During the yearslong fight over what should happen to Haines’ cargo dock on Lutak Road, one theory keeps coming up – the idea that the city may be coordinating a $20 million project to overhaul the dock at the behest of local mining interests that want a port to store and offload ore.
Regardless of whether that idea is true, it’s pervasive. Assembly member Gabe Thomas pitched the idea of letting voters weigh in during the body’s Jan. 9 meeting.
“It seems to be the elephant every time we talk about Lutak Dock. Everybody is concerned about it and it’s not just a left versus right scenario it’s a whole community scenario,” he said. “I’m tired of hearing that narrative … I just want to put an end to it.”
Thomas’s plan is to put a proposition in front of borough voters that – if passed – would enshrine a ban on using the dock for ore storage or transport in the city’s charter.
Assembly member Debra Schnabel, who formerly worked as the borough’s manager, said putting the issue to a vote could be a good way to address a concern people have had for years, even if it may be unfounded.
During the time that she was city manager, Schnabel was responsible for two of the applications for federal funds to repair the Lutak Dock.
“Never was it discussed in relation to Constantine or an ongoing mine here,” she said.
But, that idea has persisted. Schnabel said she has sat through many meetings on the dock and has re-listened to some, including one during which 76 people showed up to testify on the dock.
“I recently went through all of the comments and when we have the input, I just need the public to understand this – at one time more than 50% of the people did not want to go through with the Lutak Dock project specifically because they believed it was to be an ore terminal, it was a giveaway to the Constantine mine, that the mining company – we were all in their pocket. That accusation was constantly there in the public input,” she said.
So while the idea of enshrining opposition to ore transport and storage at Lutack dock is “a very big hammer,” she said it could show the community that the assembly is listening.
Ultimately, members voted unanimously to direct the borough clerk to draw up a proposition which the assembly could then decide to put in front of voters during the next general election in October.
“The reason I wanted to go charter is because I’ve heard – even people on the assembly here or other people – say that they worried the next assembly getting voted in then they could just change it,” Thomas said. “Well if you put it to the people, then the people speak… if it passes, it passes. If it doesn’t pass, it is what it is. The community spoke.”
The assembly is next scheduled to meet on Jan. 23.