Skagway will move forward with upgrades to its downtown RV park. The municipality has agreed to spend up to almost a half-million dollars on electrical infrastructure to support RV traffic next summer. But, that leaves questions about where seasonal employees and residents will find affordable housing.
Garden City RV Park has been operated by the municipality of Skagway since 2013. During that time seasonal employees used part of it for housing during busy summer tourist seasons. This year, however, seasonal use campers were removed from the park to make room for more overnight RV spots.
Last week, the municipality agreed to spend up to $450,000 on electrical upgrades in the park without having a long-term plan in place to determine its future or the future of the now displaced seasonal workers.
Assemblyperson Orion Hanson, during last week’s borough assembly meeting, said moving forward without a long-term vision isn’t good policy.
“If we’re going to put electrical in and if then we decide that it’s going to be a permanent RV park, I think you have to dig all that back up and redo it then put water and sewer in. And that’s as somebody who runs an excavator and owns one. That’s definitely something you always want to plan forward, what you’re doing where it’s going, so you don’t do it twice, especially when it’s buried in the ground,” said Hanson.
But assemblyperson Dustin Stone made the argument that independent travelers in RVs would bring much-needed revenue to downtown businesses that are facing a third straight summer season with the potential of reduced cruise ship traffic.
“If we choose to do nothing, it sounds like it’d just be another season of that RV park sitting empty. And if that happens the things that get hurt are the business owners that are relying on independent travelers to help bolster an economy that’s already struggling. And it doesn’t look great on the town in my opinion, either, when you have independent travelers coming or asking about an RV park and we’ve got a big empty one sitting in the middle of town,” said Stone.
Meanwhile assemblyperson Sam Bass argued that it makes no sense to spend nearly a half-million dollars on electrical upgrades if the municipality moves forward with the plan to turn the park into lots to sell and create a neighborhood to help alleviate the lack of affordable housing in town.
“Why not invest that money into something we can keep? Why not take that money and invest it into either developing the five acres that we bought for the very purpose of creating an RV park, or putting that $450,000 into making Garden City ready for lots and housing. I do not think that Skagway has a lack of RV’ers crisis, I think Skagway has a housing crisis. And that crisis is going to continue to plague this town if we don’t take action,” said Bass.
The five acres Bass referred to is land north of town that doesn’t yet have water and sewer capabilities but would have access to electricity. Assemblyperson Reba Hylton argued that independent travelers should be welcomed into the downtown area instead of being kept on the outskirts of town because they will spend far more money than cruise ship passengers.
“Our economy is tourist so we need to diversify within that sector. And the best way to do that is to bring independent travelers to our community. We are not just a stop somewhere, we want to be a destination so these people can stay multiple nights. So no, I do not want to see them out of the city limits,” said Hylton.
Assemblyperson Jay Burnham suggested the area north of town would be a good place to put the seasonal residents while keeping Garden City RV Park in town to better attract independent travelers. But no plan was agreed upon.
They did agree to meet as a committee to discuss long-term plan for the RV park. But no date has been set.
A further complicating factor is that the RV park was once the site of a residential boarding school for Native children. This year the Skagway Traditional Council requested an archeological study be done to assess whether any items of importance remain buried at the site.
Skagway officials are in talks with the STC to conduct the archeological study which will include the use of ground-penetrating radar.
In the meantime, the municipality is looking to break ground on its electrical upgrades project as early as possible next spring. However, municipal officials told KHNS on Tuesday that any upgrades won’t be done before the archeological study is completed.
