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Harbor staff outline Letnikoff Cove rebuild plan; American Cruise Lines offers $2 million match
Summary
Haines Borough staff presented 65% designs for Letnikoff Cove Harbor, described safety and access issues and a Tier 1 grant strategy, and said American Cruise Lines submitted a $2 million letter of interest toward the project match; committee and public raised fishing-displacement, ramp accessibility and parking concerns.
Harbor staff presented 65% design drawings for a rebuild of Letnikoff Cove Harbor that would replace or upgrade the existing floats, add a longer launch ramp and expand parking. The presentation emphasized safety issues caused by isostatic rebound that has reduced water depth at the existing ramp and noted recent accidents and injuries linked to current ramp conditions.
Project lead Henry said the staff plan combines float replacement, a potential trestle alternate, a longer ramp and a parking expansion into a single Tier 1 harbor grant application. “We have 1 shot at a Tier 1 harbor grant. It’s a $5,000,000 max, 50% match grant,” Henry said, outlining grant parameters and the borough’s objective to design the project with contingencies and engineering realism.
Henry said the borough has appropriated about $340,000 for preliminary design work, has spent roughly $86,000 and expects a remaining balance to cover near-term design tasks. He also reported that American Cruise Lines submitted a letter of interest offering $2,000,000 toward the borough’s local match and that ACL requests preferential mooring for a 20-year term; Henry said ACL’s engineering team believes the current design could be modified to accommodate their vessels with minor changes paid for by ACL.
Public commenters urged the committee to consider commercial-fishing impacts, saying proposed track lines or docking arrangements could displace subsistence and commercial fishers in Chilkat channels. Commenters also asked that ramp geometry be extended to improve safety for older users and that winter storage and policing be addressed if expanded parking is provided. Staff said some winter storage could be accommodated on the proposed expanded parking area but flagged policing and liability as items for further review.
Committee members asked staff to proceed to 95% design with planning commission and ports-and-harbors advisory commission approvals and to return with refined cost estimates, grant application details and possible mitigations for fishermen and accessibility requirements. The committee asked staff to bring ACL’s LOI and proposed engineering comments to future meetings for public review.
