The first of three options presented by Juneau-based designer Chris Mertl to the Ports Commission at a public hearing Monday. The small round circle in the middle is the envisioned lighthouse pavilion.
The second of three options presented by Juneau-based designer Chris Mertl to the Ports Commission at a public hearing Monday. The small round circle is the lighthouse pavilion. This option would feature a series of segmented walls at alternating intervals leading up the pavilion.
The third of three options presented by Juneau-based designer Chris Mertl to the Ports Commission at a public hearing Monday. The small round circle is the lighthouse pavilion. This option would employ the pavilion as a gatehouse, with a tunnel made from rows of trees leading to a possible memorial to the Star of Bengal.
A Juneau designer presented three draft options on Monday for a potential layout to the Mariner's Memorial at a public workshop.
An octagonal lighthouse pavilion is part of each design, but could be located toward the envisioned entryway for the memorial, at the memorial's midpoint, or at the end. All three drafts used landscaped vegetation to screen the memorial from the noise and bustle of nearby Heritage Harbor and the boat ramp, to create a solemn ceremonial air with a strong connection to nearby water, said Chris Mertl of Corvus Design.
"The thing I noticed about a lot of other memorials is that to look at them, you turn away from the water," he said, citing Juneau's Mariner's Memorial as an example.
A recurring theme in his designs is incorporating sightlines along the water into the memorials.
Commissioners discussed the potential strengths and benefits of each design, but made no final decision and took no vote on a recommendation, hoping instead to draw more public comment on the plan at an April meeting before asking Mertl and Corvus to move ahead with one of the drafts in greater detail. Mertl stressed that the design variations were
changeable to suit the needs or desires of the community, and avoided a concrete discussion of materials used to construct each feature.
A final draft would be used to seek specific funding totals from agencies and foundations which often pay for local arts in the community, commissioners have said.
"The pavilion would have prayers on it, it could have some poetry in it, something that's meaningful and could create some historic and cultural connection with the community," Mertl said.
He inventoried a long list of potential background sources and reference sculptures, and detailed the virtues of various materials that could potentially be used. He recommended that naturally occurring beach grasses be used in whatever landscaping was done in order to recreate the undulations of the water.
"We have to be really
sensitive in a memorial," he said. "We don't want to make it the shipyard's junk pile. We're putting in a meaningful landscape. It's a place for celebration, it's a place for healing, it's a place for reflection."
He also said commissioners should think about integrating oiled and baked steel into the monument, or a modular granite design with panels that could easily be replaced.
He suggested using large ship's propellers tilted over on one side to serve as artistic (but not overbearing) benches, and integrating accents from Tlingit artwork and other epochs of Wrangell history throughout the monument.
"Where we're gonna go for this, we're basically going to 'Chinese menu' this," he said. "People say, I really like the boardwalk. I really don't like the pavilion in this place, I like it in this one like you've got in plan 3."
Officials say they intend to collect as much public feedback on the design as possible.
"We'll probably stew on this until our next public meeting," said Commissioner Brennan Eagle.
Copies of the plans are
available for public review in the Harbormaster's office.
The commission contracted with Corvus to offer potential layouts and help through the design process toward a final draft earlier this year. Mertl has also periodically offered his time to the commission free of charge to help with the planning.
The memorial has been in the works since the early 2000s, and has at various times been a private effort and a senior project.
Commissioners urged the public to attend the next public hearing of the port commission April 3 to offer feedback and suggestions.
At the regular port commission meeting which followed, commissioners approved on second reading three ordinances. One ordinance defined the location of The Marine Service Center and uplands. A second ordinance prevents a lessee at the center from holding an additional lease, though that could be reviewed again to allow the largest lessee at the Center, Superior Marine Services, to be grandfathered in and sold as one unit to protect the owner's investment. A third ordinance sets the rate structure for the 300-ton boat lift harbor
officials expect within two months.
They also approved the low contract to repair the harbor bumpers.
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