10 years ago
Summit to explore fix of Lutak Dock
Haines Borough Manager David Sosa is bringing a facilitator from the University of Alaska Anchorage to Haines Dec. 4-5 to help “facilitate the conversation” about the Lutak Dock, for about $5,000.
The information and planning session follows a draft report released last month by PND Engineers identifying multiple structural problems with the facility.
“The purpose of the session is to continue to update the community on the status of Lutak Dock, provide some information on possible options for the facility, receive input and advice from the community, and plot a course for continued conversation aimed at producing a solution and having a redeveloped facility that meets current and anticipated needs within three years,” Sosa said.
At an Oct. 28 meeting with the assembly and engineers from PND, Sosa said using the facilitator would cost in the “neighborhood of $5,000.”
Melissa Houston, an entrepreneurship specialist and “certified strategic guide,” will lead the session. She works for the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Center for Economic Development.
Houston is bringing two to three other people to help facilitate, Sosa said.
“For a number of years the borough has sought a plan for Lutak Dock but was unable to achieve consensus,” Sosa said. “The process we are undergoing will be a multi-year project aimed at strategic objectives and it will require the commitment of significant resources. In light of this, and after consultation with (the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority), I felt it was advisable to bring in assistance to help us start the process.”
Public facilities director Carlos Jimenez said it’s hard to put a price tag on a fix, since the borough hasn’t decided what to do yet.
“My guess would be somewhere in the realm of $15-$50 million, depending on what the town chooses,” Jimenez said.
Based on the PND report, Jimenez said just fixing the existing structure isn’t really an option. “It’s not viable to repair, what’s in existence there,” Jimenez said. “We’ve attempted to fix it and failed. The cells are to the point of suffering catastrophic failure. I don’t see how you would go about fixing it…It’s going to have to be a rebuild.”
The question is whether to rebuild to the existing facility’s standards or to upgrade, and if so, to what extent, Jimenez said.
Bill Kurz, board member of the private Haines Port Development Council, said the Lutak Dock should be fixed to the extent that it can be used as it has been in the past.
“It’s a fine facility for what it was designed to do. It needs to be fixed properly. Not a band-aid, but a good, honest fix,” Kurz said.
Another dock should be created to handle the potential export of ore and other minerals that might be coming down from Canadian mines or the Palmer Project in the future, Kurz said. That facility would ideally come to be through a partnership between the borough and a private company interested in an ore dock but also needing a freight dock to land equipment for development of a mine.
How options will be financed – bonds, legislative funding, grants, private investment – is a big question mark.
Aside from the assembly and borough staff and committee members, stakeholders identified for participation in the December meeting include Alaska Marine Lines, Delta Western, the Chilkoot Indian Association, Haines Chamber of Commerce, Haines Port Development Council, Lynn Canal Conservation, Takshanuk Watershed Council, legislative and state agency representatives, and representatives from Canada’s Yukon Territory.
Sosa said he would also like to have the borough’s Haines Port Development Steering Committee resurrected to participate in the process.
The goal of the December session isn’t to come up with a concrete solution right away, Sosa said.
“ Given the scope and scale of any project at Lutak, the situation is too complex to make a decision like that with such haste. Rather, the goal is to have a plan to move forward with outlined responsibilities to see the plan through,” Sosa said.
The borough recently installed a $30,000 concrete slab as an emergency measure to address weaknesses in the dock. “This action will help assure continued safe use of the facility until such time as a more permanent solution can be adopted,” Sosa said.
At the Oct. 28 PND presentation by engineer Mike Huggins, the assembly learned of the extent of the deterioration at the Lutak Dock. “To be blunt, it’s pretty impressive that that structure has hung together for 61 years,” Huggins said.
As far as how long the borough has before the facility’s catastrophic failure, Huggins referred to that as “the 64-million-dollar question.”
“Do I yell ‘Fire’ and have everybody run out of the building? No. Do I say, ‘It’s almost time to yell fire’? No. Is there a lot of smoke? Yes,’” Huggins said. “You’ve got what I call a good fighting chance to just utilize the structure for the operational needs of the town while you plan what you’re going to do to replace it, to deal with it.”
25 years ago
No holding back tourism taxes
By Steve Williams
The Haines Borough apparently is bound by state law to immediately impose voter-approved taxes on excursion tours and accommodations.
According to Juneau attorney Stacie Kraly, wording of the October ballot measure requires the taxes to be placed on the books without delay.
“Borough voters approved ballot propositions, based on assembly resolutions that assessed a four percent tax on lodging and tours. The ballot propositions, and the resolutions upon which these propositions were based, did not provide for a gradual implementation of those taxes.”
Kraly was hired by borough manager Jerry Lapp to assess the legality of a proposed three-year implementation of the taxes, after borough attorney Bob Blasco advised against such a graduated approach.
Kraly concurred with Blasco that the tax must be enacted in full.
Kraly referred to the state law governing municipalities in reaching her opinion.
Statute 29.26.170 states: If a majority vote favors the ordinance or resolution, it becomes effective upon certification of the election, unless a different effective date is provided.” The borough assembly on Oct. 12 certified the Oct. 5 election.
For the assembly to follow Kraly’s advice would be a blow to businesspeople and assembly members who had hoped to postpone implementation of the taxes.
Tour operator Shane Horton said since he’s already set the prices he’ll charge next summer for his Chilkoot Lake boat tours, he won’t be able to pass the tax along to his customers. “I’m disappointed. I’ll just have to eat it, if it’s put in place. My costs will automatically be four percent over all my competitors in Southeast.”
Klukwan, Inc., board chairman Bill Thomas said the tax may cause the local village corporation to postpone expansion of its Portage Cove dock and restaurant.
Thomas said the company may even move its tour operations to Skagway if economic conditions warrant.
“We’re going forward with a design that can be applied in Haines or Skagway. The sales tax in Skagway is only four percent, so we’d get an automatic five point five percent return if we build in Skagway instead of Haines,” Thomas said.
Adding 4 percent will raise the tax on tours and lodging in Haines to 9.5%. The tax would raise an additional $133,258 based on 1998 tour sales of $3.3 million.
Assembly member Terry Pardee said he favors imposing the tax gradually to reduce impact on businesses, but won’t push the issue in light of Kraly’s opinion.
“It’s substantial, and my preference would be to phase them in. We always get concerned about the unknown, but I believe we weighed the impacts of this. Doing nothing was not an option, so now we have to go forward and see what our next move is.
New assembly member Lucy Harrell thinks the tax won’t harm Haines’ economy as much as the industry claims. “When Carter put extra taxes on gasoline in 1973, the trucking industry said they were going to be driven out of business. Well they came back bigger and stronger than ever. This doomsaying sounds to me like so much crying in their beer. I prefer to phase the taxes in, too, but they’ll get used to it.”
The borough has spent $2,000-$3,000 in legal fees on the issue since the election, said clerk Jackie Martin.
42 years ago Nov. 11, 1982
Bus totaled, fire truck damaged, people okay
By Sharon Resnick
Mary and Bud Belden are suffering the aches and pains of bruised bodies this week, but they don’t mind too much.
“At least I still have a body to suffer,” Mary Belden said.
The 48-passenger bus the Beledens were driving when it went off the road at 23.5 Mile Haines Highway last week didn’t fare as well.
“I’d classify it as totalled,” Bud Belden said.
The 1962 vehicle which was to have moved the couple and their belongings to retirement in Mitchell, Oregon “just didn’t respond to steering,” Bud said.
When the bus slid off the icy road it went over a six-foot embankment located this side of Wells Bridge and slid about 150 feet on its side, he said.
Before the bus went off the road, Bud said he only had time to tell Mary to “hang onto the side Mom, we’re going over.”
The first thing he did when the bus quit sliding was to jump out and turn off the propane tank.
“Then I started throwing our belongings off of Mary and got her out of there,” he said.
No one drove by the accident scene for 25 minutes, but finally Tommy Katzeek came along and picked up the couple.
The wrecker from 33 Mile wasn’t strong enough to winch the bus out of the ditch; it took Leo Smith’s log skidder to do that.
As the couple was returning to Haines after the accident they met a shiny new fire truck on the road. Bud Belden said he feared his bus had caught fire, but he needn’t have worried. Later he learned that the fire truck was the one which had mysteriously appeared in Haines over a week ago. On Tuesday the truck had been claimed by Alaska Truck Center and was on its way home to Anchorage when it, too, slid off the road close to the same spot the Beldens had gone off.
Larry Schmidt, owner of the towing company that rescued the fire truck, said the accident occurred at the same location of the Belden’s bus accident. In addition to a ruined right-hand door and a broken windshield, it’ll probably cost anywhere from $800 to $1,000 to repair the crumpled compartment doors and chrome-plated stepways and ladders on the $90,000 fire truck, he said.
Though the Beldens were unhappy to lose their bus and temporary home, they were happy to find that they have a lot of friends to help them out. Living quarters have been provided to them by Bob and Nancy Loomis, and Lois and Ellis Spencer are now fixing up a car for them to use until they leave for Oregon in March. Another friend, John McOmber, plans to transport their belongings to Washington state where the couple has another car to use.
It’s not the first time Mary has seen the more generous side of her neighbors. In 1973 her second husband died and later that year her trailer was destroyed by fire.
“I didn’t save a thing, but within three days I had over $3,000,” she said. “When something happens in Haines, everyone comes out to help you.”
The Beldens have accepted their accident as something “that just happened,” but they aren’t so philosophical about the lack of guardrails on that particular part of the Haines Highway.
“Why don’t they put up railings there,” Bud Belden asked. “You’d be amazed at the number of cars that have gone off the road in that spot. At least guardrails would give you a chance to get back on the road.”
Auto repair shop owner Schmidt said that since 1978 he’s towed five cars out of the ditch located near Wells Creek. Other places on the road have been the scene of more accidents, he said, adding that he’s towed three cars in two days away from the corner at 35 Mile.
Though many non-out-the-roaders who travel the Haines Highway complain about the dangerous road conditions, Schmidt called it a “good winter road.”
“Some people just don’t know how to drive on it,” he said. “They drive too fast. Some of them come up here from California and say their radials will do just fine and that they don’t need snow tires. Then when they go off the road they complain about the road being bad.”