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Sitka study flags Osprey Street and high-school bench as top near-term municipal housing sites
Summary
Planning director Amy Ainsley told the assembly a Phase 1 land suitability and feasibility study ranked municipal parcels for housing potential, identifying Osprey Street and a Sitka High School bench parcel as the most developable near-term opportunities while flagging Gavin Hill, Harbor Mountain Road and Herring Cove for long-term or high-risk constraints.
Amy Ainsley, Sitka’s planning and community development director, presented Phase 1 of a municipal land suitability and feasibility study, saying the effort ranked city-owned tracts by constructability, density potential and utility access to identify where the city should focus housing development efforts.
"The goal of the project ... is an opportunity for us to look at all municipal lands in our inventory and to essentially kind of rank, at least in this first phase," Ainsley said. She told the Assembly the study used desktop topography and hydrology reviews, wetlands reconnaissance, LiDAR analysis and a utility-capacity review.
The study placed Osprey Street — a small, relatively flat parcel near Blackley Middle School — at the top of the list for near-term development because it is accessible, close to services and readily buildable. Ainsley said the roughly 7-acre bench behind Sitka High School (referred to in the study as the SHS site) is the next-best option for its flatter terrain and development potential, though both sites are modest in size.
By contrast, the study flagged several larger tracts as constrained. Ainsley said Gavin Hill shows substantial steepland and a fish-bearing stream, Harbor Mountain Road presents drainage and landslide concerns, and Green Lake Road and Herring Cove contain only limited pockets of buildable terrain and are distant from utilities.
Ainsley described Phase 2 as a more detailed set of analyses for the top-ranked parcels: boundary surveys, preliminary layouts and density scenarios, more detailed slope- and hydrology studies and targeted utility analysis. "The higher density we look to build out, the more that may need to accelerate other projects that are already in our capital plans for road, water and sewer," she said.
Assembly members pressed staff on sequencing. One member asked whether the project would focus Phase 2 on the top two scoring sites rather than spreading limited staff and funds across all parcels; Ainsley and others supported concentrating resources on the highest-ranked tracts. Ainsley said a preliminary timeline for Phase 2 is about six months.
The presentation concluded with Assembly support for moving the top, lower-risk parcels into more detailed planning and reserving the higher-risk parcels for longer-term study.
What’s next: staff will bring Phase 2 scoping details and proposed budgets back to the Assembly as they firm up survey, design and permitting steps.
