The Haines Borough Assembly will meet as a committee to discuss a fee schedule for violations of its helicopter tour permits 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 24.
At issue is what penalty should be assessed to Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures for knowingly exceeding its borough-imposed limit on helicopter skiing last spring.
The company in July reported using 550 skier days, 100 more than its allocation of 450, and also used 22 photographer days when its limit was 10 days.
“SEABA has a history of continued permit violations and I think the message that this is sending is that heli-skiing permits are meaningless,” resident Diane LaCourse told the assembly at its Tuesday meeting.
She called on the assembly to deny the company a 2011 permit, saying that what the borough permits, it promotes.
“This promotes heli-skiing itself because you’re going to reward days SEABA would have received to other users who would comply with the permit,” LaCourse said.
In a letter to the assembly, LaCourse said the borough also might consider issuing SEABA a conditional permit for 2012, mandate the companies use GPS units to track their flights and form a citizens’ committee to track flights.
LaCourse said she was “basically opposed to heli-skiing but we’ve got it, the community’s benefitting from it, so we need to make it work.”
Attorney and former assemblywoman Deborah Vogt, who helped formulate the borough’s helicopter-skiing map, said penalties against SEABA were clear in borough law.
Title V of borough law on permitting allows the manager to revoke or suspend a permit at any time for “substantial noncompliance with any term, condition or provision,” Vogt said. She also pointed to language that provides for a fine up to $300 for each offense.
Vogt said SEABA’s borough permit should be revoked and the company should pay $33,600 in fines for 112 violations. “SEABA’s actions seem to me particularly egregious… the code was amended last year to provide a mechanism for a heliski operator to request additional (skier) days during the season.”
She compared SEABA’s actions to other users like guides or sportfishermen violating their permits. “We all abide by regulations every day, and suffer the consequences when we violate them.”
SEABA co-owner Scott Sundberg faulted the borough for not investigating the financial feasibility of heli-skiing when it created the permits. “Do you know how much 1,200 skier-days really is? Do you know what it generates for operators? Do you know the cost of operations? Do you know any of these things?”
“If the borough was more interested in this industry, they would have taken the time to understand the financial end of the industry, not just try to stop impacts that may or may not exist,” he said.
The helicopter-skiing ordinance was never reviewed by the borough attorney at the time, Sundberg said. “I would just look into this a little more before you take it any further… I’d really look into your home-rule powers and the outside-townsite service area and see where we lie.”
Bank manager Karl Heinz spoke, representing the Haines Chamber of Commerce. “We want to help find a way to support this industry which can be a big part of Haines and help it grow. The chamber wants to work to make this a viable industry that benefits all residents.”
Resident Bill Kurz also spoke on the issue. “The third-class borough made Haines the greatest place on the face of the earth. I want to remind you that so long as one of us is not free, none of us are free.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, manager Mark Earnest reported that Whittier harbormaster Ed Barrett, who’d been offered the Haines harbormaster job in May and declined it, had decided to accept it. Earnest, who previously worked with Barrett, said his qualifications exceeded those of seven applicants who applied for the job after a recent round of advertising.
During public testimony, Energy Sustainability Commission coordinator Stephanie Scott reported that commissioners weren’t interested in expanding their scope to include food sustainability.
At the July 27 assembly meeting, members discussed formalizing efforts to promote local agriculture, including encouraging sales of local produce in grocery stores.
Member Daymond Hoffman said the borough should consider a permanent committee aimed at local food and agriculture.
Scott Rossman said he thought food sustainability would be driven by economics and said he’d oppose a paid position for such an effort. He suggested the borough might adopt a sales tax exemption for locally grown food.
The ESC’s Scott reported that the federal and state governments have recently prioritized food security, citing a recent Food Security Policy Council meeting in Palmer. “There are models now of how municipalities can encourage people to grow more food,” Scott said.