When the city’s tourism task force makes its recommendations, surveys could be part of the plan.
The City and Borough of Juneau Visitor Industry task force spoke Tuesday about the pros and cons of potentially commissioning a survey of Juneau residents to gauge public sentiments about tourism.
“I think we have to do a professional, statistically valid broad survey of the community,” said task force member Kirby Day, who is also coordinator of the city’s Tourism Best Practices Management program.
Day said it’s important that residents feel they have a role in shaping tourism management strategies, and he’d like to see one done this fall.
[Read live coverage of the meeting here]
Other task force members, including task force chair Carole Triem, and task force members Bobbie Meszaros and Meilani Schijvens agreed.
Schijvens, who is owner and director of research and consulting firm, Rain Coast Data said she loves surveys in general and they can be useful tools for providing data.
However, she said before a survey is done, a decision would need to be made about what sort of data was desired —whether the survey would be broad and for a general audience, or if it would ask more technical questions.
“I think we just need to be really clear about what the goal of the survey is and how it’s being used before we just go out and do it,” Schijvens said.
Not every task force member was equally enthusiastic about surveys. Task force member Wade Bryson said two public comment meetings and both emails and letters from residents have provided a sort of survey. The deadline to submit comments to the task force is Friday. They can be submitted by emailing city.clerk@juneau.org.
Also, Bryson said there are multiple construction projects downtown that will still be ongoing this season, so there might not be much new information to be gleaned from surveys.
“This summer, I don’t think we’re going to get any new or valid information or anything that is going to help us,” Bryson said.
Triem said while the task force has received a lot of public input, it’s been from a group of fairly like-minded people with similar backgrounds, and she’d like to hear from more of Juneau.
After task force members shared their ideas, Bryson pitched the idea of a survey this summer and a follow-up survey in the fall of 2022 when it’s hoped construction on Egan Drive and work at the Archipelago Lot near the Downtown Public Library may be completed.
“All existing infrastructure construction that is planned or ongoing will be completed at that time,” Bryson said.
City Manager Rorie Watt cautioned against that line of thinking.
Watt said there will virtually always be some sort of project downtown that will contribute to tourist season congestion.
He listed off potential projects including Seawalk work and a Sealaska Heritage Institute arts campus, that could be taking place during the later survey.
[Arts campus could break ground this summer]
“No issue with the timing between surveys, it’s just there’s always going to be construction,” Watt said. “There’s winter and road maintenance seasons, right?”
Plans to make plans
The task force also discussed CBJ’s long-range waterfront plan.
The plans, which were adopted in 2004, were intended to cover about 20 years of time, said CBJ’s Parks and Recreation Department Deputy Director Michele Elfers.
Task force members generally said they would prefer not to re-open the plan or begin a new planning period that could take in excess of a year.
However, both Triem and Day said they would like to make sure the plan still applies in light of Juneau seeing more tourists and larger cruise ships than in 2004.
• Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.
