Community members can weigh in on a draft of the city's new historic preservation plan at this evening's joint meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Planning Commission at 6:30 p.m. in Harrigan Centennial Hall.

The draft plan has 20 pages on Sitka's historical context, identification of cultural resources, and proposed “goals and actions” for historic preservation in Sitka. 

Sitka’s current Historic Preservation Plan dates back to 1994, when the city became a Certified Local Government. As such, Sitka is eligible for federal grants for historic preservation.

Updates for the Sitka plan have been in the works for more than 15 years, and in recent months volunteers and city staff have combined the contributions of a paid contractor and Preservation Commission members in the present draft.

The updated plan includes six goals for historic preservation, with associated actions that could be funded by CLG grants.

The draft plan states that “these goals and actions are comprehensive; public review is needed to decide priorities and timelines for accomplishment.” 

Members of the public tonight can provide feedback on the importance of the six overarching goals:

• “Develop new partnerships (with entities such as Sitka Tribe of Alaska’s Cultural Resources Department and Committee), and raise awareness of historic resources representing the history of under-represented communities, especially the Tlingit people.”

• “Identify, preserve, protect and enhance the historic and cultural resources in the City and Borough of Sitka” by updating the city’s internal Inventory of Historic Sites and compiling a “local register that only includes non-sensitive sites.” 

• “Improve city processes to include consideration of historic preservation in planning.”

• “Educate and engage the public and students in Historic Preservation.”

• “Promote heritage tourism” as “an economically beneficial aspect of historic preservation.”

• “Amend and update (the) current CBS Historic Preservation Ordinance … to include a local register and policies associated with the protection, management, and promotion of Sitka’s cultural resources.”

Input from members of the public tonight will be incorporated into “final changes” to the updated plan that could be adopted by the Sitka Assembly, said Ariadne Will, a Planner-1 in the planning department.