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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-11-20 Harbor Commission Summary,,, . ~. . r -..-_.. ~ c ~, ~ ~ ~ ' ~. ~ . , ' ~ ~ ~~ ~~ -b "'J I '„ KENAI HARBOR COMMISSION MEETING PUBLIC SAFETY BUtLDING . KENAI, ALASKA 99611 November 20, ]979 HARBOR COMMISSION MEMBERS: Mr. Robert Peterkin, Chairman Mr. John W~1liams, Vice-Chairman ~ Mr. Tom Ackerly Mr. William Burnett Mr. Chester Cone Mr. Bob Tepp . . . Mr. Tom Wagoner , EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS: Mrs. Betty Glick, Councilwoman Mr. Uincent 0'Reilly, Mayor STAFF PRESENT: Mr. Ben Delahay, City Attorney ~ Mr. Vince 0'Rei11y,~Mayor CALL TO ORDER: Commissioner Robert Peterkin called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. ROLL CALL: ~ Tom ~Ackerly, .Present ~ William Burnett, Absent - Excused Chester Cone, Present . Robert Peterkin, Present Bob Tepp, Present ~ . Tom Wagoner, Present ~ John Williams, Present AGENDA APPROVAL: The agenda for November 20, 1979, was approved with the following change; ITEM F-1, Harbormaster Convention at Seward, moved to Item C-2. ITEM D-2, Recommendation Letters to Council, moved to Item D-1 ITEM D-1, Discuss $600,000 Available State Harbor Development . Funds, moved to Item D-2 ~ APPROVAL OF MINUTES The minutes of November 6, 1979 were approved with the following correction; Page #4; Commissioner William Burnett made a motion (line 1~ Commissioner Cone seconded ~line 7} CORRESPONDENCE Commissioner Peterkin reported that historical data had been sent to Borough and State Agencies as well as agencies in Seattle, Portland, California giving a brief resume on the hHK~UK ~U~~1551UN MtEIiNG ,Nover~ber 20, 1979 ' P~ ~ 2 ~~ ~~~ , ~~ Correspondence Cont'd: purpos~ nf the Kenai Harbor Commissioner which was formed May 22, 1979. Commissioner Wi7liams submitted an additional list of ~those . who attended the Seward Harbormaster's Convention and requested these names be added to the list to receive,,, material. ~ . REP4RTS: Commissioner Peterkin and Wil]iams reported on the Ei hth . , g . Annual Harbormasters Convent~on held ~n Seward,November 14, 15, 16, 1979. It was the concensus of op~i ni on that the meeting was extremely informative. Commissioner Williams reported on the 2 day session he attended, dealing with people who are involved in the ~ port and harbor business. One he talked with was Arctic Oilfield Services, who brought his brochures down to the meeting.. They are in the business of oil spi11 cieanu s . . . . . . p and explorat~on serv~ce, rig mov~ng superv~s~on, anything that has to do with water. He ~~~ been involved in just about every ma j or oi 1 spi 11 i n A1 aska al ong wi th eve,ry major rig move up and down Cook Inlet, as well as repairing equipment on the water. He was down there trying to sell oi1 booms, retainr~ent devices, sandbags, etc. A lot of the equipment he was showing was just for harbors and around harbors. One of the most interesting things, as far as the Coast Guard was concerned is the bill they are trying to put thru, and it is the second time they have tried, and that is the substitute for~ HR-390, which was last years bill still dealing with water safety, it's the legislative intent to establish;the responsibiiity for water safety witM the State rather than the Federal Government. They are wanting the State to take care of their own water safety program. During the round table discussian with State Harbor- masters and State Department Masters, they put together a statement of po1icy relating to the operation and management of State owned harbor facilities. This doesn't necessarily mean State owned, it means any facility in which the State has money, for example if we went to the State to get money to put our harbor together, this is the way they would like us to operate the harbor. When I say''theyythis particular set of rules and regulations has been deve1oped by all of the baat harbormasters thru out the State. The harbormasters there were from Homer, Seward, Juneau, every place there are big harbors. These are the regs they use and they are very informative. They cover euerythi ng from t~i e-up fees to 1 i ve on faci 1 i ti es , haul i ng garbage, etc. It`s interesting because if we ever do get a boat harbor put together here, we have a ready made set of regulations and we will not have to sit down and debate over. We will have a State wide set of regulations which we can adopt into ours. Some brought a set of regula~ions and harbor fees, these are charged by the harbor and harbor facilities in Cordova. They list what they receive by the year for each established rate, articles description~and function of ownership of harbor and harbor fa~ilities and ordinances and regulations relating to. r ! ~HARBOR CQMMISSION MEETINC Nov~mber 20, 1919 . Page 3 Reports Cont'd: The State regulations that I showed you are an overall ~ group of regulations that may be tied to any that we may adopt for our own local use. What I found most interesting, we should already have a 400 boat basin & we should be going for funds to expand instead of being at the stage of just starting. Corps of Engineers report done sometime back,to me after going to this meeting:~is nothing but hogwash and irresponsibility in reporting, perhaps done by someone who didn't want to be bothered with getting involved.with building another port and harbor facilit~. This book that I am passing around now has a list and drawing of all boat and harbor facilities in the State of Alaska in every imaginable place you can think of including ~ little old boat ramps going into the Chatinika River that have been sponsored by State Funds. There are a lot of places that I see in there, that have ~ot a 1ot more difficulties with . putting ~n a boat and harbor basin, a small boat basin, or a docking faci~ity~,~ the~ we have. I think we have an ideal ~ situation. Ther~ are places listed in there that have populations so sma11 that,,~~ey:~~~e~:~e~eiY~i.ng :sUCh maximum amount~ of money th~ i t' s~ almost o~bscene, when you take a pl ace wi th 300 to 400 people that are receiving 3 or 4 million dol1ars for their boat and harbor facilities. The department of ~ transportation in Statt~~s!, office this year before the legislature is proposing and sending thru requests for 93 , million dollars for either the construction of new or the addition to existing boat harbor facilities and ramps and docks thru out the State of Alaska. Where I see us.is about ten years late in this whole operation. This Commission right now ' should be concerned with now getting 5 million for expansion not 5 million to start the operation out with. Thats just how far behind we are. I think overall if we hadn't been down ~ there and learned what we learned we would have been missing the boat because this has realiy opened my eyes to what is going on. Commissioner Peterkin reported that Mr: Bob Ward attended the meeting and he was discussing the State's 500 million for transportation and the ports & harbors of the State. Under transportation approximately 20/ of these funds ao to ports & harbors. Now these funds have absolutely~nothing to~do wi~~h the monies that Commissioner Williams was talking about. This other money is a whole new ball game and isn't related. Colonel Nunn spoke to the group and represented himself as an Alaskan, and from the way he spoke about his feelings, about the State, his job, and the bureaucratic red tape problem, this man can be dealt with. I don't know how or if we can get him down here personally,~and I would recommend we do this~ to attend a meeting it would be advantageous for the Gommission. The report done by the corps of engineers makes statements which are unbelievable and they express themselves that Port Nikiski has facilities which can totally take care of every- thing & it would be a waste of time and e~ffort & money to put a dock in at the mouth of the river because the dock out there can take care of everything. Some of the direct statements are a criticism,that they were insulted we should ~ ~ ~ HARBOR C~MMISSION MEETIN~~ x Nou~mber 20, 1919 , ~ag~ 4 ; Reports Cont'd: ask. I believe if we could get Colonel Nunn and explain our problems and situations and get him down here, with h~is frame of mind and the monies that he is putting out into these small population . areas, I just don't understand why we can't have~,a boat harbor under production next spring down here for the City. I believe Colonel Nunn could turn this ` gentleman around. The Cor~sof Engineers has a new , program, in a slang term they call it #107, it is a program that is very quick in the time element ~ dealing with the Corpsof Engineers, instead of 2- 3 years down the road they could have money for you in 6. months and be underway. The only problem with this & apparently there could be a way around it, this has a , Z million cap on it. Right now the State of Alaska must come up with 5/ of any harbor faciliti~s that come i~. This 5/ is not part of.this 2 million dollars. There`s a letter I had a copy rQp for you from Senator Gravel on this ~^eport on a newspaper article ~ i n Juneau I bel i eve, there i s a 1 ot o~f money ~a~id ~~ ~.t ~ speaks of a 304 mi 11 ~.on dal l ar~ val u~ f~~ ~he expansi on study for ports & harbors in the State of Alaska. I think its imperative that this Commission get in. touch with Senator Gravel and update this report. , One instance that I am talking about, Cordova filed & Cordova has now been granted an 8 mi1lion dollar add on facility and the Corpsof Engineers started last fall and they are now going into ~roduc~ian this winter or ea~ly spring on this 8 million dollar addition. 2 mi 11 i on f rom the Corps of Eng i neers and 6 mi 11 i on f rom the State of Alaska. There is a way for us, we just haven't contacted the right man. I think Senator ~ Gravel would be the right person to start with. It mioht even be a good idea if we could send a man to Cordova to sit down with the harbormaster and ask to take a look at what you have and how did you get it. I don't know of any other way. Maybe Senator Grave.l could give us the correct inform~tion. In his report we aren't listed as a prime, but we are listed in line for monies. Commissioner Williams reported that everyone in the harbor business, boat harbor business, and docking , business is asked to send to Statt~r's office an update on the conditions of their ports, if anything new has been added, then this information is added to the ,aamplet: and it comes out as a revised report every ye.ar. Th~n you know how many slips they have, what their fees are, if they have power available, repair facilities, 1odgings, groceries, fuel, everything is stated. Commissioner Peterkin reported that the Corps of Engineer`s spent 43 million this summer on ports & harbors in Alaska. Some in Kake, Port Lions, Cordova, Ketchikan, '~ ~HARBOR COMMISSI~N MEETIN~ ~ ' November 20, 1979 Page 5 Reports Cont'd: Juneau, Kodiak, & St. Lawrence Island. They are willing to spend 2 million dollars in a native village that has 25 to 50 families there, and their biggest boat was an 18 footer, paddle driven and they are willing to put a 2 million dollar break water in for these people. They had snap shots of this, and there has to be a division for a break- down for these monies. If ~rou take it by population wise, we are in line for 150 million dol]ar dock , right now, no questions asked. Statter is head of the whole division in the State of Alaska, thats State money not Corp~ of Engineer money. We need to tie in with the 2 million Corp~ funds and go right to the State funds. Commissioner Peterkin reported that Mayor 0'Reilly was suggesting by ]etter to Don Statter that he visit with the Harbor Commission, and probably this man could answer all the questiors that he has just put forth. This man acts as a~uffer between the State, Federal Government, and Corps of Eng~neers. He is a practical man6 This meeting here could very well be the most important one that the Commissian could have with anyone. He can blueprint for us just what to do. We~must move. There was general discussion from the Commission Members on obtaining money from the State, was this a matching fund program, or a pay back situation. The feasibility af any sort of boat harbor other than a breakwater to give protection to boats, or a temporary float that can be removed in the winter. There is a general need as e~pressed by Commissioner Peterkin,for the City to have a dock facility that can take care of fishing boa~s. The fishing industry is a renewal resource. There was general discussion on Roper-Dean project & it was reported that Roper wanted to get his project started and turn it over to the City. The Commission questioned the permits and if they were transferrable. Perhaps if Co]onel Nunn comes down to meet with the Commission, he might have some suggestions a1ong this . line. SITE LOCATIONS The Commission commented on the site locations for a FOR SMALL BOAT small boat harbor. Deep draft dredging, size of harbor, HARBOR: uses other than by fishing boats, large dock, medium draft boats, sedimentation rate, and the comment that~ ~ Bethel has a resident dredge. Perhaps there would be a possibility of using the dredge here. Mayor 0'Reilly commented that the Commission has gone - i HAR~BOR COMMISSION MEETZNG ' 6 November 20, 1979 Page 6 ~ Site Locations for through different phases including an .. :.. Small Boat Harbor Cont.'d: ordinance to start. It seems what the Commission is focussin~ on, is should it be private enterprise . that should develop the areas in the river or should it be public. Mr. Roper decided to do something because no one else was moving and he could See no effort on the part of the City. It appears that the sentiment~on the part of the Commission is to go the City route. ~ It was Mayor 0`Reilly's conviction that when speaking of the type payout necessary for a major harbor, they were speaking of a payout of 34-50 years in order for it to pay off. This would be more of an investment than przvate enterprise. The standing of t~e Commission with the Council is high, and the Commission didn't use up the full $650.00 doilars, so if the Commission wishes, he ~-ould recommend at the Cauncil Meeting that the balance of these funds be used to send someone to Cordova to talk with them to see what their situation is. CONSULTAP~T REPORT Mayor 0'Reilly sugg~sted the Commission proceed now & MOUTH OF RIUER TO request a consultant report so that they provide a EASTERN LIMIT: plan that you would be comfortable with from tne mouth of the harbor to the extent of your authority down the river. Further, not knowing what WoodwardjClyde would come up ~ with and if it would be samething that would satisfy the Commission, he recommended the Commission ask for a $5,000.00 do11ar appropriation from City Council to have a consultant prepare quickly, a development plan from the mouth of the ri~er to the eastern limit, and a~so, look at the firm of R.W. Thorpe who provided the comprehensive plan for the City & who is extremely familiar with the City and the relationship of the economy in Kenai. He has experience in the Seattle area & ha~ a great talent for ~ presentation of maps. Mayor 0'Reilly felt the Council wou1d be receptive to the request for funds. He further suggested a meeting be set up with Statter and Nunn telling them what the Commission has in mind. The Commission will have to make a fundamental decision as to the type of development they want, and if it should be by City Government than start some type of negotiations and arrangements. What happened in Seward adjusted our sights and scope as to what can be done & what is being done in other areas, and what we can do here. The City Administration would need to get from the Commission what they want ~mphaised and then s~t down with Malone, 0'Connell, & Tillion before they go to Juneau. When we get thru with this process of having a consujtant report, a meeting with Statter & Nunn, starting negotiations with Roper and then a recommendation to our State Delegation listing the amount of money we need tied in with the $600,000 with the Stat~. ~ , ~ HARBOR COMMISSION MEETIN~ ; ~ No~ember 20, 197~ ~ Page 1 Consul~ant Report Cont'd: There was general discussion by the Commission not to become involved with Mr. Roper and the funds available for the Department of Renewable Resources and otf~er ~nt~ t.~ es : :. Commissioner Tepp recommended that the position~of the Commission be made clear to M~r. Roper regarding a sma11 ~ boat harbor. ~ RECOMMENDATION LETTERS Commissioner Peterkin recommended to the Commission TO COUNCIL: that the following letters be considered as proposed . , and sent to City Council; ~ 1. Letter to Robert Roper Lease Applicatian on Tract D, Port of Kenai After many hours of consideration, the Harbor Commission recommends that this lease would not be in the best ~t~~~r~st of the ~C~ty of Kenai and recammends the City Council deny this lease. 2. Letter to Doris Lashley - Sea Catch Doris Lashley has been invited to and placed on the agenda several times and has not appeared, in view of the age of her application the Harbor Commission has rejected her application, further, 1f Sea Catch is still interested in obtaining a lease the Harbor Commission would consider a new lease application. 3. Letter to Port of Entry - City Council Submit a letter to District Director af Customs to request from Secretary of Treasury af the United States of America, that the Port of Kenai be designated a Port of Entry, said request to include a boundary of a 25 mile radius ~from the current U. S. Post Office - Kenai} of the City of Kenai. , ACTION: Commissioner Wagoner moved that letters be sent as proposed to; Robert Roper, Sea Catch, and Port of Entry-City Council. Commissioner Wi1liams seconded. ~ Roll call vote - motion approved unanimously. $ 600,000 STATE HARBOR Commissioner Peterkin reported that it had been brought DEVELOPMENT FUNDS: to his attention that this money could be used by the , City to take Tract A and develop that as a faci~lity for the City, in other words make the boat ramp maybe two or three times as wide as what it is. Clean it up, gravel pad it, possibly make a buttment out of 1ogs for the height of gravel, put a bumper cushion up there so people , ~ could come down there, park their boats, vehicles and use ~ •HARB4R COMMISSION I~EETINC ~ ~ ~ November 2Q, 1~79 Page 8 $ 600, OOO State Harbor the ri ver. Basi cal ly thi s money has s~t i n Juneau for Development Funds Cont'd. many years. It has been across the table several times, and with inflation a lot of the mone,y has be,en used up. The money is there and we shou~d do something with it. The Commission should take the initiative and plan to deve1op Tract A for a public use facility. This is the : idea that I have on Tract A and the ~~Q0,000. There was general discussion on this, and some of the items covered were; ~ Was tb~ $600,000 spec.ifically for Tract A..... How the City obtained Tract A ................ The City could not sell or lease Tract A..... Tract a was given to the City by B.L.M. & there are tight restrictlons on the property........... ~ Since the City must use the property sooner or later, it's there and there is a need for it, so why not do it. Commissioner Williams reported that Tract A has been a probl em to the Ci ty of Kenai for a 1 ong time, as you ~ a11 recall the big turmoil the City of Kenai had with , Cherrier & Cherrier when they shut the gate~and padlocked it and wouldn't let any one go across their property to ~ get to Tract A to the City Boat Ramp. Then the City begins to build a road of sorts from Kenai Spur Road al1 ~ the way into Tract A in order for them to have access to it. This would be one way of solving a major portion of the problem for the City with Tract A. Perhaps what should be done is enter into som~e kind of agreement for a plan to hire a local planning firm, draw a picture of the place, show the access that comes in, with a cost estimate for ~ removing all the garbage, old planes, drums, and waste,~ ciean it up, improve the road, cap it with gravel, do what improvements we can to the boat ramp and make it usable for the City. It seems that this would solve a 1 ot of probl ems .that ~~aue come b~f ore the C~ ty Counci 1 time and again. It was suggested perhaps the Commission could go to PMI or some other firm for the items the Commission wanted done. Perhaps get Charles Brown to get an estimate, and have it ready for the next meeting of December llth. Maybe it would be necessary to go to the Counci.l to request funding for the Study. The Commis~sion requested Mr. Delahay to investigate the possibility of refunding the City for the stud,y from the $600,000. Ai so ,th~y should contact the f~ rm~.~who d~d the study on the ramp. RECESS: , At 9:30 p.m. by general consent, a short recess was called. RE-CONVENE: At 9:40 p.m. the regular meeting reconvened. r ~ , ' . ~ ~ HAR~OR COMMISSION MEETING f ~ November 20, 1~79 ~ Page 9 . . n . . . , . , Comm~ss~o er Williams moved that the City Administration seek out the services of one of the local engineering firms , and ask them to g~ve us a figure; TRACT A ACTIQN: As to what they would charge us for an engineering study and cost estimate for the fol l owi ng work; ~~ A. Pian of Tract A showing location of access to tract A, faci]ities now i~n place and ge~eral terrain, treeline, waterl i ne~ etc. ~ ~ B. Cost of upgrading access to fuli gravel cap, graded road of .a width of 30' . ~ C. Cost per acre to fill and cap with gravel substantial enough to support Boat Storage Facility. D. Upgrade and repair, and double the width of existing .,~_~~ ramp, repai r pi 1 i ng. E. Instal l ati on of hol di ng tau~ik type Restroom Faci i i ti es . F. Guard rail at edge of gravel to prevent cars from going into river. G. Regulatory Signs "NO PARK, etc. ~~ H. Outdoor mercury vapor or such~, Night lighting.. I. Representative of firm to confer with Harbor Commission prior to start of work. Commissioner Wagoner seconded. Roll ca11 vote. Motion approved unanimously. LEASE APPLICATION There was general discussion by the Commission on the FORM: revised lease application form. Attorney Delahay recommended the application be part of the lease, and to move from page 2- and place on page 1 at the top of the ~page "This application will be part of the lease" and adding to page 1-"Description of P.roperty" at the ~ bottom of the page. Page 2 wou1d be the Layout Plan Page 3 would be Building Information Page 4 would add; Attached hereto as Exhibit A is a detailed financial plan demonstrating the applicant`s abi1ity to carry through with the development plan. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is proof of ability to obtain a performance bond conditioned upon completion of the construction as contemplated in the development plan. And adding a date and signature line to this statement. ACTI4N: Commissioner Williams moved the Commission approve the revised lease application as recommended. Commissioner ~~~ HA~BQR COMMISSION MEETING November 20, 1~1~ Page 10 Activn cont'd: Wagoner seconded. Roll call vote. Motion approved . unan~mously. PACTFIC ALASKA There was general discussion on ex lorin the fundin p 9 9 situation with Pacific alaska. Apparently the City , might have a way through some type of bonding situation of helping a large company such as this, with some low cost money on some part of the ~nitia1 or a11 toge~h~r in depth financing and at a lower interest rate through some type of City bonding or tax free bonding. This cou~d be over a period of years and would resuit in a ~ substantial amount of savings to this company. Possibly , this would be an opportunity for the City to take advantage of the facilities that this company may put in to unload their modules or some type of sharing program that might or might not exist depending on facilities. Commissioner Peterk~n asked Mayor 0'Reilly to give additional information on this. Mayor 0'Reilly indicated that the City Industrial Revenue Bonding could be used on a suitable project. ~ About 2-years ago, Pacific Alaska had said they would have to build a product dock for their facility and they also have to build a modu1e unloading facility of some kind to unload their modules. They at one time were confronted v~ith the situation where they would build that module unloading dock and again would have to take it out. They wanted an examination made of perhaps some muncipal body and to estabiish some type of relationship with them and the , muni~~pa1 body would build the dock and leas~ it to them for 3-to-4 years. For a time a11 plans were held in a freeze situation. They are now willing to get back into a current examinat~on of the situation. When the City asked for the vote on the Charter Amendment specifically included in the language, that the Industrial Revenue Bonding Pawer Charter Admendment allowed could be used both inside and outside the City. Another method of financing which ~hey looked at was with A.D.A., Alaska Industrial Development Bonds, they can also issue tax exempt bonds resulting in a savings to Pacific Alaska. However, A. D. A. has to have a muncipal en~~~ ty of some ki nd to be the recei ver... The Borough is a second class Borough, than there was Woodward/Clyde which talked of several alternatives, perhaps with a formation of a Borough w~de harbor power, perhaps ~ formation of a Harbor District with harbor powers outside the City. Mayor 0'Rei11y further commented that Len McLean who is with Pacific Alaska was going to check and find out what the last discussion was with Pacific Alaska and Woodward/Clyde and get back to him. It is possible that the Commission would want to give some consideration to this. ~ . r - '~ HA~BOR COMMI,SSI~N ~EETINu ~ November 2~, 1979 . Page 11 SMALL BOAT HARBOR Commissioner Wagoner moved to request that the Cit STUDY - ACTION: ~ • y have a survey done on S~te Proposals for the most likely locativn for a sma11 boat harbor with an estimated cost of $5,000.00. ~~~ Commissioner Williams secanded. Roll call vote. Motion approved unanimously. COMMITTEE FOR Commissioner Peterkin reported that two Cit Council AIRPORT LANDS: • •y members would s~rve on the Comm7ttee for~Airport Lands as well as two Harbor Commission Members. Those members are: Councilwoman Setty Glick Councilman Edward Ambarian Harbor~Commissioner Wil1iam Burnett Harbor Commissioner Bob Tepp with Harbor Commissioner Wagoner act~ng as alternate FACT FINDING MISSION - Commis~ioner Wi~liams moved to send Commissioner Te on a CORDOVA - ACTION: pp fact finding mission to Cordova using the balance of funds appropriated for Harbor Commission travel. Commissioner Wagoner seconded. Roll call vote. Motion approved unanimously. NEXT REGULAR There wi~l be one meeting in December, and the date is SCHEDULED MEETING: December 11, 1979, at the Public Safety Building, at 7:00 p.m. ADJOURN At 11:15 p.m. by unanimou~s consent the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, _ ,. ; _ , ~. r~c.'~~ ~~lZ-~+~.~ , Leno~e E. Jone,~ ~'~ Administrative Assistant APPROVED BY: Rob~rt'~eterkin,-Chairman Harbor Commission