The Juneau Assembly did its part on Monday to turn the abandoned Thane Ore House, which has been boarded-shut for years, into a Native cultural immersion park.
At its most recent meeting, the Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing the city’s port director to lease the land on which the Ore House sits to the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
In mid-June, the Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the cultural immersion park, which will provide a year-round workspace space for Native artists, such as carvers.
“We want to lift our people up,” Myrna Gardner, Central Council’s business and economic development manager, told the commission in June. “We want to give them opportunities, and we want to be a good neighbor and member of the community.”
[New life for the Thane Ore House]
During the summer, the cultural center will use two 72-passenger buses to shuttle cruise passengers and tourist to the former Ore House, which will be renovated to look like a traditional long house. There, visitors will be able to eat at a restaurant, watch Native dance performances, buy souvenirs in a gift ship and watch people carve canoes and weave on site.
In the winter, the restaurant will close, but the center will still be open, providing a space for Native artists, such as canoe and totem pole carvers,
Since 2001, the city’s Docks and Harbors division has controlled the Ore House property, located at 4400 Thane Road. The 1.21-acre property is valued at $86,000, so Docks and Harbors has set the minimum annual lease rent at $8,600 — one tenth of the property’s appraised value.
Docks and Harbors approved the lease in mid-August. Late last month, the Assembly Lands Committee reviewed and approved the lease as well.
[Planning Commission gives Native culture center the go ahead]
Resolution to the state
After the Assembly finished tackling all of the items on its regular agenda, Assembly member Jesse Kiehl — with the support of his peers — asked city staff to draft a resolution to the Alaska Legislature regarding school debt reimbursement.
Days before the city’s fiscal year 2017 budget became effective at the beginning of July, Gov. Bill Walker vetoed school debt reimbursement funding, leaving the city on the hook for about $3 million it didn’t plan to cover.
Kiehl’s proposed resolution will ask the Legislature to cover existing school debt reimbursement obligations. Kiehl’s suggestion was met immediately by strong support from other Assembly members.
“Is there any objection to that other than ‘attaboy’?” Mayor Ken Koelsch asked.
“None, other than make it as strong as possible,” Assembly member Kate Troll added.
Dog license fees
The Assembly unanimously approved a resolution raising the fee for dog licenses.
Currently, the annual cost of a license for a dog older than six months is $35 if the animal is not fixed and $15 if it is. Once the new resolution goes into effect in a month, the fees will increase to $45 for an unaltered dog and $20 for a spayed or neutered dog.
According to City Manager Rorie Watt, the city collects about $67,000 annually in pet license fees and another $6,800 in impound fees. The city hasn’t raised the dog license fee since 2000.
Since then, “there’s been an increasing number of strays with health problems,” Animal Control director Brett Rielly told the Empire Tuesday afternoon.
“This is to support the health and well-being of the animals,” he said.
Any additional revenue collected as a result of this resolution will be used to pay for the costs of Animal Control operations and services, Watt said.
West Douglas development
The Assembly awarded ENCO Alaska, a Juneau-based contractor, a $1.5 million bid to build a pioneer road on West Douglas.
ENCO will cut a single-lane, 2.4-mile road into the thickly forested west side of Douglas Island. The 14-foot-wide road will be surfaced with rock, and it will include turnouts.
Building a West Douglas pioneer road was established as an Assembly goal five years ago, and it is included as an “enhancing essential infrastructure” initiative in the Juneau Economic Development Plan.
The Assembly approved the bid award as a part of its consent Agenda Monday.
The State of Alaska Designated Legislative Grant Program is funding this project. Six contractors competed for the bid, which came in well below the city engineer’s estimate of about $2 million.
• Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.
Read more news:
Hunting guide involved in bear mauling is well-known state bear researcher
