Homer’s Planning Commission held a public hearing at their last regular meeting Jan. 2 on the question of adding studios as a permitted use to several additional zoning districts within Homer. The zoning reconsideration was initiated after the commission received a request from local resident Breezy Berryman, who is also the founder of Motivity Dance School in Homer and daughter of the Homer “Nutcracker” Ballet founder Jill Berryman.

In an email to City Planner Ryan Foster, dated Oct. 14, Berryman explained the challenges that she and collaborator Alison Arima have recently faced in finding and establishing a suitable home for their “rigorous” dance training program, the Motivity Dance School and Company. The main issue is that Homer City Code currently includes limited zoning districts that allow the establishment and operation of dance studios: Town Center, East End Mixed Use, Homer’s Gateway District and the Central Business District. Within these districts, further issues arise due to lack of property for sale, high property costs or the location being too far from neighborhoods and schools to allow for easy access and drop-off.

A Jan. 2 memorandum from Foster to the commission also notes that Homer City Code does not currently provide opportunities to apply for conditional use permits for a studio in districts outside of those in which studios are already permitted.

During the Jan. 2 meeting, the commission discussed the merits of amending city code to allow for the operation of studios in the Residential Office District, General Commercial 1 District and General Commercial 2 District.

A studio, according to Foster’s memo, is “a room, rooms or building where an artist or photographer does work, a place where dancing lessons, music lessons, or similar artistic lessons are given, or where radio or television programs are produced or where recordings are made.”

The memo also provided code definitions of the RO, GC1 and GC2 districts, for all of which Foster expressed that a studio would be a “good land use fit.”

During the public hearing, resident Tiana Hopper expressed interest in Motivity Dance “as a school and a potential for artistic collaboration amongst many of our different types of artists in Homer.”

“I just see more and more the need to have more places open up for our young people, for our artist communities, and it would be really nice to see the ability for studios to open in more places just because we do have a growing community, and we have some amazing artists,” she said.

Commissioner Heath Smith also noted that any potential amendments to the zoning code would address studios as defined by code, including dance studios and other types that fall under the definition, as the commission is not seeking to specifically help Berryman but to address a broader community issue that Berryman brought to their attention.

“We’re doing this for the general health and welfare of the community, and (what has) been brought to our attention (is) that there’s a need that needs to be met, and that what is currently in our code is might be overly restrictive as far as meeting the needs of the community,” he said. “So as much as I like Breezy, this isn’t necessarily in response to her needs, as much as recognizing the needs of the community and moving in a direction that will open that up for the betterment of our economy and of its residents.”

While the commission held general consensus that studios would be a good land use in either of the GC districts, there was some debate over allowing studios in the Residential Office district.

The RO district was defined by Foster as a “transition zone” between residential and commercial, and is “primarily intended for a mixture of low-density to medium-density residential uses and certain specified businesses and offices, which may include professional services, administrative services and personal services, but generally not including direct retail or wholesale transactions except for sales that are incidental to the provision of authorized services.”

Smith expressed some concern about potential noise or traffic impact by allowing studios to operate within the RO district. Foster replied that ultimately the amendments as proposed would be “for overall anybody further down the road … to have the right uses permitted in the right zoning districts and (ensure) does it make sense? Is it a good fit, or perhaps not.”

In the Jan. 2 memo, Foster also wrote that studios in the RO district “should not have a negative impact, especially as compared to other uses permitted in the district,” which include professional offices and general business offices, personal services, mortuaries, or museums, libraries and similar institutions.

“A studio is not a direct retail activity and would have low traffic generation and would fit in with a similar size and density as other RO uses,” he wrote. “A studio is a reasonable type of business to be expected in a mixed-use district.”

Chair Scott Smith also pointed out that “religious, cultural and fraternal assemblies” are also permitted uses of the RO district — which, he said, includes churches.

“Churches produce a lot of music, a lot of noise, and I can’t see a dance studio producing much different volumes of music than what a church would,” he said.

Commissioner Charles Barnwell introduced the motion to recommend approval of the amended text, laid out by Foster in the memo, to the Homer City Council, allowing studios as a permitted use in the GC1, GC2 and RO districts.

The motion passed in a 4-1 vote. Commission Chair Scott Smith and commissioners Barnwell, Franco Venuti and Mike Stark voted to recommend zoning amendments. Commissioner Heath Smith voted against. Commissioners Brad Conley and David Schneider were absent from the meeting.

The Planning Commission does not hold the authority to amend the zoning code on their own. That authority lies with the Homer City Council, in front of whom the commission’s recommendation will appear at a later date.

Find the full meeting recording and read the memo, included in the agenda packet, in full at www.cityofhomer-ak.gov/hapc/planning-commission-regular-meeting-184.