A discussion of Haines Borough planning commissioners last week reflected apparent support for the municipality’s harbor expansion plan, but members Lee Heinmiller and Heather Lende cited multiple concerns. Commissioners also roundly criticized the public process surrounding the project, which only obliquely involved planners during the first third of the project’s design process and skipped them entirely last […]
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Case: End 2nd comment period
Swift opposition sends idea to committee Opposition to an ordinance that would eliminate the public comment period at the end of Haines Borough Assembly meetings pushed the legislation into committee before it could even be discussed at the assembly level. Though the ordinance proposed by assembly member Mike Case was initially scheduled for introduction Tuesday, comments from […]
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Supporters: Keep highway school open 2 days weekly
Friends of Mosquito Lake School and Community Center is asking the Haines Borough to spend an additional $9,400 per year to keep the facility open two days a week as a community center. Dana Hallett, coordinator for the group, distributed copies of his proposal to the Haines Borough Assembly this week. The group said the building could be used […]
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Legislature cutting local jobs, services
Forestry office eliminated The Haines Division of Forestry office was apparently eliminated and the future of public radio funding and the ferry schedule hanged in the balance after legislators in the state House and Senate passed their respective versions of the state operating budget in recent weeks. The cuts could eliminate hundreds of thousands of […]
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Sosa: Hire state lobbyist for $45K
One year after the Haines Borough Assembly cut from its budget a $43,200 federal lobbyist position, manager David Sosa is proposing to spend $45,000 for a state lobbyist. Sosa included the lobbyist job in his draft budget released last week. The lobbyist’s salary would come from the borough’s economic development fund. Clerk Julie Cozzi, who served as […]
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Chamber questions scope, cost of harbor expansion
The Haines Chamber of Commerce says that a financial plan for improvements to the Small Boat Harbor should be in place before construction starts. Under the Haines Borough’s current timeline, work on the expansion project would begin in the fall or next spring. The comments of the business group were among 15 written ones on […]
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Mining experts to speak in valley
Four speakers with mining-related expertise will visit Haines and Klukwan next week for presentations and panel discussions on mining in Alaska. The informational meetings will be held Tuesday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Chilkat Center and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Klukwan ANS Hall. They are sponsored by the Takshanuk Watershed Council, Haines […]
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Second, ’65-percent’ harbor plan out for review on Friday
The Haines Borough Assembly is looking into the cost of moving Lookout Park to keep it from being engulfed by a parking lot in the Small Boat Harbor expansion project. The assembly voted last week to have manager David Sosa get estimates from PND Engineers on the cost of moving the park farther south on the waterfront. […]
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Assembly: More work needed on tax-exempt rule
Nearly a dozen residents turned out at Tuesday’s Haines Borough Assembly meeting to roundly criticize an ordinance that would change how nonprofits apply and qualify for property tax exemptions. Supporters of nonprofits called the ordinance “messy,” “confusing,” “stiff” and “cumbersome,” saying the legislation would put undue financial and administrative hardship on organizations whose resources are already […]
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Assembly labors on Nelson appeal
After nearly 90 minutes of testimony and deliberation, the Haines Borough Assembly agreed to refund $600 of a $1,200 fine levied against a Skyline Estates property owner. The assembly voted 4-1 to refund half of the $1,200 fine manager David Sosa levied against property owner Paul Nelson when Nelson failed to meet the deadline for removing improperly-processed […]