A local company denied a conditional use permit to operate a heliport near 26 Mile is appealing the decision in state Superior Court. In a notice of appeal filed Dec. 29, attorneys for Big Salmon Ventures said the Haines Borough’s decision on the matter was “based on prejudice, arbitrary and capricious decision-making” and “on improper motives.” Big […]
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Applicant claims right to heliport
A property owner at 35 Mile Old Haines Highway says he doesn’t need a permit to site a heliport there because the property has been used to land helicopters since 2008 and should be grandfathered in. Michael Wilson, general manager of Coastal Helicopters, submitted a conditional use permit application for a heliport in September. Wilson and Alaska Heliskiing co-owner […]
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Heli-ski firms reject shared heliport idea
Haines Borough Planning Commission chair Rob Goldberg said he is dropping efforts to create a public heliport out Chilkat Lake Road because two out of three operators said they wouldn’t use the facility. At its Nov. 12 meeting, the commission unanimously passed a motion to have borough staff look into acquiring property for a public heliport between 25 Mile […]
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Duly Noted
The Chilkat Thunder beat the Haines Packing Co. at the Men’s City League basketball championship Sunday night. The score was 107-75. Two other league teams, Alaska Marine Lines and Harbor Heat, were knocked out of competition in previous rounds. Organizer Kyle Fossman said the league will take a break for the holidays and start up again in […]
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Year marked by citizen involvement
Heightened citizen participation marked 2015, a year in which residents challenged municipal leaders on a range of issues, and seemingly small matters spawned prolonged debates. Harbor expansion plans and a proposed minor offenses ordinance touched off months of give-and-take, but residents also raised questions about borough meeting procedures, funding for studies of helicopter noise and […]
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Proposal would more than double heli-skier days
Following last week’s dispute about the distribution of heli-ski user days, Haines Borough Assembly member George Campbell is seeking to more than double the current cap, from 2,600 to 6,000. Campbell has asked his proposal be included on the agenda for the Nov. 10 assembly meeting. Each of three local companies could be awarded up to 2,000 […]
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Helipad permit sought at 35 Mile
The manager of Coastal Helicopters has filed for a conditional use permit to site a helipad near 35 Mile Old Haines Highway. Michael Wilson, general manager of Coastal Helicopters, plans to site the helipad on a 10.4-acre parcel of property. In the permit application, Wilson wrote the helipad “will allow the Alaska Heliskiing operation to […]
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BLM: Heli-ski permits trump borough map rules
The Bureau of Land Management’s recent decision to permit commercial helicopter landings on a block of the agency’s land south of town has raised questions about the Haines Borough’s authority to regulate heli-skiing on federal lands. According to five GPS spot checks conducted in April and May, Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures twice landed outside of […]
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Heli-ski area open for 1 year
The Bureau of Land Management is opening more than 66,000 acres of land south of Haines to heli-skiing, an area that has been closed to the activity since 2009. BLM recently issued permits to Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures, Alaska Heliskiing and Alaska Mountain Guides to use 66,200 acres of land in the “south block” of […]
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Solid, deep snowpack at upper elevations: good for ski season
Snow around town doesn’t look impressive, but at upper elevations where backcountry and heli-skiing occurs, conditions are the best they’ve been in several years, the director of the Haines Avalanche Information Center said during a presentation Monday at the Sheldon Museum. “There’s a solid, deep snowpack above timberline. There are no active, persistent, weak, deep […]