Limited request for a Conditional Use Permit for Light House Village on Homer Spit Road and Bay Avenue. The meeting will take place in Cowles Council Chambers located in Homer City Hall on Pioneer Avenue.
The public hearing notice provided by the City includes a vicinity map for a planned unit development to include a three-story, year-round hotel with 70 guest rooms, dining facilities and a convention space and seven condominiums.
A 113-page document prepared by Doyon, Limited was sent to Homer commissioners and residents in the vicinity of the proposed property development.
It opens with a letter dated Oct. 16 from Aaron Schutt, president and CEO of Doyon, and notes the six most significant changes to the proposal.
These include removal of off-site employee housing to better accommodate a 30-foot vegetative buffer and 20-foot pedestrian easement. The changes note that “we are still committed to ensuring that the housing needs of our employees are met without contributing to any existing housing shortages within the Homer community.”
Second, they have added a 30-vegetation buffer to preserve natural viewsheds, create a transition zone between the development and adjacent areas, and support local wildlife habitats. They have also added a 20-foot pedestrian easement in order to maintain connection to local trails.
Schutt also notes a general reduced size and footprint of the hotel and a reduced number of beds. They are also proposing a reduced number of condo units and repositioning them to “better align with the surrounding landscape and community concerns.”
Finally, Schutt notes the addition of two viewing platforms and an updated pedestrian path design to connect with the other paths.
The remaining pages include the application and questionnaire submitted to the Homer Planning office in November 2023. One component of the application asks, “Are/will public services adequate to serve the proposed uses and structures?” The document notes that “we have contracted with a local land surveyor to perform a coastal topography survey for the Lighthouse Village site.”
The file submitted by Doyon also includes a letter filed to Doyon from the Federal Aviation Administration confirming determination of no hazard to air traffic; images and charts of the site; general hotel layout; external building design; a model of where the buildings are planned to be located in geographic space (“schematic renderings”); an eight-page preliminary stormwater report with appendices; and a draft wildlife assessment and proposed mitigation actions primarily related to birds.
The City of Homer notice states that additional information will be available by 5 p.m. the Friday before the meeting (Oct. 11) and will be posted online to the City of Homer calendar page for Oct. 11.
