The Sitka Assembly has approved funding to cover the costs of this summer’s anticipated boom in cruise visitors. But the budget is still missing one key component: Whether to close the main downtown thoroughfare to traffic on the busiest days.
Around 480,000 cruise passengers are expected to travel to Sitka this summer, following the recent expansion of the private Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal. And for the last 9 months, the city’s Planning Department has been drafting a plan to receive the large influx of tourists.
When the Assembly met on January 25, it discussed that plan and the costs that go with it. The $1.1 million dollar budget includes everything from 11 seasonal staff positions, to temporary bathrooms, bear proof trash cans, better library wifi, and more emergency vehicles.
One thing missing from the budget? Lincoln Street. The Assembly still hasn’t decided whether to close Lincoln Street from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on big cruise ship days, or make it a one-way street all summer. Both options have a cost, but it’s a bit less expensive to make Lincoln Street one-way.
Jim Michener, who owns a business on Lincoln Street, said he is in favor of closing the road, although he supports keeping it accessible for deliveries and emergency services.
“The lack of sidewalk space, I’m sure you’ve heard from the city, we get an F grade with how much sidewalk space we have available if there’s more than, I believe, 1000 people in town,” Michener said. “So I know that’s going to create a lot of problems with parking and things like that. But I really see the future as being a walking pedestrian zone.”
But William Jacobs said he opposes a closure, and even wondered if it was too late to say ‘Please don’t come’ to the wave of tourists.
“So when you consider these proposals, think about who’s town this is. Even more important, think about whether you’re solving the right problem,” he said. “Maybe downtown isn’t too congested. Maybe we’re trying to put too many people in it. You don’t buy a random pair of shoes and cut your foot down until it fits. If it doesn’t fit, don’t wear it.”
But Assembly member Thor Christianson said that call is out of the hands of municipal government.
“Even if we do nothing on this plan, they’re coming anyway,” Christianson said. “So the only real question is, ‘Do we want to get ready for it?’ If it’s raining hard, and you’re living in an area that floods, should you put sandbags up, or just let the flood come? And to a certain extent, this plan is the sandbags.”
Assembly Member Crystal Duncan brought up concerns about how a closure would affect Sitkans with limited mobility, and Assembly Member Dave Miller questioned whether they should reconsider the time of the closure: If Lincoln Street doesn’t close until 10 a.m., what happens to the cars that parked along the street at 9 a.m.?
The Assembly sidestepped the Lincoln Street problem, and went on to approve covering the budget as presented. But not without more questions. Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said he saw a few gaps in the budget he wanted to look into, namely the impact the tourist boom could have on Sitka’s waste stream. He wondered if it would be possible to use Cruise Passenger Excise Tax funds to offset some of the costs.
“It’s easy for me to assume, with half-a-million visitors in town, they’re going to produce a larger amount of garbage that we’re going to have to then pay to ship out here,” Eisenbeisz said. “Now I see a little bit of funding to pick up trash cans. But I don’t see any funding to help offset the cost of shipping it out of here. And that’s going to have the direct effect, that if that account continues to go into the negative because we’re shipping out additional garbage, that the ratepayers are going to have to have a rate increase in order to cover that.”
The Assembly approved the budget on first reading 6 to 1 with Eisenbeisz opposed. The budget will come before the Assembly at its next regular meeting for a second reading, when the group will also consider a vote on the Short-Term Tourism plan, and just maybe, a budget – and a plan – for Lincoln Street.
