The city clerk’s office on Monday certified an application by Sitka Small Town SOUL members to circulate an initiative petition for a public vote on cruise ship tourism limits in Sitka.
The group is seeking voter approval of a hard limit of 300,000 annual visitors off large cruise ships, and 4,500 daily visitors. The measure also would set a May 1 through September 30 season, and guarantee one or more days with no large ships.
Larry Edwards, a board member for the group and main organizer of the ballot initiative efforts, said the clerk’s approval has been a long time coming, and he’s happy that Small Town SOUL members will be able to circulate initiative petitions and collect signatures in order to get a question on a special election ballot in time for the 2026 season.
“I’m elated,” Edwards said today.
It’s the second attempt by the nonprofit group Small Town SOUL, and fourth attempt by individual members of the group asking for approval to circulate petitions to get a question on the ballot.
Copies of the petition to be circulated for signatures will quote the text of the proposed ordinance to be voted on in a special election. It’s nine pages long, and can be viewed on the Small Town SOUL webpage: smalltownsoul.org.
Clerk Sara Peterson notified Edwards that the petition application contained the required information, and “is legally sufficient” for reasons given in an attached memo by the city’s outside attorneys, JDO Law of Anchorage.
“Therefore I find that the application for an initiative petition filed on November 29, 2024, does meet the requirements for an initiative petition and an initiative petition will be prepared,” the clerk said in the notification.
Edwards said the petition sponsors of “An Ordinance of the City and Borough of Sitka, Limitation of Cruise Visition in Sitka” are seeking “to protect Sitka’s quality of life and small town character.”
Signatures of registered voters totaling one-third of the turnout of the last regular election will be required to get the question on the ballot of a special election. The turnout of the last election was 1,840, and one third of that is 613, the clerk said.
The Sitka Home Rule Charter allows initiative petition sponsors 90 days to collect the required number of signatures for a vote, but Edwards said “We intend to get an ample number of signatures in weeks, not months, and we’re aiming for a special election in early spring.”
If the ballot question is approved in the election, the ordinance would go into effect in 2026.
Small Town SOUL noted in a press release that prior to the opening of the cruise ship dock on Halibut Point Road the highest number of cruise ship visitors in Sitka was 289,000, in 2008. With the cruise dock in operation the numbers were 383,000 in 2022, 560,000 in 2023 and 590,000 in 2024.
“Our remote, geographically isolated, small town of 8,300 people, has frequently been forced to close its main street for safety, due to the crowds, and has suffered multiple other impacts from the high numbers,” SOUL said in a news release.
Petitions by the group in the past have taken different tacks, and the first three were rejected for particular reasons. Edwards said he thinks each one was better than the one before, and the activist group remained determined to get a question before the voters.
Among the provisions of the proposed ordinance are limits on passengers from large ships ashore by the day and by the year; a city cruise ship permit system for ships calling in Sitka; one or more quiet days (no large ships) per week; and a shorter cruise ship season.
Under the ordinance, the limits on passengers ashore would be implemented through scheduling. If a ship brought in more passengers ashore than authorized, Edwards said, “They are welcome; enforcement will be against the ship and the ship will be penalized.”
The limits apply only to large ships. Small ships – 250 passengers or fewer – are exempt from the ordinance as it applies to limits. The smaller ships will need to obtain annual permits, and report the numbers of passengers ashore.
A key component of the measure is the requirement that cruise companies work with the city to finalize numbers at least 18 months ahead of the season. This won’t be the case for the 2026 season, since the special election will take place within the 18-month scheduling window.
As matters now stand, cruise ship tourism is regulated by the non-binding memorandum of understanding between the city and the Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal saying the city will establish criteria for planning cruise calls. These include not allowing ships with more than 1,000 passengers to dock at the city’s docks if doing so would result in of total of cruise passengers in town from all ships on that day to more than 7,000.
On days when 4,500 passengers are scheduled on ships at the city docks, the cruise company won’t allow the docking or tendering of ships of more than 1,300 visitors if doing so would result in more than 7,000 in Sitka for the day.
Edwards said he believes the SOUL ordinance, if passed, would supercede the MOU.
The city’s outside attorneys, JDO Law of Anchorage, issued a 17-page analysis of the petition finding that the proposed ordinance satisfies the law on several fronts.
“We recommend that the fourth application should be certified,” said a memorandum from JDO Law attorneys Michael Gatti, Taylor McMahon and Christopher Bruno. “At this point any legal challenges to the proposed initiative are best addressed by a court.”
Chris McGraw, owner of the cruise terminal, said he’s disappointed that an initiative petition was proposed in the first place because he feels it is motivated by group members’ specific situations.
“They don’t take into account the economic impact and how passage of the ordinance would affect the quality of life of others,” he said. “Tourism plays a vital role in Sitka’s economy and this ordinance could bring unintended consequences to the entire community including those who work directly in tourism and those who don’t.”
• This story originally appeared in the Daily Sitka Sentinel.
