Juneau Assembly members voted 5-4 to introduce the Huna Totem draft tidelands lease at the next Assembly meeting on March 17 during a Committee of the Whole meeting Monday.

Mayor Beth Weldon said after its introduction, the draft will be sent back to COW for amendments. The Assembly is expected to vote on the lease conditions by April 7. Huna Totem Corp.’s proposed Aak’w Landing project would add a fifth cruise ship dock to Juneau in the empty lot currently known as the “subport” near Egan Drive and Whittier Street. The floating steel dock would be located along the Gastineau Channel next to the U.S. Coast Guard station.

The vote to move the draft forward came after receiving public testimony during an hour-long Assembly Lands, Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting immediately before the COW meeting.

Weldon introduced a motion to keep the draft lease in COW, but Deputy Mayor Greg Smith noted that due to Alaska’s limited construction season he felt it was important to advance the process.

Comments from residents were divided about the merits of moving ahead quickly versus taking more time to examine the project’s potential drawbacks.

“I think that ordinarily a month is a month, but in Alaska construction that’s not true,” Wayne Coogan, a construction consultant, said in his testimony. “December through February, they don’t count. You can’t work during that time. For the rest of the year people have to work in construction 60 to 80 hours a week to make up for this.”

He said the point of his testimony was to express how much stress Huna Totem is under due to the natural circumstances of Alaska. He said the tideland lease should be treated as an economic and business transaction that is approved routinely.

“I should only urge the city to approve it to avoid further delays,” he said.

Kim Metcalfe said she is concerned about the traffic through Gastineau Channel, noting the navigability study presented by the Marine Exchange of Alaska shows a wide range of vessels other than cruise ships operate in the port of Juneau.

“In most cases these vessels do not need to adjust their routes to avoid the proposed dock,” she said. “However, these same vessels often need to maneuver to avoid colliding with anchoring cruise ships, other vessels and float planes.”

Wings Airways And Taku Glacier Lodge will need to adjust its flight paths further south if the project moves forward according to the navigability study. The study done in partnership with PND Engineers showed impacts of other vessel traffic – such as fishing boats, tugs and smaller passenger ships – to be minimal.

“I’m also concerned about traffic on Egan Drive,” Metcalfe said. “The proposed Huna Totem project has 20 large bus parking bays and 96 parking spaces for cars and vans. Although the traffic impact study states traffic volumes will not increase because of the five cruise ships a day limit, I believe the increased activity from all the proposed small businesses in the development mean hundreds more vehicle trips on Egan Drive and Whittier.”

A conceptual amendment suggested by the Assembly was to consider a more detailed traffic study. Corey Wall, the principal architect of Jensen Yorba Wall Inc., said the study presented Monday was specifically designed for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Another point discussed by the Assembly was the need for confirmation that the dock would not interfere with a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker from homeporting in downtown Juneau.

A representative from the Coast Guard was present at the meeting to answer questions from the Assembly. Additionally, Ed Page, the founder and senior advisor of the Marine Exchange of Alaska, said a simulation study will be done in March to better understand the navigation of the cutter Storis.

A recent survey released Feb. 11 captured a gradual increase in negative attitudes about tourism impacts among residents. In that same survey, the Huna Totem dock had 38% of respondents who are supportive or very supportive, compared to 28% opposed to some degree, and 29% who said they need more information. Testimonies on Monday supported the economic and cultural benefit they said Aak’w Landing will bring to Juneau, as well as the decreased congestion of South Franklin. Others called the consideration for a lease premature and cited negative environmental impacts.

Huna Totem is also reviewing comments received at open houses last month. Susan Bell, vice president of strategic initiatives for Huna Totem, said her biggest takeaway from the meeting Monday was the importance of coordination with the Coast Guard.

“I also think bringing part of our team tonight and having their technical expertise as we talked about the traffic study, the navigability study and some of the other design considerations were very helpful,” she said.

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