Every spring, citizen scientists with the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Monitoring Project perch along the tidal wetlands of Homer Spit with binoculars and scopes to count migrating birds. Resident George Matz said after 15 years, their data is nationally recognized for its consistency. When a viewing platform that served as one of their monitoring locations, known as Lighthouse Village, quietly disappeared late last year, Matz was concerned.
It turned out Doyon, Limited, a regional Alaska Native corporation based in Fairbanks, purchased the land in the spring of 2023. Now, the corporation’s plans for a new 85-room hotel and condo complex on the waterfront property are stirring public debate.
The public raises environmental concerns
In a public letter in support of the project, Doyon, Limited president and CEO Aaron Schutt wrote that the corporation’s other tourism ventures in Alaska have “contributed to the state’s economic growth and has also played a pivotal role in promoting sustainable tourism practices.” But at public meetings in Homer, community members have raised a slew of concerns about the environmental impacts, the size and height of the proposed buildings, the increased traffic, and how the scale of this project could shape future development.
The project will stretch over three plots of land, totaling nearly 6 acres. One of the parcels is currently undeveloped and not zoned for commercial use, so the corporation is requesting to rezone it; Doyon’s design proposal also requires a city-owned right-of-way between the lots to be vacated. The public right-of-way currently serves as both an important drainage and public access to the shore of the wetlands below the future hotel.
The proposed complex will have a three-story hotel with a restaurant and rooftop bar, housing for seasonal employees and five triplex condos. The buildings total over 75,000 square feet, and the hotel will be up to 65 feet tall — well over the standard metrics set forth in city zoning restrictions for other commercial developments. But Jan Keiser, who was Homer’s city engineer until the end of 2023, and served in a consulting role to the planning commission as the public works director, says city code for this type of project isn’t black and white.
“You really have a big box of gray crayons,” Keiser said.
For many in Homer, it feels more clear cut. The first time the project came up at a planning meeting in December, the meeting ended past midnight, with many still waiting to offer comments. Before a special session on Jan. 3, more than 200 people signed a letter written by local resident Penelope Haas, laying out community concerns over the project. In addition to city code, Haas points to Homer’s comprehensive plan — a set of guiding principles for how community values like protecting wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation coexist with new development. The project’s location raises many concerns, Haas says.
“It’s right at the base of the Spit, and the Spit touches almost everybody’s lives,” she said.
The city examines traffic and safety issues
Residents are also worried about how the hotel will impact what is already a busy stretch of road, and the only access point to the businesses and harbor at the end of the Spit. The city commissioned consulting firm Kinney Engineering to conduct an analysis of the development’s additional traffic.
At the Jan. 3 meeting, Randy Kinney highlighted several places that increased traffic would essentially make it impossible for pedestrians to cross safely, offering suggestions like adding flashing yellow lights at crosswalks. The firm conducted their survey last September, not during summertime use, though they used numbers from a continuous traffic counter heading onto the Spit to model peak traffic — a process some residents felt needs more review. Nevertheless, the report didn’t find the need for any major traffic mitigation based on city standards.
The land itself has also raised questions. Doyon removed a United States Fish and Wildlife Service-funded wildlife viewing platform in preparation for construction. At the public meeting, a number of residents shared their impression that the platform had been built as a form of compensation for the wetlands being filled illegally decades ago. Jan Kesier looked into the claim, and says she found a recent agreement with the previous owners of the land that allowed public access to the viewing platform, and she recommended that a new platform be part of Doyon’s plan.
When queried, John Budnik, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, confirmed that the Corps had a database entry from 1981 of “a regulatory action called ‘Unauthorized Activity/Alleged Violation’” on the site, but the agency had no further information. Keiser says that soil samples gathered from the parcel as part of Doyon’s planning process showed several areas with contaminants, perhaps from an earlier automotive business. In a written memorandum, she recommended Doyon avoid excavating extensive foundations in these areas to minimize the risk of introducing contaminants into the neighboring wetlands.
The development process and Doyon’s perspective
Though news of the development took many in town by surprise, Ryan Foster, who is coordinating the city’s response as city planner, said the process has followed normal protocol — though the city is used to smaller-scale permit applications. Doyon declined to respond to questions. Foster also declined to answer questions, and the consulting firm hired by the city, Kinney Engineering, couldn’t talk without the city’s permission. The package of information released before the first planning commission meeting was hundreds of pages long, and the planning commission members were also not permitted to comment as the process is ongoing.
In response to allegations that the city was waiving regulations for Doyon, Foster said at the planning meeting that size regulations for this type of development are designed to be flexible, with some metrics applying more rigidly to large retail stores. But the planning commission also has the authority to recommend not moving forward with Doyon’s current proposal, or impose conditions on development, Keiser says, “and they have wide discretion on what those conditions look like.”
In written responses to Homer’s Planning Commission about how the project fits with the city’s development goals, Doyon, Limited said it will contribute to the “city’s economic vitality, while ensuring that growth occurs in a manner that is both sustainable and in harmony with the community’s values.”
The corporation already runs several other tourism lodges and businesses around the state, and recently formed a new joint venture with Huna Totem Corp, called Na-Dena’. On their website, the company says they acquired an 80% share in Alaska Independent Coach Tours and that it plans to offer tours to cruise passengers around Southeast Alaska.
The new venture has rapidly expanded. Last spring, they announced plans to bring large cruise ships to Prince Wales Islands, transforming a former logging dock near Klawock to handle 650-passenger vessels multiple times a week. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings also recently donated waterfront property in Juneau to Na-Dena’, who say they plan to build a cruise ship dock, retail shops and parking there.
Homer isn’t currently a major cruise ship destination, but an ongoing debate about expanding the city’s port and harbor to allow for large vessels like container and cruise ships has already led to controversy. Like much of Alaska, property prices in town have risen steeply in recent years.
“I think there’s a definite deep anxiety around who decides where Homer goes from here,” Haas said.
For Haas, the prospect of having another hotel complex on the waterfront raises big questions about how the city should handle future growth. At a minimum, if the project moves ahead, she said, “they should follow the rules and develop it according to the guidelines that we have laid out in our comprehensive plan for how our town wants to develop — so that all of us can continue to live here, and appreciate and enjoy it.”
The Planning Commission’s next meeting is set to take place Wednesday, Jan. 17.
Sean McDermott is a freelance journalist based in Homer. His work has been published at Alaska Public Media, Scientific American, Grist, Undark, and Granta, among others.