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February 9, 2024
Assembly approves Garden City RV plan
By Gretchen Wehmhoff After months of deliberation and public testimony, the Skagway Assembly, at their Jan.18 regular meeting, passed a resolution moving forward plans for portions of Garden City RV Park to be converted to single and multi-family residential use. Resolution 2023-30R, introduced in August 2023, directs the Administration to subdivide Blocks 95 and 102 into twenty-four (24) 5,000 sq. ft. parcels. The terms of disposal for the lots are varied. Four lots of Block 102 will be set for public lottery for Skagway residents who are first time home buyers. First time buyers are defined in the resolution as a person who has never owned a principal residence and will reside on the property as their primary residence. There are a few exceptions accounting for current and past spouses such as persons whose spouse had previously been a homeowner, but does not currently own real property; a single parent or homemaker who previously owned a home with an exspouse and those who own timeshare property. Two 10,000 sq. ft. parcels within the business general zoning will be designated for multi-family housing. Purchase of these larger lots would be via request for bids (RFB) process with purchasers required to develop housing according to MOS specifications. Two lots of Block 102 will be set aside, anticipating a future assembly resolution for a multi-unit municipal housing project. (see page 3 - Garden)
Photo by Jaime Bricker
Photo by Gretchen Wehmhoff
Photo by Gretchen Wehmhoff
Work continues on the Skagway Harbor. Top left; The tug Ann Marie, assists with logistics. On the right, one of several cranes prepares to lift another piling for Ore Dock construction. On the lower left, a piling rests ready to be deployed on the project in December. An open hatch reveals a crescent moon.
Testimony urges balancing tourism numbers with quality of life By Gretchen Wehmhoff Lynn Davison attended a showing of a Sitka tourism film at the AB Hall. According to Davison, it was an eye-opener. She relayed that Sitka had approximately 500,000 cruise ship visitors - about 62 visitors per Sitka resident, she estimated. She shared her alarm during citizens present at the Feb. 1 assembly meeting. “To put this in perspective, this last summer Skagway hosted between 1.2 and 1.3 million visitors. This translates into 1200 to 1300 cruise ship visitors per resident,” Davison said. The impact on the small town of Skagway was more than concerning as cruise ship numbers increase annually and the need for more employees to work seasonally expands. “Our entire town is be-
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coming cruise ship focused. Housing that used to be filled with longtime Skagway citizens, young growing families, workers tradesmen and professionals is now left vacant for seven or eight months of the year - set aside exclusively for the use of a torrent of summer workers who support tourist-oriented businesses and, at the end of the season, take their summer earnings and leave town,” Davison said. Sherry Corrington says that Skagway needs to find out what its residents truly want. “We need surveys. We need to know what the people of Skagway want, when it comes to the industry that is exponentially growing and taking us out. We’re losing people left and right,” she said, referring to a number of residents who have shared
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stories of losing housing due to seasonal housing conversion and those who are leaving Skagway, no longer able to find or afford year-round housing. Corrington put the question to Facebook in a quick, unofficial poll. She asked how many folks were being displaced due to their buildings being changed over to seasonal housing. “In 30 minutes, I had 30 names. And in 24 hours I pulled it. I had people sending me private messages because they didn’t want to be named. They didn’t want to do that to their neighbors.” Michael Yee said he wanted to add his voice at the meeting. He said it isn’t just about whether or not Skagway takes more visitors, it is about the impact on the community. “We are at record levels
of visitors right now. Our infrastructure is maxed out - water and sewer. Try using your cell phone in the summertime. It’s tough sometimes. Our roads are crazy busy with buses and more buses and the Dyea road has become unpleasant to be on during the summertime. Crime is up, drugs are in and our clinic is maxed out,” Yee said. During discussion, assemblymember Alex Weddel encouraged the conversation to continue. “Thank you for coming out and speaking. Please continue to do so. If you’re listening to this remotely, please write a letter. If you don’t want to come to the meeting. Please let your voice be heard because we’re listening,” she said.
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