10 years ago

Lutak Dock repair urgent, report says

The Haines Borough’s Lutak Dock is “near the edge” and living on “borrowed time,” according to a recently released draft report.

The report, completed by PND Engineers, says the structure is failing in several locations and does not meet current safety standards set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“Highly-loaded vehicles may suddenly fall into an undetected hole with potentially severe consequences to persons, and equipment and property,” the report said.

Haines Borough manager David Sosa held an emergency meeting with representatives from the two primary dock users, Alaska Marine Lines and Delta Western, and identified two exceptionally sensitive areas for closure to vehicle traffic.

The dock’s structure resembles huge, upright coffee cans (cells) full of rocks and fill. The connection points between the cells (closure arcs) are failing, causing material to leak out into the ocean, creating weaknesses and sinkholes in the structure.

The structure meets standards for withstanding a “low-intensity” earthquake. “Above this level of ground shaking the structure cannot withstand earthquakes at the current ‘design event’ level criteria mandated by building codes, waterfront design guides, or departments of transportation manuals,” the report said.

PND’s primary recommendation to the borough is to plan for “full replacement…as soon as credibly possible.”

Where the borough goes from here in terms of fixing the problem is unclear. Whatever the borough decides, it needs to decide soon, said public facilities director Carlos Jimenez.

“Due to the fact that it is where we receive all of our fuel and all of our food and all of our dry goods for the entire town, it’s imperative that we deal with it. How we do it is yet to be determined, but it’s imperative that we do something,” Jimenez said.

Options include repairing, upgrading or replacing the dock. Sosa is working with a group out of the University of Alaska that specializes in “strategic doing.” That group can meet at the beginning of December to help the assembly develop a plan for moving forward, Sosa said.

Port and Harbor Advisory Committee chair Norm Hughes called the borough’s relationship with the dock “long and straining.”

“Either we repair it or we replace it. Putting it off until a later date is just no longer an option,” Hughes said. “With all the interests and mining and development in the Interior and Haines being a transshipping port, those things should all be taken into consideration when we reinvest in the Lutak Dock.”

Regardless of what the borough decides, it will be extremely expensive, Hughes said. “We are going to need federal funding. It’s going to be a lot of money,” he said.

The borough is currently getting cost estimates for the installation of trench plates, large pieces of steel that distribute weight and would temporarily mitigate the risk of collapse, Jimenez said.

In the case of catastrophic failure of the Lutak Dock, barges could dock at the Port Chilkoot Dock, though that wouldn’t be an ideal situation. The new Port Chilkoot Dock wasn’t built for industrial use, which would “wreck the dock,” Jimenez said.

The PND report cost $89,500.

PND representatives will brief the assembly on the report Oct. 28. Jimenez said while the issue is pressing, he isn’t overly concerned about any immediate hazard.

“If we are cognizant of what the situation is and we try to stay in areas we know are solid, I don’t think it’s a big deal. I mean, it’s a big deal, but we don’t need to shut the port down,” Jimenez said.

For the past several years, the assembly has identified repairs to the Lutak Dock as one of the municipality’s top priorities in its “wish list” to the Alaska Legislature. The legislature has not funded any of the repairs.

25 years ago

Cruise line cancels sailings for 2000

Two small cruise ships that brought some of Haines’ most affluent visitors won’t be stopping here next year. 

Special Expeditions Cruises, owners of the Seabird and Sea Lion, announced  last week it would drop Haines and add Petersburg to its itinerary next summer. 

Special Expeditions land service manager Jeff Du Jardin said Haines has outgrown the appeal it once held for company clients. 

“Haines was just getting too crowded with cruise ship passengers for us to fit in anymore.”

The company specializes in expensive trips off the beaten path, such as the Galapagos Islands and the Arctic, instead of ports frequented by cruise ships. Du Jardin described a typical Special Expedition passenger as “well-traveled, professional, inquisitive people who are out to learn.”

The company’s clients next summer will pay $3,580 to $5,120 for a seven-night cruise originating in Juneau or Sitka. 

DuJardin said the company specializes in its own shore excursions, reducing the need for local excursion vendors, the fastest growing portion of Haines’ visitor market. 

“Shore excursions and ports aren’t really what we sell. For us, wildlife is the main thing. We want to keep people out of the mainstream… with all of the people flying from Skagway and the [Haines-Skagway] shuttle running, Haines was getting more crowded, more touristy.”

Although Special Excursions passengers didn’t give local tour operators much business, they did spend money in local art galleries. Shop owner Fred Shields said he’ll miss the upscale customers. “Typically the people on those boats would spend more with us than the ones off the large ships. Their loss will be a loss to us.” 

The two ships made 24 stops in Haines from June through August this year. Special Expeditions ships have been visiting Haines since 1989. 

City tourism director Bea Findlay said retailers won’t be the only ones to miss the dockings. “It’s going to have a large impact. They bought fuel and groceries here.” Findlay said that with the growth in the local tourism industry, it was only a matter of time before the company would pull out. “I don’t think it was a complete surprise.” 

DuJardin said the company has been considering pulling out of Haines for three years, as the number of tours and large cruise-ship landings grew. “We’ve watched things grow. It’s great that Haines has been successful in attracting more people to town, but we don’t want to present crowds to our people.”

Special Excursions vice president Peter Butz said the decision to drop Haines from the company’s itinerary doesn’t reflect on local people or services. “We review our itinerary every year. It’s an incremental issue for us. A few years ago we pulled out of Skagway for the same reasons. We were always satisfied with Haines.” 

Butz said the company never received complaints from passengers about Haines. “The feedback from our people has always been great.”

“We want to make it clear that our decision has nothing to do with Haines’ people or services. We’ve been there a long time and have developed some great relationships,” DuJardin said. 

DuJardin said the company’s decision had nothing to do with last week’s vote to impose a 4 percent sales tax on local tours. “That was a coincidence. Our timing wasn’t that great. We didn’t mean for it to happen that way.”

Bultz concurred. “We weren’t aware of that. A tax increase wouldn’t have been appealing for us, certainly, but it didn’t have anything to do with our scheduling.” 

In this Oct. 14, 1999, file photo fourth-Grader Madeline Wable uses a springboard to gain extra lift while volunteer coach Sandy Evans looks on during vaulting practice at the Haines Gymnastics Club Monday. Dozens of elementary school students participate in the club, spearheaded by physical education teacher Ellen Larson. The group meets three times weekly and caps its season with a community show later in the fall. (File/Chilkat Valley News)

50 years ago

To the Editor: 

We at the post office are very upset with the increasing amount of vandalism taking place in the post office lobby. For the time being, the front door to the building will be locked at 5:45 p.m. 

We have tried to be as accommodating to the people of Haines as we can, but we are discouraged and annoyed with what has been going on for the past few weeks. Thursday evening a form of tear gas bomb was apparently exploded in the lobby – and despite all our efforts to air the place out, we had to work all day Friday with burning eyes, scratchy throats and annoying coughs. 

Then there have been several lock boxes broken by pounding on them – hard enough to break the ¼ inch plate glass. Also, a bottle of beer was poured into the outgoing mail slot. What a mess that was to clean up. Besides the “normal” amount of spilled beverages, cigarette butts, candy wrappers and half eaten food left around, persons have actually urinated in the wastebasket!

We have enough mail to sort to keep us busy every day without having to stand for the malicious nonsense in and around the building. 

If the community will see to it that everyone is aware of the problem and will help us overcome it, we will be very happy to open the lobby again. 

However, enough is enough!

Retha Young, postmaster, 

Edith Jacquot, clerk, 

Minto Tait, clerk, 

Bill Hartmann, clerk

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