New dock restroom,
paving: $1.2 million
By Jessica Edwards
The current price tag for restrooms at the Port Chilkoot
Dock could be as high as $800,000, including the cost of a concrete seawall and a covered
pavilion. Paving and expanding the adjoining parking area raises the total project
pricetag to $1.2 million.
“We’re staring at (an economic downturn and the
loss of cruise ships) in the face and talking about spending $1.2 million,” said
borough manager Tom Bolen. “On the other hand, it’s all grant funding and it
makes sense to continue” the development.
If built, the restroom and related improvements would be
the largest cruise-ship related capital investment since the Port Chilkoot Dock was
refurbished in 1995.
At least two conceptual designs for restrooms will go
before the Haines Borough’s planning commission April 9 and before the borough
assembly April 14.
Bolen told the borough’s waterfront committee April
2 the proposed civil work and construction of a concrete block seawall would take all
summer, with work on the restroom and pavilion buildings likely to begin in September.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit is not necessary,
as plans for the seawall fall short of the median high tide line, Bolen quoted PND
Engineers as saying.
Members of the borough’s waterfront committee,
including Doug Olerud, Rob Goldberg, Chris Schelb and Judy Ewald, unanimously approved a
concept estimated at $1.2 million pending review by the planning commission.
“This is the most logical, functional design I’ve
seen so far,” Goldberg said.
Bolen presented two concepts to the committee, both of
which include a roughly 22-by-40-foot restroom facility and a 20 -by-60-foot covered
pavilion built out over the beach on a concrete block seawall with a curbed, guttered
sidewalk, and paved parking for buses.
The design preferred by the waterfront committee extends
the seawall about 400 feet, providing 16 parking stalls immediately east of the restroom
and pavilion area in addition to bus parking along the road.
Bolen estimated the restroom and pavilion would cost
about $300,000; the 400-foot seawall and fill about $500,000; and paving, sidewalks and
drainage about $400,000.
Olerud said improvements should include as much parking
space as possible. He recommended the addition of a staircase to the beach near the
restrooms.
An alternate design does not include additional car
parking. It shows restrooms and pavilion built on a 180-foot seawall, estimated to cost
$250,000. A 240-foot long section of rock supports the paved bus parking lot. Parking lot
and sidewalks would cost about $350,000, Bolen said, plus 300,000 for restroom and
pavilion structures for a total of about $900,000.
Bolen said project funds included $130,000 in legislative
grants appropriated in 2003 and 2005; a $700,000 legislative appropriation from 2009
slated for upgrades to the Port Chilkoot Dock; $290,000 in cruise ship head tax money
remitted to the borough this year; and $400,000 in regional cruise ship funds that may be
approved in this year’s state budget.
Olerud said he thought the 2009 legislative appropriation
had been set aside for repairs to the Port Chilkoot Dock trestle.
Bolen agreed, but said trestle repairs wouldn’t be
tackled until next year and anticipated additional cruise ship regional tax funds could be
appropriated for the dock repairs.
“This is a project that needs to happen this summer,”
said Bolen. “The head tax money will (likely) be replenished.”
Bolen said state Department of Transportation
rights-of-way along Beach Road required sharp angle parking for buses, limiting the number
of usable spaces, and said a staging area might be required for additional buses.
In other business, Goldberg said he was hopeful the
borough would pursue the waterfront committee’s original purpose: a sidewalk all the
way around Portage Cove and a nature walk on the beach between Lookout Park and the Port
Chilkoot Dock.
Olerud said the waterfront committee had suspended
planning the oceanfront pedestrian walkway until DOT solidified plans to straighten the
“Y”-shaped intersection at Beach Road and Old Haines Highway.
Olerud said money to straighten the intersection might be
approved as part of Gov. Sarah Palin’s 2010 budget, so the waterfront committee might
learn more about DOT’s plans this year.
In addition to $400,000 for the restroom and pavilion
project, Haines stands to gain $6.5 million in cruise ship tax money in this year’s
state budget, pending legislative approval.
Projects include parking lot improvements at the small
boat harbor, widening Beach Road and improving the intersection with Old Haines Highway,
widening Front Street from Main Street to Lutak Road, and building sidewalks along Old
Haines Highway.
