By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Gary Paxton Industrial Park board voted Wednesday in favor of a site next to the old barge haulout ramp at the park as the preferred location for a new boat haulout.
Consultants PND Engineers of Juneau, the project manager and design team, initially recommended a site next to the NSRAA hatchery, based on the criteria given to them in the project charter.
About two dozen members of the public were at Wednesday’s two-hour board meeting, including many from the fishing fleet and workers in the marine trades, GPIP director Garry White said.
The barge haulout at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park is pictured today. (Sentinel Photo)
“Once the information was presented, it was obvious what the move would be,” White said in today’s summary of the meeting, and the decision on the haulout location.
The main decision the board made was to “abandon” the access ramp formerly used by Northline Seafoods, which no longer operates in the park.
The broad earthen ramp was built to skid barges onto dry land for various purposes, but it hasn’t been used for that purpose in years, officials said.
White said that when the consultants went through their scoring system with board members, the ramp site did not have a high score for a haulout because of the “impact to adjacent operations” listed under issues to be considered. With the barge ramp abandoned for future use, that site scored highest for a haulout.
“It was a very robust discussion,” White said today. “Using site number two (the ramp site) allows for more efficient operations because it cuts travel distance almost in half, compared to site three, which is the hatchery site.”
The travel distance he was referring to is that between the planned boatyard on Lot 15 in the center of the industrial park and the haulout piers on the water. Site 3 at the hatchery is 400 feet away and site 2 at the ramp is 200 feet away from the boatyard.
“To a member of the board and member of the consulting team – both had operated haulouts previously – their comments were that the machines move at walking speed,” White said. “They both said the least amount of distance not only increases the efficiency of getting boats out of the water, but also there’s a reduction in wear and tear on the Travelift. We’re hoping this thing lasts for decades.”
White said he was surprised by the decision, but agreed that it made the most sense and would provide efficiencies for those using the haulout.
Consultants at the meeting pulled up the scoring criteria and re-scored the matrix using the new information, that the current use of the ramp would be abandoned and the site be readily available for other uses.
“Part of the discussion was that in the future we could put a ramp anywhere we want, which will meet the needs of the current uses,” White said. He added that the use of the ramp is intermittent and incidental, by fishermen and construction companies loading up boats with heavy equipment.
The board voted 4-0 to direct PND and the city to move forward with site 2 as the location for the new haulout piers. Attending the meeting were board chair Scott Wagner, Lauren Mitchell, Mike Johnson and Chad Goeden. Casey Campbell was absent.
The four factors in the scoring criteria were cost (50 percent), operations (32.5 percent), expansion (10 percent), and constructibility risk (7.5 percent). Abandoning the current use of the ramp raised the score under “operations,” in the category of “impacts to adjacent property owners.” The change to “no impact” added about 6 points to the ramp site score. The result was a score of 94 points, compared to 91 for the hatchery site, White said.
The goal in the project charter is for boats to be hauled out starting the spring of 2025.
“Now that the board has narrowed in on a site, consultants will continue on with the next steps,” White said. That includes developing the concept design and cost estimates for the selected site, identifying permits needed, and preparing a design summary.
“We absolutely want to get public input. We’re using public funds and want a haulout that serves the majority of the fleet,” White said.
Wagner said he was pleased with the outcome, and added that the old barge ramp site will be far less expensive overall than a haulout next to the hatchery.
Fisherman Jeff Farvour, who was part of the group which proposed a community haulout, agreed. He said the community boatyard group had understood that the barge ramp site would not be an option.
“PND pointed out what we knew all along: the ramp is the best place because it’s so close to Lot 15, where boats will be staged,” Farvour said by text message. The barge ramp hasn’t been used in years, “nor will there be a barge hauled out anytime soon,” he said.
“Additionally,” he added, “once we have a second larger Travelift it should be able to haul out barges. So why hold the ramp hostage?” He said he appreciates that PND brought up the possibilities of a better facility if the site were abandoned as a barge ramp, and that the board agreed.
“Hopefully, this will get the planning going,” he said. “We’ll be out fishing a lot of the summer but we will try to stay involved in the process,” he said.
Last October Sitka voters approved dedicating the $8.18 million from the sale of the former Sitka Community Hospital real estate to construction of a community haulout and boatyard at the industrial park. The initial phases call for haulout piers, a Travelift, washdown pad and waste water treatment facility.
