Juneau residents had a chance to ask questions and offer comments on a proposed fifth cruise ship dock at two public meetings this week. The city will soon decide whether or not to approve a tidelands lease to Huna Totem Corporation for the project.
Juneau Tourism Manager Alix Pierce said these meetings give the city a sense of what the community wants and doesn’t want to see in a fifth cruise dock.
“The lease is the Assembly’s ultimate opportunity to approve or deny the project,” she said. “And right now, our job and goal as staff is to bring something to the Assembly for final consideration that provides our best attempt at something that’s going to be good for the community.”
Huna Totem Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation. The project is called Áak’w Landing, named after the original inhabitants of the Juneau area, the Áak’w Ḵwáan.
On Wednesday at City Hall, the plan for the project was laid out with renderings of the proposed building, graphs of marine traffic in the area and a timeline of the project so far, including next steps. The dock would be built on the edge of the downtown area at the corner of Egan Drive and Whittier Street.
The proposal includes spaces for retail and a 40,000-foot Indigenous knowledge, science and cultural center.
Attendees were given sheets with prompts like “how could the project support and create a more vibrant waterfront for Juneau?”
Concerns ranged from blocked views of the channel to the proposed dock’s distance from downtown businesses.
Attendee Kathy Coghill said it’s important that those leading this decision consider how the project affects the lives of Juneau residents.
“But I think there’s a lot of fear that we can’t ask for a fair shake, because we’re going to scare away the tourists,” she said. “We are not going to scare them away.”
Huna Totem’s Susan Bell said the meetings offered a chance for residents to get reacquainted with the proposal, after an appeal filed in the summer of 2023 stalled it for months. That appeal argued that the proposal didn’t do enough public outreach on the project, among other concerns — especially the availability of shore power.
In 2023, the planning commission approved permits for the dock and the waterfront development.
“The pace of the project will be at the discretion of the city,” Bell said. “So I think having good turnout and good feedback, they’ll feel like they’re doing their job and making sure that the people have a chance to be informed and engaged.”
Next, the Assembly will review the proposed lease at a future Committee of the Whole meeting, using feedback given this week. There will be further opportunities to give public testimony at that meeting. Comments can also be emailed to assembly@juneau.gov.
Clarification: This story was updated to better reflect the scope of the 2023 appeal and the next steps in the process.
