By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Assembly decided Tuesday night to postpone issuing an RFP on a new haulout at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park, for at least another two weeks.
The reason for the delay was that the draft RFP in the Assembly’s information packet did not include the latest revisions, but the Assembly had other questions as well.
“If we don’t have the correct document in front of us, I think it would be common sense to make a motion – and I will make a motion – to postpone it to our next regularly scheduled Assembly meeting,” member Valorie Nelson said.
But other issues were raised as well – including the possibility of an interim haulout plan, and a fee and rate structure – that could push the release of the RFP out even further, City Administrator John Leach told the Assembly.
“April is probably pushing it,” Leach said. “We have at least another, probably, 30 days’ worth of work and an Assembly meeting to get it passed if we’re going to go to RFP. So we’d be looking at another three months ... to get the proposals back.”
Halibut Point Marine, which operates the only public boat haulout in Sitka, has announced it will close the haulout service in the spring.
Leach apologized for the mixup with the packet, but also expressed frustration about the constantly changing plans related to building a haulout facility for Sitka boat owners. He asked for “clear guidance.”
“If we have an interim plan that’s being proposed, if we have a rate and fee schedule coming forward and we have an RFP out – some work together, some don’t,” Leach said. “My questions would be: if there’s an interim solution in place, we’re going to have to structure the RFP to let the proposers know there is an existing interim solution, and they may have to work around that solution, or work with them ...”
Industrial park director Garry White said the haulout working group and the park board have tried to be responsive to the issues raised by prospective users and tried to incorporate their wishes for a traditional Travelift-type haulout, instead of a trailer and ramp system.
“That’s where we’re going, that’s what we had in the RFP,” White said. “We also pushed and really encouraged people to form a co-op of local people to work together and bid on this RFP. I think that’s the best solution. But all this takes money, and the city doesn’t have any money.”
White said he and the board are working on two fronts, including the RFP for building and running the haulout, and a user’s manual for operating the facility, based on a document from Homer.
“Knowing how important this is to the fleet, that’s why we’re doing two paths,” he told the Assembly.
The comments from the public included testimony from fishermen Jeff Farvour and Linda Behnken, who represent a group of fishermen and boatwrights interested in creating an interim or incremental plan “to ensure Sitka’s fleet and marine service sector is not without a haulout option while the city continues to work toward the high capacity yard we all envision for Sitka,” Behnken said, in introducing the plan.
“Our intent is to perform necessary upgrades to the existing ramp and upland area to allow a self-propelled trailer to haul boats up to 55 feet in length, and to lease sufficient land from the City for 6-12 boats to be out of the water at a time,” she said. “Other facility upgrades will include appropriate utilities, a wash down pad and potentially road upgrades.”
Behnken said the group plans to invest between $750,000 and $1 million to support capital investments and operation, and has received quotes on “most major equipment items and are evaluating revenue models that will support necessary financing and investment.”
The group’s intent is that the boatyard can work in tandem with a higher capacity yard, transition into a higher-capacity yard or serve as an interim yard, the Assembly was told.
Farvour said in his research he’s found most boatyards that are successful, at least on the West Coast, are a private-public partnership – with the private sector running the yard, and the public retaining ownership of the land. He said his group’s goal is to ensure public access to the yard, under a community-driven project.
Some Assembly members said they were not ready to vote on releasing the document, given the number of questions, but the main issue was that the right document wasn’t in the packet. A few expressed frustration about the delay, since the Halibut Point Marine facility is scheduled to close in the spring.
“Let’s get the right document in front of us and move it forward,” Kevin Mosher said.
The new RFP will have more design requirements, and an option for purchasing the land or a long-term lease. Assembly members have said they prefer a long-term lease but a few voiced their view that it wouldn’t hurt to “cast a wide net.”
Storm Disaster Relief
The Assembly passed a resolution declaring a local emergency in response to the rain and wind storms that hit Sitka in late November, causing damage to roads and other infrastructure.
Leach acknowledged that Sitka’s damage was not on the same scale as in Haines, where a major landslide killed two people.
The administrator said that in Sitka damage from the record rain and high winds caused some residents to evacuate their homes, and “mass wasting events” damaged public and private property. Critical road access to both Blue Lake and Green Lake power generation facility was significantly damaged, and stream and infrastructure damage at a hatchery posed the risk of losing the fish being raised in the facility.
Leach said the unpredictable weather pattern created unusually high turbidity in Blue Lake, jeopardizing the city’s drinking water filtration avoidance waiver.
He estimated weather-related damage at $1 million, including repairs to Medvejie hatchery, stabilizing Sand Dollar Drive, repairs to Green and Blue lake roads, and general drainage repairs.
A member of the public, Richard Wein, said he agreed it was important to pass the resolution and seek funds, but the city should not be surprised if others with greater need receive more.
Other Business
On other agenda items, the Assembly:
-- approved extending the raw water sales contract to Eckert Fine Beverages, which plans to use Blue Lake water to manufacture high-end vodka. The vote was 5-2, with Nelson and Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz opposed.
-- approved a temporary lease between the city and K&E Alaska for city property at Granite Creek Lease area site 4.
-- discussed the closeout of the city’s CARES Act awards, which went to user subsidies for boat moorage, utility bills and rent, and also for schools, COVID mitigation measures and social programs, such as job creation. The deadline for Sitka to distribute its $14 million share of the federal funds was Dec. 30, but it was extended into 2021.
