The Sitka Assembly has unanimously agreed to remove language about landslide management from city code.
After the deadly landslides in 2015, which killed three people, destroyed one home and seriously damaged two other properties, the assembly commissioned landslide mapping to assess risk throughout Sitka, and adopted a new section of city code with restricted development in areas with “moderate” or “high” landslide risk.
City administrator John Leach said that information is now being used by insurance companies and lenders, causing unanticipated challenges for some homeowners.
“The difficulty with this is we had an area that was already developed. And suddenly, all these homes were placed in this restricted land slide area, and they had no choice. And now, they’re kind of boxed out from refinancing, they’re boxed out from insurance, when really nothing has changed for them over the years,” he said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, assembly member Thor Christianson was in favor of removing the landslide language but voiced some skepticism at it being the solution for the insurance and financing problems.
“It will be interesting to see if this really removes the loan lending issue,” he said. “I have a sneaking suspicion this ordinance is being used as an excuse,” he said.
Leach agreed.
“The intent is to not be a barrier to lending and insurance,” he said. “But this is a little bit of a litmus test to see if we were the barrier.”
One member of the public asked if the landslide legislation would be replaced with something else. Assembly member Crystal Duncan was similarly concerned
“And I’m glad we were able to find a solution, but it kind of plays on what came up as a concern is that we’re rescinding that entire section, which in itself is sending a message, whether we intend to or not,” she said.
Leach said they wouldn’t be removing preventative landslide regulations from the city’s purview. He wants studies to continue and said he’s working on how landslide risk mapping will be further incorporated into Sitka’s building code in the future.
