Daily Sitka Sentinel

Board Moves Ahead On Boat Haulout Plan

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer

The Gary Paxton Industrial Park board on Wednesday accepted the sole boat haulout proposal, but with conditions for further negotiations and a ramped up leasing plan.

The board evaluated Sitka Community Boatyard’s proposal in executive session for about 90 minutes at the GPIP meeting, and issued a statement after the regular session resumed. 

“The board accepts the proposal on conditions that certain aspects of the proposal are negotiated with the executive director and brought back with recommendations for approval,” was the statement executive director Garry White read out loud.

White said the proposal from Sitka Community Boatyard scored 65 out of 140 points possible.

Although a haulout has been a goal of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park board for years, the pressure to come up with a solution has been building since Halibut Point Marine announced plans to close its haulout to pursue tourism related projects. Cancellation of two cruise seasons have pushed the deadline out to 2022, HPM manager Chris McGraw said today. 

Sitka Community Boatyard proposes an initial phase for building a Travelift slip, retaining wall, washdown pad, and staging or queuing dock, then purchasing a 150-ton Travelift and yard supplies in order to begin hauling vessels in 2022, said a description from Jeremy Serka, Sitka Custom Marine, and Linda Behnken, Alaska Sustainable Fisheries Trust board president.

“This will allow the boatyard to meet the immediate needs of most Sitka vessels,” the letter of transmittal says. “Future stages include upgrading the pier and yard area to allow operation of a 300-ton lift, upgrading the ramp to allow trailer and barge use, and subleasing parcels to marine service businesses interested in operating within the yard. These stages will be undertaken as future funding becomes available.”

The proposal calls for leasing a majority of uncommitted parcels, totaling 8.3 acres of uplands and 8,000 square feet of tidelands at the GPIP to develop a marine haulout and shipyard.

The financing plan calls for raising $250,000 in private capital; a $1 million grant or loan from the Rasmuson Foundation; a $1.25 million loan from the city’s Southeast Alaska Economic Development Fund; and a $400,000 grant from the Gary Paxton Industrial Park enterprise fund working capital.

White said the board recommended against city funds for the project, and a scaled lease plan that starts with the south portion of Lot 9A, where the piers, retaining walls and staging dock would be located.

“It’s just an area to stage and remove boats from the water,” White said.

White said the board is recommending that under the next phase, once the initial infrastructure is installed, the city would lease other portions of the industrial park for a washdown pad and water treatment facility.

“Further properties would be leased as further funding is identified,” White said. “The board doesn’t want to tie up property until (board members) see the first phase is done.”

White said the city is reapplying for federal grant funds and other sources of funding for baseline infrastructure that could help make this haulout a success. The city was unsuccessful last year with the federal grant application for the haulout and seawall, but has been encouraged to reapply.

“This is, baby steps until a funding source can be identified,” White said of the board’s decision and recommendations.

The request for proposals asked for the haulout to be built as a “private sector development,” with no City and Borough of Sitka funds, he added.

Board members also cited the lack of funds in the GPIP account. White said the working capital is currently at $480,000, and using the $400,000 requested would take most funds available to cover such expenses as operations and maintenance.

But White said he plans to continue working with the Sitka Community Boatyard group in hopes of coming up with a plan that works for both parties.

“Hopefully, we can negotiate this, bring it back to the board and to the Assembly for approval,” he said.

Board President Scott Wagner commented today, “The evaluation process was challenging for the board to not have another proposal to evaluate this against.”

Categories evaluated included: 

- qualifications, financial ability and experience of developers (15 out of 30).

- conceptual plan (20 out of 30).

- rates and fees (10 out of 30).

- operations plan (15 out of 30).

- ability to meet project schedule (5 out of 30).

This is the second RFP process in two years. The first ended with the Assembly rejecting the only proposal by a different business, finding that the proposal was outside the scope of the RFP.

The next step with this proposal is to continue negotiating with SCB leaders on aspects of the proposal that the industrial park board was willing to move forward with, White said. If he can come to an agreement with the representatives, it must go first to the GPIP board for a recommendation and then to the Assembly.

“This is the process,” White said.

Serka said he’s looking forward to talking to White and learning more about the evaluation.

“We’re hoping to get to talking to Garry White in negotiations and figure out why they graded the proposal under what we expected, get some answers on that and see what they’re willing to do to negotiate,” he said today. 

Serka, who is a metal fabricator, said the main goal is to create a boatyard open to the public, and support the maritime and fishing industry.

“We’re trying to do something for the community - we don’t have a lot to gain from this - and figure out how we can work together,” he said. “We’re still optimistic we’re going to be treated fairly, and everyone wants to get it created, but it’s easy to get deflated when you’re doing volunteer work and you’ve got a lot of people involved with not much to gain other than getting a boatyard for Sitka.”

Jeff Farvour, a fisherman and SCB partner, said he hopes the group can work out a deal with the city to get the boatyard built through a strong partnership with the city. He spoke briefly at the GPIP meeting about the importance of protecting the “Sitka Working Waterfront.”

“This is core city infrastructure; it’s a need, not a want,” he said today. “It’s been highlighted as a legislative priority for the last two years; it supports over 600 commercial fishing businesses, and multiday charter fishing businesses, and all the other vessels in the Sitka harbor system.”

In other business at Wednesday’s meeting, the board turned down a request for funding by Eckert Fine Beverages for $3,300 from GPIP working capital to help fund infrastructure the company needs for its water line. No motion was made, after it was clear the board would not support the allocation, White said.