INTRO: A meeting Thursday, Skagway Assembly members disagreed on many aspects of a proposed waterfront lease. The assembly does agree that a new contract with White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad should go to a public vote. But what that document will look like depends on whether the six assembly members can work through their differences. KHNS’s Emily Files reports. _____ TRACK: The issue driving the lease discussion is Skagway’s need to install a floating dock for larger cruise ships by 2019. White Pass manages the cruise ship docks. In order to make renovations, the railroad wants a 20-year tidelands lease extension. In an economic analysis, port consultants said that if bigger ships aren’t able to dock in Skagway, the town will still see an increase in cruise revenue. It’ll just be much less of an increase than it could get with the larger vessels. That prompted resident Ken Russo to question whether it would really be that bad for the city to lose those ships. ACT 2: Could you live with not as much of an increase for a year to give yourself some time to negotiate a real and effective and more fair win-situation for city? Rather than being pressured into we gotta do this lease right now, I’m under the gun, gotta do it, gotta do it. ACT 1: I do respect what is being said, that, is it the end of the world if we miss the boat one year? TRACK: That’s Assemblyman Orion Hanson. He said maybe Skagway could sustain the loss in cruise revenue. But he worried about the negative affect that would have on local families. He related it to his childhood, when his father couldn’t find work in Skagway. ACT 2: And so he went to Hoonah. And for a couple years, he built houses in Hoonah. And I was 5,6 years old when that was happening. And it wasn’t very fun. I really don’t want to see us lose business to Hoonah again. And I think we do have a crystal ball, we can see that’s coming. TRACK: Hanson said he wasn’t ‘head-over-heels’ for the lease proposal. But he said it could be a palatable deal if the city negotiated it down to a 15-year term, with higher rent payments and more control over the land. Mayor Mark Schaefer echoed something that’s been said a few times. The lease extension could give Skagway time to work on its plan to take over management of the port. ACT 4: So to me, this is sort of like an exit strategy where we regain control of the port, which is one of the things that people are asking for. TRACK: But the fact that the exit strategy wouldn’t happen for another couple decades is a sticking point for some assembly members, including Spencer Morgan. Previously, the assembly said a 15-year lease might be OK. But Morgan said the city should try for an even shorter timeframe of 10 years. Hanson is one of two assembly members on the negotiating team. He responded to Morgan. ACT 5: Ten years – White Pass is not going to go for it. Spencer: My point is put that proposal forward and let them work with it. Orion: Well it was 20 years, we came with 10 years and settled for 15. Spencer: maybe we don’t. TRACK: Assembly members continued to butt heads as they talked about the lease issue. Hanson asked his peers for specific direction that he and Tim Cochran could take to their next negotiation meeting. Instead, the assembly decided to schedule a special meeting on Wednesday, July 26 to work on the details of the city’s counterproposal. Jay Burnham said maybe the city shouldn’t acquiesce to White Pass’s request for a new lease. He said the cruise ship floating dock shouldn’t be contingent on a new, 15-or-20-year contract. ACT 6: If they don’t want to just look at a floating dock, that’s on them, they’re the ones stopping the municipality from moving forward with a floating dock there. And I’m not playing chicken, I’m not waiting for them to blink. I want a floating dock. TRACK: If the city does want to install a floating dock by the time bigger cruise ships get to Alaska, consultants say engineering work needs to start by this fall at the latest.

Skagway’s Broadway Street on a busy cruise ship day. (Emily Files)

Over the past few years, the Skagway Borough Assembly has been trying to resolve dangerous traffic flow issues at the corner of 5th Avenue and Spring Street, where the historic Moore Homestead is located.

But the homestead is a National Parks Service historic site, which means that any roadwork affecting the property requires permission from the federal Department of Interior.

Over 100 years ago, Captain William Moore homesteaded 160 acres in Skagway in hopes of making a fortune in the gateway to the interior gold fields. The site of the first cabin he built has since become a popular tourist attraction owned by the National Parks Service.

But the property sticks out into the street at the corner of 5th Avenue and Spring Street. This creates a narrow section of road in a high traffic area.

At an assembly meeting Thursday, Assemblyman Orion Hanson described what he sees at this corner on a daily basis over the summer.  

“Often you have the Park Service interpreters and the first few people are following them in an orderly way but by the time you get back to 30 of them, they’re in the middle of the street,” Hanson said. “You have AP&T’s yard coming in and out of their direct flow. You have buses cutting back and forth from Spring Street. You have construction traffic. You have people trying to avoid Broadway. And with there being a fence right there, it’s kind of a visual barrier for pedestrians to use the boardwalk, so they end up in the middle of the road at a choke point that’s essentially a one lane road. It’s extremely dangerous.”

In 2000, the Municipality was granted permission from the National Parks Service to widen the city road onto a section of the historic homestead property in hopes of improving safety.

Due to increased tourist traffic, the assembly is reaching out to Alaska’s representatives in Washington D.C. to extend the right of way even further.

Assemblyman Steve Burnham said that it is high time that the assembly takes more substantive action to address the issue.

“The way that it has been is pretty well egregious and we need to get it fixed,” Burnham said. “We have talked with the local park officials over the last few years, and I think that it’s definitely merited, sending this to our congressional delegation.”

Jason Verhaeghe is the interpretation and education program manager for Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. He says that the National Parks Service has been working with the city to improve pedestrian safety around the Moore property by making its boardwalk more accessible.

“Prior to this season, people visiting would have to walk around a short fence to get into the area that provided a boardwalk. That just seemed kind of a natural barrier to folks that didn’t want to do that or maybe didn’t think they were allowed in there, although of course, they are. So they would choose to walk through the street. Cutting that corner off of the fence seemed to allow a lot more traffic on the boardwalk than before,” Verhaeghe said.

At the meeting Thursday, Assemblyman Hanson said that safety must take a priority over preserving the homestead.

“I get that the Park Service’s mission is to preserve the history, but this is a very dangerous situation and I think preserving history for the favor of making it dangerous is not a really good choice.”

When asked whether the national park service was concerned about changes that could affect the Moore property, Verhaeghe responded that those decisions are not up to him.

“It’s not our responsibility to decide what the American public want preserved for future generations,” Verhaeghe said. “That’s up to Congress. Regardless of any personal opinions, our mandate is to protect what we are told to protect. If congress requests that this is changed, we will wholeheartedly move forward in support of any actions taken. If Congress feels that there are other safety measures that can be made so that the lawn is protected and that that federal land is maintained as is, we will still work with the city to try to find any alternative solutions to ensure that the public is safe while visiting.”

The assembly voted unanimously to request assistance from Representative Don Young and Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan in resolving the traffic safety issues at 5th Avenue and Spring Street.