After three previous failed attempts, a fourth application to put a cruise limit question before Sitka voters has passed the city’s initial legal review (on 12-16-24).   

Organizers now have a few months to collect 613 signatures in support of their ballot proposition. If they get enough signatures, it could go before the voters in a special election next spring. 

The advocacy group Small Town SOUL wants to limit cruise traffic in Sitka, following several years of growth in the industry that’s more than doubled the community’s pre-pandemic cruise traffic numbers. 

The proposed ballot initiative would limit cruise traffic in Sitka to 4500 cruise passengers per day, and 300,000 annually. It would establish a permitting process for cruise ships that the city would oversee, and would fine cruise ships if they dock without a permit or exceed the number of scheduled passengers. The new initiative also removes language requiring a Sitka port facility permit and considers “passengers” ashore instead of persons, meaning cruise ship crew members would not count toward the cap. 

It’s the first time a cruise limit ballot question has advanced this far in the process. The last three petition applications were denied by the city’s legal department because they were deemed unenforceable, and included confusing or misleading provisions. 

Anchorage law firm Jermain Dunnagan and Owens prepared the legal opinion on the proposal. In their letter, they note that opponents have called into question a number of legal concerns around the initiative. But the bar is very high for proving a ballot initiative is unconstitutional before it has been enacted. While they say the ordinance invites “a variety of possible constitutional challenges” none are clear-cut enough to warrant the city’s rejection of the application at this stage in the process. The clerk can only reject an application if the law leaves “no room for argument about its unconstitutionality.” In their recommendation that the city approve the application, they write, “At this point, any legal challenges to the proposed initiative are best addressed by a court.” 

Organizers now have to collect signatures amounting to one-third of the number of votes in the last regular municipal election. In a statement, Larry Edwards, one of SOUL’s organizers wrote, “Sitka’s home rule charter allows ninety days for us to get the signatures. But we aim to get them in weeks, not months, toward having the special election in early spring.”

Once they’ve collected signatures, the petition will be submitted to the city clerk’s office for a signature review. If enough signatures are collected for a special election, one must be held between 40-90 days later. If the ballot proposition is approved by the voters, it would go into effect in 2026.