April 17, 2025 by Michael Armstrong

Special to The Seward Folly

The Seward City Council meeting held Monday ran for almost two-and-a-half hours as it spent much of its time debating two ordinances that, in the end, it either postponed or voted down.

On one vote on a rezoning of Spring Creek Park and nearby tidelands from industrial to park zoning, the council first voted down the rezoning and then passed a motion not to consider taking action later on a replat and rezoning suggested by City Manager Kat Sorensen.

“That’s sausage making right there,” Mayor Sue McClure said of the convoluted action, a reference to the quote by John Godfrey Saxe that “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.”

Ordinance 2025-005 had been introduced at the council’s last meeting. After landowners had objected to rezoning the tidelands north of Spring Creek Park, Sorensen suggested voting down the ordinance and directing city administration to bring a replat and separate the park from the tidelands and just rezone as Spring Creek Park.

In public testimony, Tom Tougas, a partner in a property near the tidelands north of the park, said he and his partners “do want to work with opportunities to develop this land as industrial and so we really don’t want to see the tidelands separated from the ability to develop this area in the long run.” 

Tougas also said another idea for development would be to build more housing.

Council Member Casie Warner asked what the benefit would be of rezoning the tidelands to park.

City Planner Courtney Bringhurst said in work sessions that the Seward Planning and Zoning Commission intent was to maintain access to the beach from Spring Creek Park. She also said people expressed the desire to have an unobstructed view of the ocean.

Sorensen noted there’s no hindrance to the access currently in place “because that access is mean high tide, which is accessible by all.”

When asked by Warner about the benefits of keeping the tidelands zoned industrial, Sorensen noted what Tougas had said.

“So I think it’s kind of just thinking of keeping the status quo in that area for now while adjacent property owners may decide what they would like to do,” Sorensen said.

On the motion to approve the rezoning of both Spring Creek Park and the tidelands to parks, the council and McClure all voted “no.”

Council Member Randy Wells then made a motion that the administration not bring back just the rezoning of Spring Creek Park and leave the zoning as it stands.

Council Member Robert Barnwell said he liked that idea, but had concerns about maintaining parking and access to the beach at Spring Creek Park. Sorensen said that if, in the future, the city heard from the public that this was an issue, it could react then.

Assistant City Manager Jason Bickling said specific language could be put into the municipal land plan saying the tidelands would be industrial but the city wanted to maintain public use of Spring Creek Park as a campground and maintain access for fishing.

Community Development Director Daniel Meuninck noted that a replat to make just Spring Creek Park zoned park would be an additional survey cost.

On Wells’ motion to keep the zoning as is, the council and mayor all voted “yes.”

In another ordinance to rezone industrial land to parks, the council and mayor all voted to approve rezoning Fourth of July Beach Park to parks.

In the matter of Ordinance 2025-007, the council balked at approving as proposed a plan to loosen restrictions on efficiency apartments. Meuninck outlined the proposed changes to city code:

• Change the wording of efficiency apartment to accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, and allow ADUs to be more than one room as long as they were subordinate in size to the main unit;

• Allow detached or attached ADUs in the two-family (R2), multi-family (R3), urban residential (UR) and auto commercial (AC) zoning districts and in the central business (CB) zoning district with a conditional use permit, 

• Allow attached ADUs but not detached ADUs in the rural residential (RR) and single-family zoning districts (R1), and

• Require any ADU on a portion of a lot that could be subdivided to be connected to utilities when constructed.

The need for detached ADUs came about after people wanting to build efficiency apartments had to either build them as an addition to the main unit or attach them by a breezeway or similar structure. Meuninck said his office felt that was a hindrance to development. He also said that the city building inspector told the planning commission that in earthquake zones like Seward, a building attached with a breezeway can suffer greater damage in a quake. The inspector also said there was nothing in the code to require an ADU be attached.

At the last council meeting, Wells had signaled his intent to strike several provisions in the proposed ordinance: the requirement for ADUs on subdividable land to have separate utilities unless the lots were subdivided and not allowing detached ADUs in rural residential and single-family zoning districts.

On Monday, Wells moved that three whereas clauses be struck from the ordinance: clause 9, requiring ADUs to be attached in single-family zoning districts; clause 13, allowing detached ADUs only in multi-family zoning districts; and clause 14, requiring ADUs on portions of land that could be subdivided to connect to separate utilities when being constructed.

Wells argued that the attached and detached ADUs clauses hindered development. Requiring separate connections also could add an extra and unneeded cost if the developer did not immediately intend to subdivide, he said. 

One citizen who spoke on the ordinance, former mayor David Squires, favored the utility connection requirement, noting that costs could go up if connected later or landscaping might have to be torn up. Wells disagreed with that.

“We cannot block housing development by ‘what ifs,’” he said.

Barnwell raised a concern that loosening the code on efficiency apartments might lead to just more short-term rentals. Sorensen noted that the city rules on short-term rentals would still apply; that is, if you live on the property, an ADU can only be rented as short term if it’s less than 30% of the square footage of the main unit.

City Attorney Sam Severin noted one problem with just removing the three whereas clauses — they would have to be consistent with changes to the ordinance. Sorensen asked if removing the clauses would be guidance to addressing the ordinance and Severin said it would be wise to remove those sections themselves. Wells then said he would be willing to have his motion voted down, and the council and mayor did that unanimously.

Back to the main motion, Wells moved to postpone action on the ordinance to allow for time for the city administration to come back with amendments to make the changes he wanted. That motion also passed unanimously.

Michael Armstrong is a retired Homer News reporter and editor. Reach him at wordfolk@gmail.com.

The Seward Folly publisher Robert Barnwell is a current member of the Seward City Council, but he did not participate in the editing of this story.