After the Haines Borough Assembly last week charged the Finance Committee with conducting an economic analysis of the Small Boat Harbor expansion project, the committee this week passed the task to the Port and Harbor Advisory Committee.

Community and economic development director Bill Mandeville, working with harbormaster Shawn Bell, put together a rough operating budget for the Small Boat Harbor expansion. The assignment was to try to answer the question of when the harbor expansion is completed, will it operate in the red or in the black.

“That’s basically what I did. I just took a look at once it was finished – once it was built out –what would be its revenue potential,” Mandeville said.

Assembly member Ron Jackson and other concerned citizens pointed out, though, that they were more interested in learning how the unfunded phases of the project – installation of the slips, for example – would be paid for, and how that giant question mark would affect operations of the harbor, including its ability to take in revenue.

Finance committee chair Joanne Waterman also said at the meeting that she was hoping to see an estimated cost for the second phase of the project and where the borough is as far as funding options.

Based on this feedback, Mandeville said it seemed like what people were asking for was a financial plan. But in order to create a financial plan, first the borough need to make some decisions or assumptions about levels of service, Mandeville said.

For example, how much of the parking lot is going to be used for parking and how much for storage? For how much of the year? Will it be full 100 percent of the time, or 50 percent of the time? How will the borough charge for the drive-down dock?  

“There’s a lot of discussion here that I think needs to be done regarding the level of service that this boat harbor will generate. I think it’s important that you establish that level of service so that once it gets operating, you’ll have all the rules and regulations in place so as not to end up with something you don’t want,” Mandeville said.

Basically what the harbor needs is a business plan, he said.

Committee chair Waterman said she thought those questions would be better answered by the Port and Harbor Advisory Committee than the finance committee.

Though no motions were made about directly pursuing a financial plan, manager David Sosa said the committee and assembly have options. “I think what really concerns a lot of people long-range is will the addition of slips and floats and everything else be a good investment for the borough. And that’s something I think we have a little time to answer,” Sosa said.

In an interview after the meeting, resident Tresham Gregg said he is glad the issue is being discussed, even if it seems like it is being ping-ponged between various committees. Gregg started a petition that garnered about 100 signatures in favor of halting the harbor expansion project until the borough conducted reviews of the project’s design and economics.

“They think that the harbor committee is more cognizant of the big picture, which they may well be, but it’s kind of like kicking the ball around a little bit,” Gregg said. “At least they’re not saying ‘no’ to everything.”

The Port and Harbor meeting is tentatively scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.