SITKA — The Sitka city administrator is seeking condemnation of an administration building at risk from landslides and the cancellation of property leases there.
A landslide hit the building at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park on Aug. 18, when three Sitka residents were killed in another landslide that also caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage.
“There’s 500 cubic yards still sitting up there with a high risk of coming down,” City Administrator Mark Gorman told the industrial park’s board of directors Wednesday in informing them he would recommend the Sitka Assembly cancel the leases at the building in September.
Gorman said the tenants would be notified. The property currently has $29,000 active leases. Silver Bay Seafoods, a tannery and a bear rescue facility, is among the businesses that would be affected, The Sitka Sentinel reported (http://bit.ly/29SNQ9j ).
Preliminary findings from a firm studying the landslide area indicate the property remains at risk. Seattle-based geotechnical consultant Shannon & Wilson Inc. has found at least two threats to the building.
Some board members questioned if they should await a final survey report to take action. But Gorman stressed the immediate safety concerns, and a board majority approved the “administration’s authority to take urgent action regarding the administration building.”
