The Assembly Tuesday adopted the city’s general fund and enterprise fund budgets for fiscal year 2026, amended the city code governing parks and recreation facilities, and approved the first reading of a lease agreement for a community garden.
Following several months of meetings on the budget with city staff, the Assembly voted unanimously to approve both budget ordinances on second reading.
The ordinance making changes to city code on parks and recreation also earned unanimous support from the Assembly on second reading. The ordinance deals with expansion in the city P&R division’s scope of responsibilities, as well as increased usage of city parks and recreation areas, and formalizes the city’s partnership with the Sitka School District for uses of many parks facilities.
Code updates will alter the scheduling and permit procedures for city facilities, allowing for more online bookings, and restricting reservations of the Tom Young Cabin to Sitka residents.
Community Gardens
Near the end of the meeting, the Assembly unanimously approved on first reading a lease for a half-acre of city-owned land on Jarvis Street to the Sitka Community Gardens Association for development of 48 horticulture plots.
The city’s lease of the garden site follows a nearly year-long process between the city and the Community Gardens group, which is a joint project between the local nonprofits Transition Sitka and the Sitka Local Food Networks.
The garden property is adjacent to the land where the Sitka Homeless Coalition is developing a group of small houses for unhoused Sitkans.
After receiving a request from Community Gardens to lease land for a garden, the city put out a request for proposals for the Jarvis Street Horticulture Site. Community Gardens was the only respondent, proposing a development with 45 10-foot by 20-foot garden plots, as well as two 3-foot by 20-foot raised plots that would be ADA accessible.
In January, the Assembly directed city staff to develop a lease with the group.
With the Assembly's approval on first reading, the lease ordinance will be up for final approval at the May 13 Assembly meeting,
It calls for an initial lease term of three years with five five-year extensions available if mutually agreed to by the Community Gardens as well as the Assembly.
Community Gardens would pay one dollar per year for the lease, and would be responsible for all development, utilities, and care for the land.
Joel Hanson, project manager for the Community Gardens group, said the Gardens team is “committing to this long-term plan and long-term project, and we really appreciate the opportunity” to develop a shared horticulture space.
Hanson said he is traveling to Juneau on Thursday to attend an annual meeting of the Juneau Community Garden Association for advice "on what is actually involved in organizing the project.” The Juneau group has been operating their garden more than 20 years.
Hanson’s proposal describes how the community group will be modeled, and how it will develop the project with funding from grants and donations.
To begin, the Gardens group will rally significant volunteer efforts to clear and prepare the land, build small, temporary structures and erect a 6-foot-tall fence reinforced with three strands of electric fence wires to deter large predators.
Gardeners will work with volunteers and contractors over the course of about three years to level the site, design drainage, and develop a parking lot, a ten-foot by 16-foot garden shed, a 15-foot by 20-foot open-sided work shelter, and a single-stall unisex ADA-accessible restroom.
The group hopes to acquire donations of bulk garden materials including topsoil, compost, mulch and raised-bed framing lumber, and purchase materials as necessary, “to prepare a substantial number of plots for use beginning in spring of 2026.”
Hanson said some demonstration plots could be set up this summer, with “a lot more next summer.” Of the 45 ground-level plots planned for the Jarvis Street site, 43 or 44 have been spoken for by local gardeners.
“We’re ready to work on the project, on the ground,” Hanson said.
Assembly member Kevin Mosher said he hopes the new project will be “like a seed.”
“As this goes on, and people visualize and see that this can happen, hopefully you'll be able to find other places to have this kind of thing happening,” Mosher said at the Assembly meeting.
Community Gardens members confirmed after the meeting that similar project concepts are already in the works in the community with interest by the Sitka Tribe of Alaska and Baranof Island Housing Authority as well as other parties.
Other business
Assembly members also discussed the annual process of distributing city funds to local nonprofit organizations.
Assembly members Kevin Mosher and Chris Ystad said they would like the city to work with a third-party organization, such as the nonprofit Sitka Legacy Foundation, to manage city grant awards in a way that would better serve the community.
Following discussion of the grant program, the Assembly directed City Administrator John Leach to talk with Mosher and Ystad, as well as representatives of the foundation, to work on developing a program by which a third party could manage the city’s grant application and awards. Members discussed the idea of the Assembly's having the “final say” on its grant awards.
Assembly members also reappointed Kenneth Cameron to a three-year term in a city representative seat on the Employment Relations Board, and approved a request for Assembly member JJ Carlson to serve on the Sitka Walkability Action Institute team.
