An Alaska Marine Highway ferry docked in Skagway. (Emily Files)
After last month’s Southeast Conference there are two potential opportunities for Skagway to acquire more land. According to Borough Manager Brad Ryan, it’s sorely needed.
Skagway Manager Brad Ryan says that the local Port Commission commission will meet Tuesday evening to discuss a proposal that the municipality take over ownership of the ferry terminal.
That’s after a talk with Department of Transportation Commissioner John Mac Kinnon, who gave a presentation on the future of the system at Southeast Conference.
“But then we just followed up, the mayor and I did, about how we could potentially help maintain ferry service to Skagway,” said Ryan.
“And maybe even, you know, it would be a model that other communities could follow.”
Ryan and Mayor Cremata suggested the municipality would pay to maintain and operate the terminal building and land. Ryan’s impression is that Skagway would not have to buy the land.
He says the idea is in response to a memo from Governor Mike Dunleavy that directed staff to find cost saving measures at terminals.
Ryan hopes that by reducing some operational costs for the system, Skagway can help prolong or even increase ferry service.
He says there could be local benefits beyond bolstering the state’s ferry service.
“That’s a prime piece of real estate. And we want to put, we have water down there, what we’d like our sewage mains to go down there. And there’s other expansion possibilities there. If we had the use of that land… Skagway is very land poor. And so there’s a big area that’s kind of underutilized that we could use for boat storage or small boat harbor facilities,” Ryan said.
The Port Commission will decide whether or not to make a recommendation that the assembly explore that option at a special meeting Tuesday evening.
At Southeast Conference, Ryan was also approached by the Mental Health Trust to discuss a potential land sale.
“We are actively looking for land to heal for residential use, for RV parks. I mean, we’re we’re certainly looking for land. So I would think that their land, what little I know about it would be more of a residential direction,” he said.
They don’t have a meeting on the calendar yet, but he plans to follow up with the Mental Health Trust.
The Skagway Assembly will meet this Thursday at 7 p.m. in Assembly Chambers.
