Last fall, a group of Sitkans tried twice to get an ordinance to limit cruise traffic to 240,000 visitors annually before voters. Both failed to make it beyond the city’s legal review process. Since then the group has organized into a nonprofit, Small Town SOUL. On June 18, they submitted their third petition with a higher cruise visitor limit –300,000 passengers annually, with a daily limit of 4500 passengers, starting in the 2025 cruise season.
In an interview with KCAW, SOUL president Klaudia Leccese says 300,000 was the number that came up most often in community surveys conducted by the city’s tourism task force.
“We heard from the task force meetings, and just generally, that 300,000 would be kind of a more acceptable number,” Leccese said. “So we’re trying to listen to the what we’ve heard from the public.”
Sitka’s assembly-appointed tourism task force spent the winter researching the ‘right-size’ for cruise tourism in Sitka. They gathered data through surveys and town halls, then spent months reviewing that data. The group presented their final report and recommendations to the assembly in May, but they didn’t land on a “magic number” for cruise visitors. Instead, among its 32 findings, the group recommended pursuing a formal agreement with the cruise industry, leveling off the growth, shortening the length of the season and reducing peak days. But Leccese says she and other community members weren’t satisfied.
“Personally, I just don’t see…their recommendation as being representative of what the community really feels,” Leccese said. “I don’t think they had their finger on the pulse of the community.”
Leccese and fellow SOUL member Devon Calvin say they want a voice in deciding the future of tourism:
“As a young person, I’m really wanting to have some sort of say in the unfolding of tourism here in town, and making sure that it’s not completely out of my hands,” Calvin said. “I don’t want this place to be overwhelmed or, a lot of people say, ‘Disney-fied.’ I’d like to just steer it in a direction that is kind of in keeping with some of the place-based values that I care about. And a lot of that is revolving around local food security and sharing food, celebrating food, being outside, and being part of this really great place.”
Larry Edwards wrote the first two initiatives, which were peer reviewed by other community members but weren’t drafted with an attorney’s help- this one was. He’s hoping that will help ensure the petition advances.
“Legal advice is definitely very helpful in this, and I think we have a very clean product now that we think the city should just adopt,” Edwards said. “Why even put it on the ballot.”
The initiative also includes a letter from the group’s attorney, pointing to a section of Sitka general code that says the Sitka Assembly may direct the city attorney to help with the wording of a petition.
“And we hope that the assembly will take immediate action to authorize the attorney to do that during the period when the city clerk is looking at certifying or denying the application,” Edwards said. “So we’re just trying to smooth the process and make it easy for the city and easy for us to try to get it all done in one go.”
KCAW reached out to the municipal administrator who declined to comment on the new initiative. In a statement shared with KCAW, cruise terminal owner Chris McGraw said cruise tourism doesn’t have to be at odds with community well-being. Imposing rigid caps through ballot measures, he wrote, “not only risks dividing our community and complicating the pursuit of effective long-term solutions, but also causes significant economic disruption to the entire community.”
The city has two weeks to verify the petition signatures and review the proposed ordinance language. If it passes legal review, the organizers have a short window to gather signatures if they want to see the question on the ballot in the October municipal election. Otherwise it will go to a special election.
