Ports workshop builds consensus for memorial option

Members of the public told port commissioners they preferred the second of three options for the proposed Mariners Memorial.

At a second public workshop Thursday evening, a clear consensus emerged among attendees that while the second option offered the most pleasing esthetics and the best way for individuals to approach the monument, elements of another option appealed to them. They said they generally preferred a grand staircase visible in one of the other three possible layouts presented by Juneau-based design consultant Chris Mertl of Corvus Design. In addition, a boardwalk along one side of the memorial should allow for a beach-grass separation wall between the monument and the boardwalk, workshop participants said. The memorial should also have a sculpted concrete motif reminiscent of a ship's deck.

The centerpiece of the monument ought to be an unmanned helm, participants said. For now, the actual location of that particular item will remain unresolved, with commissioners saying that involving that level of detail may be premature.

"I really like the idea of the unmanned helm," said Dan Miller. "It's pretty common, but it's just really cool, I think. The unmanned helm facing out to sea."

Commissioners also said it was too early Thursday to consider specific nuts and bolts about materials, though a few suggestions emerged from discussion.

Where possible, designers should employ steel instead of granite, said Bill Knecht.

"As far as the walls go, I like the concept of steel, because steel is in a mariner's life," he said. "There's not too much granite in a mariner's life, unless you hit a granite rock."

Commissioners had always intended to be as inclusive

as possible when drawing from Wrangell's long maritime history, and while two public workshops and decades of on-again off-again work on the memorial might have neglected to directly mention a specific detail, officials are still considering a large number of them, said ports commission chairman Brennon Eagle.

"There's a number of stories in Wrangell: the Native story, the Russian story, the Star of Bengal story, the lost on the river story, the lost commercial fisherman," he said. "I think we want to be all-inclusive of that. I think you can safely say even though we might not address it tonight, nothing's gonna be lost. We're not intending to lose anything."

Another thematic element that emerged was the notion of separating those lost at sea in one portion of the memorial more closely connected with the water, while those who have passed but spent a life on the sea would be honored with elements more closely tied to the land, said Don McConachie. The idea first surfaced in discussion at the previous workshop in March.

"I thought that was a really great idea," he said. "To look out to the sea for the people that were lost at sea, looking towards the land for the people who made their livelihood at sea and died at home in their beds, and I think that was a really neat concept."

"Somewhere there has to be some explanation as to why it is like it is and what the thought process was that went into it, or we're gonna lose it over the years," he added.

Attendees and commissioners also discussed shrinking the thickness of walls leading from an obtuse entry area, which attendees said should include a flag and possibly totem poles, to an eight-sided lighthouse pavilion at the memorial's highest point.

"I feel like, even if we went down a little bit smaller, there needs to be space for people to move," said commissioner John Yeager. "I don't want it to be a maze."

Mertl wasn't present at Thursday's meeting, though

officials said they planned to contact him via teleconference Wednesday to convey feedback from the workshop in preparation of a design and bid document due out in a month to six weeks.

Commissioners have said they intend to take that

document to various artistic applications for grants and other fundraising.