Thank you for supporting Homer Animal Friends

Homer Animal Friends has been around since the 1980s. Our goal has always been to make things better for the dogs and cats (and their people) in our community. We are 100% volunteer, and we are funded through donations from people in Homer, or by folks who are connected to people here. We would not be in existence without your continued support.

Today I am excited to issue a giant thank you to 100 Men Who Care for choosing HAF this quarter, and to Dave Lyon for caring enough to make it happen! It makes a huge difference. Your donation gives us the opportunity to offer additional spay/neuter or vaccination clinics, plus we can continue to provide $100 coupons to those who need a bit of help with the cost of spay/neuter. We will also be able to continue to help the Homer Animal Shelter.

Since HAF’s inception, we’ve fundraised and paid close to $900,000 for the spay/neuter of 11,715 of our community’s dogs and cats. We also played an important role in getting the Homer Animal Shelter built. We continue to work to make things better for the animals in the Shelter’s care, and to assist the people who take care of them. In the last few years, we have also been donating dog and cat food to our Food Pantry. In 2024, we donated over a ton of it!

If you need help with the cost of spay/neuter, please stop in at the HAF Store, located next to Kachemak Bay Animal Hospital and Panama Reds, in order to fill out an application for assistance.

Thank you to 100 Men Who Care and to Dave Lyon for helping to keep us going.

Pat Moss

Secretary, Homer Animal Friends

City should approve Doyon lot rezone

I encourage the Homer City Council to approve the rezone of the lot at 1491 Bay Avenue from Rural Residential to General Commercial 1 and to approve the adjacent right of way vacation because together they will provide a legal pedestrian trail from Bay Avenue to the viewing platform on Doyon’s property and from there public pedestrian access along the hotel sidewalks to the Homer Spit Road and Spit Trail.

Ordinance 25-01 is set for public hearing and second reading for a vote at the Jan. 27 city council meeting.

I have walked the illegal trespass trail from the B Street right of way to the Spit Trail for more than a decade, until the path was blocked by a chain at the property line. Creating a legal connection to allow walking from the end of the Spit to downtown Homer without having to walk along most of vehicle-congested Ocean Drive is a wonderful opportunity.

This parcel can be cleared and built upon under its existing Rural Residential zoning designation. If the city council approves its rezone to General Commercial 1 (and the ROW vacation), Doyon will dedicate a 20-foot wide pedestrian trail easement to the City of Homer, construct an ADA- accessible pedestrian trail, and leave a 30-foot wide vegetative buffer along the western property line of this parcel.

The Homer Planning Commission approved the revised Conditional Use Permit for Doyon’s Planned Unit Development for a hotel and condominiums at its Nov. 6 meeting (Six Yes, Zero No, and one excused absence). The public generally accepted Doyon’s scaled down design from the one that was so strenuously opposed the year before. (The Homer Planning Commission denied the original CUP application; Doyon appealed and was allowed to submit a revised proposal.) You can view the public comments under public hearings in the minutes from the Oct. 16 Homer Planning Commission meeting. Two of the conditions in the approved CUP are that this property at 1491 Bay Avenue must be rezoned from Rural Residential to General Commercial 1 and that the B Street right of way south of Bay Avenue must be vacated. These conditions must be approved by the city council in order for the approved CUP to stand.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission approved the ROW vacation at its Jan. 13 meeting (6 yes, 0 no, 1 recused and 1 absent) with a condition among others that Doyon grant a 20-foot wide pedestrian easement from Bay Avenue to a wildlife viewing platform on its property. This ROW vacation approval is subject to City of Homer veto or approval.

If the ROW vacation and lot rezone are approved by the Homer City Council, the KPB Planning Commission is scheduled to consider, on Feb. 10, a replat of these three parcels into a different configuration. This replat will include the dedicated pedestrian trail easement. Many people were opposed to the ROW vacation because the promised pedestrian trail was not on a plat. It is depicted on Doyon’s architectural drawings. No lot in the reconfigured property can straddle zoning districts so this lot must be rezoned before the new plat is considered. The KPB planning commissioners stated that the trail easement would be dedicated and visible on this replat.

Please support development of a strategic pedestrian trail connector between the Homer Spit and downtown Homer. Please support Ordinance 25-01 to rezone this parcel from RR to GC1.

Mary Griswold

Homer

Thank you for supporting student ambassador delegation

I am writing to express our heartfelt gratitude to the incredible community members and organizations who have supported our student ambassador delegation project for this 40-year anniversary with our sister city, Teshio, Hokkaido, in Japan.

We extend most deep thanks to The United Women of Faith, the Methodist Church and Episcopal Church and the Kachemak Bay Rotary Club for hosting our delegation team’s presentations and donations. Your kindness is the cornerstone of our community’s unity and strength.

Our sincere appreciation also goes out to Petro Express for their community-mindedness in supporting the development of Homer’s leaders and relationships of the future. Your commitment to service and fellowship has significantly enriched our efforts and bolstered our activities.

We are immensely grateful to the Homer Foundation, the Homer Public Library, our Sister City, Teshio, the Consular Office of Japan in Anchorage, Tomodachi Daiko in Anchorage for their many forms of support in our mission to cultivate greatness in our youth while tapping reservoirs of innovation and friendship for Homer.

Lastly, we would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Emilie Springer for her exceptional coverage and advocacy for our Alaska Japanese Club Homer. Her dedication to sharing our story with the broader community is truly invaluable.

To all our volunteers, we cannot thank you enough for your time, dedication and hard work. Your contributions have been instrumental in making this project a success. Your selfless efforts inspire and strengthen the bonds within our community.

Together, you have all played an integral role in fostering cultural understanding, unity, and celebration within our community and internationally as well. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for your unwavering support and partnership.

Megumi Beams

Alaska Japanese Club director

Alaska Japanese Club meets 30% of fundraising goals

We are thrilled to announce that our fundraising goals are 30% achieved. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far, and we look forward to your continued support as we work towards our goal.

Steve Odoi

Homer