By Margaret Friedenauer
Local independent tour operators are no longer allowed at the Port Chilkoot Dock to sell to cruise ship passengers in a change to a new draft operating plan for the dock. The operators may now set up and sell in front of the visitor’s center on Second Avenue. But some tour operators would like the dock operating plan to be discussed in a public forum.
Tourism director Tanya Carlson said the change was made last week as borough officials are grappling with how to tweak the dock’s draft operating plan before finalizing it. The plan was drafted by administrators, and according to borough manager Mark Earnest, it will be finalized administratively rather than going in front of the assembly for discussion or a vote.
“Those plans have previously just been adopted administratively,” he said. “We’re just going to continue with the process. It’s still a work in progress.”
Joe Ordonez, who operates independent tours and also sells tours aboard cruise ships, said he would like to see the new operating plan discussed publicly.
“I think there is a discussion there about what is the role of the borough in terms of making any of this public land, like this new parking lot, available for independent businesses,” Ordonez said. “We should talk about it before we make a change from the way it was. We should talk about it as a community. So, yes, I think the assembly should be involved.”
A draft plan was first released two weeks ago when the borough sought to determine and clarify guidelines for the new parking lot at the dock. Previously, tour operators were allowed to start selling at 10 a.m. and could sell near the dock and in the parking lot.
In the new three-page draft, the plan requires independent tour sellers to get a borough-issued dock sales permit. It reads “the designated dock sales area will be located to the right as guests come off the pier” and that the area will be limited to eight designated spots for independent operators to set up on a first come, first served basis. The plan outlines what kind of signage the operators can use and the penalties for “hawking” to guests or mentioning to any guest that an independent tour is cheaper than a ship’s tour.
Carlson said the plan is still a work in progress and changes to the plan are in response to how things have been working now that the season has begun.
“We needed to wait to see how things were going down there, how traffic flowed, how it worked, how sales were going,” she said.
She called a dock operations meeting about two weeks ago and invited Port Chilkoot Dock permit holders. Carlson said only one independent operator attended the meeting. Others in attendance expressed concern that allowing the independent operators at the dock deterred cruise line business.
After the meeting, Carlson said she worked with Earnest and borough clerk Julie Cozzi to modify the operating plan, allowing independent tour operators to set up outside the visitor’s center. They discussed the option of building kiosks at the visitor’s center for some of the tour operators in the future, if there is enough interest.
“This is an effort to centralize everything,” she said. “And it’s an opportunity for people to sell for more than just one day a week.”
In the first week the new rules were implemented, Carlson said no one came to the visitor’s center to set up.
But for businesses like Z Taxi, an electric Pedi cab service owned and operated by Zelda Layne and Mountain Rymon, the new rules are not a welcome change.
“With our business, it doesn’t make sense for us to set up at the visitor’s center,” Layne said. “Cruise ship passengers are impulsive; when they walk down the dock, that’s where I think we can help the tourists. If they have to come all the way over to the visitor’s center, that’s not going to work for us.”
Layne said Z Taxi had already purchased a permit at the dock parking lot, like the first draft of the operating plan required. Carlson said they can use the permit to pick up and drop off passengers, but they cannot use the space to sell rides or tours.
The previous operating plan allowed independent operators to sell from the lot.
Layne said she also wishes the meeting to discuss and decide a new plan had been more publicized among the tour operators. She said she was relayed a message about the meeting but wasn’t told the meeting would include discussion or decisions about tour operators on the dock.
“I have a problem with any meeting taking place or decision being made without us,” she said.