If all goes as planned, the Prince of Wales Island community of Whale Pass will become Alaska’s newest incorporated city by the end of 2016.
Late last week, Whale Pass residents filed a petition with the state Local Boundary Commission, seeking permission to incorporate as a second-class city. The petition was signed by 31 of the town’s 71 registered voters, meaning it meets the minimum requirements under state law.
“Essentially, we’d like to be a second-class city for purposes of autonomy, self-rule, self-determination,” said resident Dick Erickson, who is organizing the campaign to incorporate Whale Pass.
“People might wonder why it’s a good time to do this with the state budget declining so much,” he said. “It’s difficult right now, but we’re in a fairly good situation where we have probably a good base in property value and retail sales that we can at least keep a form of government going here.”
As the petition explains, Whale Pass has seen a surge in population since 2010, with it becoming a destination for fishermen and those interested in remote living. In 2014, the state of Alaska completed the paving of the highway that leads to Whale Pass, and residents said they expect more visitors, more residents and more traffic in the summer. That increased use means more services are needed, and that means incorporation.
“We have quite an influx of people here in the summertime,” said Sharon Hillis, who has lived in Whale Pass with her husband, Don, since 1978 and is the de facto town historian.
In the 1980s, she explained by phone and in a document filed with the incorporation petition, the state of Alaska held a land sale in the Whale Pass area to encourage settlement. The sale allowed homes to be built in an area that had been the site of a logging camp and road construction camp.
The town is big enough today to host a school — with the state-minimum 10 students — library, fire hall, store and dock.
According to the incorporation petition, town revenue would come from state revenue-sharing funds and be used to repair roads, provide garbage service and hire a city clerk, among other items.
The town’s nonprofit community association — which serves as a de facto unrecognized government — has a bank account of more than $56,000 and envisions an annual town budget of between $100,000 and $150,000 in the first three years after incorporation.
If state revenue sharing declines or disappears, the community, like others across the state, would have to levy its own taxes. According to state figures, a bed tax of 8 percent — targeting visitors rather than residents — would raise about $112,000 per year.
Speaking frankly, Erickson said he expects the community will not be able to fund itself with revenue sharing alone.
“I think people are going to have to pitch in,” he said.
In addition to concerns about increased traffic, residents said they want to incorporate as a way to protect themselves if Prince of Wales Island becomes part of a borough — either by itself or through annexation by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough.
Jim McDonough Jr. is chief of the town’s volunteer fire department and was the first person to sign the incorporation petition.
“I really think that the management of this island ought to be held … on this island,” he said. “Our petition, I think, would help further that.”
Fears of annexation by Ketchikan, while real, may be overstated. On Dec. 7, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly voted 4-2 in favor of a resolution stating that the borough “will not initiate any annexation proposal without a request from residents or property owners within an area subject to annexation.”
The resolution was brought by assemblyman John Harrington, who said he was interested in assuring POW residents that Ketchikan was not about to take over.
Concerns about a separate borough for Prince of Wales Island may have more merit. The Prince of Wales Community Advisory Council has been considering a borough proposal for the past four years and is accepting public comments on a draft borough charter through March 15.
Hillis, who signed the petition, said that if a borough is not on the table, she might reconsider her support of incorporation.
“I haven’t made up my mind yet,” she said.
She and the other residents of Whale Pass will have plenty of time to make up their minds. The state Local Boundary Commission’s timeline on the Whale Pass petition calls for an information session in Whale Pass sometime in March or April. Commission staff will write up their recommendations by June, and the commission will hold a hearing on the proposal in August.
If approved, the issue would go to Whale Pass residents, who would vote sometime in early fall.
