March 12, 2026, by Michael Armstrong

Special to The Seward Folly

In what Seward City Council Member Robert Barnwell called “the shortest meeting I’ve been to in the last three and a half years,” the council on Monday night got its business done in under an hour and with almost no controversy. The only real point of contention came when Council Member Casie Warner pulled from the consent agenda the introduction of Ordinance 2026-004, an act to amend marijuana regulations.

Even then, Warner pulled the introduction so she could ask a question about the ordinance of the city attorney. Introduction of that ordinance passed in a 5-0 vote, with Council Members Lori Draper and Julie Crites absent, and it will go up for a public hearing and final action at the council’s next meeting on March 23.

The council also passed Ordinance 2026-003, defining and allowing land uses for mobile health units. It approved  Resolution 2026-024, acknowledging the closeout of the Pink Salmon Fishery Disaster Relief Grant, and Resolution 2026-023, approving up to $260,000 to CRW Engineering Group and Alaska Construction Surveys for electrical easement acquisition services.

Mayor Sue McClure noted the rarity of pulling an ordinance from the consent agenda during discussion of the ordinance. The proposed changes to Seward marijuana regulations came about at the urging of Council Member Mike Calhoon. The changes would restrict the number of marijuana establishments in the city to two, prohibit outdoor consumption of cannabis at a retail store, and prohibit serving customers through a walk-up or drive-through window at a retail store.

Warner asked City Attorney Sam Severin about the reasoning behind a date for a grandfather-rights clause in the proposed ordinance. The prohibitions on onsite consumption and walk-up or drive-through sales would not apply to current marijuana establishments that had conditional use permits before March 1.

Severin explained that under the Seward City Code, a conditional use permit isn’t granted until an appeal is over. On Dec. 2, 2025, the Seward Planning Commission granted a CUP for The Tufted Puffin to allow walk-up or drive-through sales (see Seward Folly story here). On Jan. 5, the council, acting as a Board of Adjustment, denied an appeal of that CUP (see Seward Folly story here). A challenge of a Board of Adjustment decision can be taken to the Superior Court, but it must be filed within 30 days.

Using the March 1 date would allow for any potential court appeals of the Board of Adjustment decision, Severin said.

“March 1 was just a margin of safety to say that that is done and in the rear view mirror at this point,” he said.

The ordinance to define a mobile health unit and allow the vehicles to park temporarily in places like the Safeway parking lot came about at the request of the Seward Community Health Center to operate a motorized van where medical staff could provide routine, non-emergency health screenings and preventive care. That differs from a mobile medical unit, a use allowed in city code, that contains diagnostic or imaging equipment. City staff determined a new definition was needed. The new ordinance defined mobile health units and allowed them to be parked outright for up to 150 consecutive days in the Office Residential, Auto Commercial, Harbor Commercial, Central Business, Industrial, and Institutional zoning districts.

Michael Armstrong is a retired journalist currently volunteering as the editor of the Homer Independent Press. Reach him at wordfolk@gmail.com.

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