By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Gary Paxton Industrial Park board has ranked two proposals for building a boat haulout facility at the park.
GPIP Director Garry White said the board voted at last week’s meeting to recommend that the Assembly move forward with negotiations with WC Enterprises, which had the highest score of the two proposals submitted. It received a score of 78 compared to 33 for the second company responding to the GPIP request for proposals, Sitka Sound Industrial.
Scoring the proposals at the meeting were GPIP board members Mike Johnson, Vaughn Morrison, Sheila Finkenbinder, Al Stevens, and chair Scott Wagner; and City Administrator John Leach and Public Works Director Michael Harmon.
Wagner said the group used a system called “consensus scoring,” in which they agreed on a score together for each category. The process was conducted in public, with about a half dozen attending the April 27 Zoom videoconference.
The discussion included the city administrator’s recommendation, Wagner said, which will go before the Assembly at its May 12 meeting.
Both of the proposals submitted call for some city funding – WC put the amount at $1.5 million.
A heavy-duty travel lift type boat haulout is seen as an essential piece of infrastructure for the Sitka fishing industry. The need for a new facility gained urgency with the announcement by Halibut Point Marine that it would close its haulout, the only one available to the public, in 2021.
A haulout has been part of GPIP’s strategic plan since the establishment of the industrial park at the old Alaska Pulp Corp. mill site, White said.
Currently, the park has a haulout ramp designed for barges and a multipurpose work dock. General plans for improvements call for a system to haul out boats of all types, along with a washdown pad, a work area and water, sewer and electrical utilities.
An engineer’s study by PND Engineers of Juneau estimated a cost of $8.5 million.
Issuance of a request for proposals for a private-public facility was requested by the Assembly at a special meeting on Jan. 30. At that meeting, Assembly members decided that, with no city funding available or identified, the city would seek private investment or a private-public partnership.
Interim Administrator Hugh Bevan wrote the RFP that resulted in the two offers.
WC suggested that the city use $1.5 million from its economic development fund for equipment, construction, permitting, and associated startup costs for Phase One.
“We propose the fund be used in a loan form that the company will pay back using proceeds from the MHF,” the proposal says. “The company also proposes that CBS redirect 25% of the company’s loan payments per year back to the company for infrastructure improvements at the MHF (marine haulout facility).”
The other company proposed that the city build the infrastructure with the company providing the haulout trailer.
The WC proposal involves a 300-ton Travelift; Sitka Sound Industrial proposed a 60-ton marine hydraulic trailer and 4x4 tractor.
In addition to reviewing the GPIP board recommendation, White said, the Assembly at the May 12 meeting will also consider applying for a BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) grant for the project through the U.S. Department of Transportation. The $6.4 million grant would require a $1.6 million match from the city, he said.
The purpose of the BUILD grant program is for road, rail, transit and port projects “that promise to achieve national objectives,” the DOT website says.
Leach said today that a BUILD grant for the haulout is one of two resolutions for such grants on the May 12 Assembly agenda.
The second grant proposal is for repairs to the seawall at the city’s Marine Services Center on Katlian Street.
“These are two high-priority projects,” Leach said. “We have legislative priorities, which include looking for funding to support Sitka’s working waterfront.”
Both of the grant proposals call for a 25 percent ($1.6 million) match by the city.
“Even moving forward with the application doesn’t commit us to doing it,” Leach said. “If we win it we can do it at some scale, and we don’t have to accept the grant.”
Public Works Director Harmon said the city has been working with a Chickaloon, Alaska, grant writing consultant, Lorraine Cordova, who brought the BUILD grant opportunity to the city’s attention.
