Harbor expansion
loses ground in DC

By Tom Morphet

Haines will see nearly $7 million in improvements to waterfront roads and facilities as the result of funding approved by the Alaska Legislature. The legislature adjourned Sunday.

Not including federal funds of $17 million for Haines Highway improvements, the waterfront work, funded by the statewide cruise ship head tax, makes up the bulk of money coming to Haines as the result of the session.

The cruise money includes $1.9 million for work to and around the Port Chilkoot Dock, $2.94 million for widening Beach Road and improving its intersection with Old Haines Highway, $850,000 for improving Front Street to Lutak Road and $1.15 million for sidewalk construction on Old Haines Highway.

State Rep. Bill Thomas said waterfront road projects grew out of collaboration between his office and the state Department of Transportation two years ago. The borough assembly has supported the work, he said. “The borough could have changed them if they wanted.”

Borough manager Tom Bolen this week said $1.9 million would more than pay for dock restrooms, a retaining wall and paved parking lot and would keep intact a previous appropriation of $750,000 for repairs to the dock structure. The money also may pay for work on a boat harbor parking area.

Planning commission chair Lee Heinmiller said the DOT work around Beach Road and Front Street could improve two dangerous intersections for motorists taking large boats to the harbor.

Heinmiller and Bolen said the waterfront work has implications for current downtown and harbor planning, and they looked forward to coordinating with the state on improvements. “We better hurry up and figure out what we want,” Bolen said.

Details on the projects were not available from DOT this week and it’s unclear if work will go beyond planning during the upcoming construction season.

Bolen said past discussions of new sidewalks include on the north side of the old highway between Third Avenue and the cruise dock, Second Avenue to Mud Bay Road and the south side of the old highway between Third Avenue and East Fair Drive.

As expected, Haines received little in the way of other capital projects. Bolen said the borough would dip into its own pockets for needs such as a boiler for Mosquito Lake School and a $90,000 console dispatch center for the police department. The municipality will seek a surcharge on local phone bills to pay for the console, which improves 911service.

Projects including a paved parking lot at Mosquito Lake School, pool and school locker room repairs, and a new roof for the Chilkat Center will likely be put off, Bolen said.

The budget also includes $2.9 million in federal stimulus money for Lutak Road resurfacing between Front and Union streets, and more than $400,000 from the state energy authority. The energy money is for a wood-heat system for a Chilkoot Indian Association project and $120,000 feasibility study on a wood-burning heater for borough buildings downtown.

The authority denied a $988,000 grant request for Alaska Power and Telephone’s Connelly Lake hydroelectric project and a $1.4 million request for a geothermal heating system for the Haines Assisted Living facility.

The Haines Borough will receive $200,000 for coastal capital projects, money that formerly was filtered through the Department of Natural Resources, Rep. Thomas said. Takshanuk Watershed Council would be eligible to apply for the money for its projects, he said.

Gov. Sarah Palin early in the session cut a $300,000 request to address bear issues along the Chilkoot River corridor. Thomas said that work may be eligible for future cruise ship head tax money.

The federal funds for the Haines Highway include $14 million for between 17 Mile and 21 Mile and $3 million for repair to the Klehini River bridge.

Thomas said he was generally satisfied with the session, considering that state budgets shrank from last year. The capital budget was chopped to $1.8 billion from $2.9 billion and the operating budget was pared to $9.7 billion from $11.2 billion. “Overall, it went well.”

Thomas said he was disappointed the legislature didn’t agree on early funding for education next year. That may leave districts in the lurch if state cuts come down at the end of the 2010 session, he said.

This year’s appropriations may be the biggest boost from cruise ship revenues for some time to come, Thomas said. “The way I look at it, there’s not a lot of other things for cruise ship money to be spent on, other than at Chilkoot and Klukwan.”

In the coming year, a formal request process from communities will be used for head tax money requests, he said. It will begin at the community level beginning this summer.