A waterfront tideland lease for a fifth downtown cruise ship dock, which would be privately owned by Huna Totem Corp., was approved by the Juneau Assembly on Monday night by an 8-1 vote. The decision came after six years of city policymakers debating the project.

“Juggling economic development and the impacts of tourism to the community is an impossible task,” Mayor Beth Weldon said.

The approval moves the City and Borough of Juneau into negotiations with the Alaska Native corporation Huna Totem. The company, in addition to building its dock, plans to construct a year-round cultural and arts center, dining and retail space, and underground parking near the U.S. Coast Guard station along Egan Drive.

The project is known as Aak’w Landing. Norwegian Cruise Lines donated the 2.9-acre undeveloped waterfront property to Huna Totem in 2022 after outbidding CBJ. The dock has been in the proposal stage since 2020.

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs cast the dissenting vote after some members of the public urged the Assembly to pause. She said this decision was a “fork in the road” although the city assured the community the tideland lease’s approval did not mean Aak’w Landing was authorized.

“We could have done better,” she said. “It’s a mix of a lot of different representatives saying things in public, and then that’s different than the city voice in terms of consistency when we spoke of, ‘We will not make this decision until it gets to us.’”

“I don’t think, for many reasons, that we’ve really done that when we think about the enormity of this decision, and how it will affect the town for the good and the bad,” she said. “We said at each turn, that those were not decisions, but I feel like over time they did become decision points.”

Assembly member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs chats with the vice president of strategic initiatives for Huna Totem, Susan Bell, following the vote on Huna Totem’s waterfront tideland lease on Monday, April 7, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

Hughes-Skandijs said that while the dock will not increase the number of passengers to Juneau, it will move them to a different area that she believes is not prepared to take the redirected traffic. Other members of the Assembly and some residents offering public testimony supported the project largely because of studies presented by Huna Totem showing it will ease congestion downtown.

A Committee of the Whole meeting on March 17 made amendments to the draft tideland lease. One of those amendments required Huna Totem to provide proof that its project will not interfere with the Coast Guard’s planned pier construction in the Port of Juneau for the icebreaker Storis.

A letter on April 4 by Coast Guard rear admiral and program executive officer Mike E. Campbell confirmed the icebreaker’s pier will be built off its existing property, and they “are interested and committed to working together throughout the various stages of design and development to minimize the impact to the local Juneau port and community.” He added that the Coast Guard would possibly put the Storis at Aak’w Landing while working on their facility.

Two amendments were passed Monday night. Assembly member Ella Adkison’s amendment requires the city to apply similar lower berth capacity limitations to its own docks, as it requires of Huna Totem. It passed unanimously. Secondly, Assembly member Neil Steininger increased the vessel passenger capacity from 4,400 to 4,500, which passed 5-4.

The public testimony on Monday echoed comments shared in the past. Some expressed their concerns that Aak’w Landing would increase the volume of visitors and the emission of fossil fuels.

Bill Leighty, a downtown resident, hands his proposed amendments to the Juneau Assembly on Monday, April 7, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)

Bill Leighty suggested conditions to be included in the lease, none of which were implemented. He asked the city to think beyond the Huna Totem dock and consider Juneau’s long-term environmental future.

On Monday, Karla Hart filed a ballot initiative, capping total annual passengers at 1.5 million, and allowing ships with capacity for 250 or more passengers only between May and September.

“You don’t truly know what this is going to do,” she said in her testimony against Aak’w Landing. “This is going to allow larger ships, which will allow the capacity in Juneau to increase.”

Others spoke to the economic and cultural benefits of the project.

“The new facility will provide an authentic experience and opportunity for visitors and locals to learn about Tlingit culture, art, and history from the people of Lingít Aaní,” Huna Totem Board Director Lillian Worl said.

Assembly member Paul Kelly said the city is listening to the public’s desire for better management of the cruise ship tourism industry by relieving congestion downtown.

Aak’w Landing builds on the existing Seawalk from Taku the Whale to the end of the Franklin dock. Kelly said he’d like to encourage city staff and Alaska Electric Light and Power to install reliable shore power as soon as possible after listening to public concerns about pollution.

A preliminary design shows the proposed extended Seawalk at Aak’w Landing leading toward the cultural and arts center. (Courtesy of Huna Totem)

Wayne Coogan, owner of Coogan Construction Company, testified in February. His comments at that meeting motivated Deputy Mayor Greg Smith to speed up the process. On Monday, Coogan again urged the Assembly to consider Alaska’s weather, limiting the time to complete construction.

Hughes-Skandijs said the city’s timeline is not the applicant’s timeline.

“And so I asked myself, ‘Is this the right thing? Is there a rush? Have we truly done the planning to make this decision?’ And I do not think we have,” she said.

Huna Totem hired Turnagain Marine Construction. PND Engineers will site the dock based on knowledge of Juneau, wind and wave conditions, as well as the Marine Exchange of Alaska’s navigation study and simulation.

Shortly before voting yes, Smith said the Assembly understands tourism is a point of tension in the community. He said they have begun to address that with a five-ship daily limit implemented in 2024 and acknowledged there is more to be done.

“With or without this dock, we will still have five ships in town,” he said. “What this dock brings from my perspective is it’s a $200 million project — jobs — development is becoming uncertain.”

He said that while the future of tourism is unknown, that was not the question before the Assembly — the question was whether the dock is worth supporting, and he believes it is.

“This project represents that middle way,” Assembly member Christine Woll said. “It’s going to take our limits and spread people out. It’s going to take a ship that’s in the channel and get it out of the channel. But I still know that there’s going to be a lot of anger if this project is approved tonight because people still want us to do more.”

Susan Bell, vice president of strategic initiatives for Huna Totem, told the Empire after the motion passed that she expects negotiations to be smooth sailing from here.

“We still do have to negotiate the lease with the city manager, but the way they’ve approached this process, by defining the amendments and refining them tonight, it really frames the lease,” she said. “So I expect that this should be fairly straightforward now. There’ll need to be an appraisal, and we would really love to have this whole process completed within the next month.”

Aak’w Landing is expected to be completed by the 2027 visitor season.

• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz.garrett@juneauempire.com or (907) 723-9356.