The Wrangell Port Commission was tasked with solving a problem with access to the boatyard, after local sight-seeing operators were presented letters by the city asking them to stop driving buses through on tours.
Gold Rush Tours and Alaska Waters were sent a pair of letters apiece from Borough Manager Jeff Jabusch, requesting them to discontinue tours through The Marine Service Center. This posed a problem for both outfits, as the yard had been included on the itinerary for tours which had already been booked through the season.
Brooke Leslie of Alaska Waters said the company had included the yard in its island bus tour for the past four or five summers. When larger cruise liners pull into town, she estimated they conveyed a convoy of two shuttles about three times during the day.
Speaking for Gold Rush, Carrie McCormack said two busloads make their way through twice a day. She pointed out the yard made for an interesting attraction, as much a part of Wrangell for visitors as Petroglyph Beach or Shakes Island.
“It is the best example of a new primary economic driver, since the crash of the lumber industry,” Leslie said.
Harbormaster Greg Meissner takes a different view, telling commissioners at the meeting the yard is meant for work. “It’s not Front Street. It’s not like Front Street,” he said.
With the lifts, barge traffic and heavy machinery routinely going, he felt the addition of tour buses, curious pedestrians and drive-through traffic were a recipe for disaster.
“Including the reality show,” he added.
Last year a film crew with National Geographic had been on site filming workers on the job at Superior Marine Services for its evening show “The Yard.” Meissner recounted that during filming the television crew had been disruptive, at times stopping traffic or imposing on other work projects being undertaken. “That was something that doesn’t need to happen again,” stated Meissner.
At the department’s request, Jabusch had issued letters to the tour groups asking them to curtail their activities. Having booked tours already, they appealed the order, meeting with Jabusch at City Hall.
“After meeting with them, they started bringing up some other points we haven’t thought of,” Jabusch said. “It is a popular, attractive place for people,” he acknowledged. “They’re interested, and it’s the pride of the community.”
He decided to refer the matter to the commission for its input on how to make an arrangement work.
Speaking at the meeting, Leslie disagreed with being lumped together with the general public, as her outfit is licensed, insured and medically trained. In addition, she pointed out her tourists were kept on the bus, not wandering the yard.
“It’s been a non-issue,” she said, saying the letters had come as a surprise. “I feel like we were targeted.”
Commissioner John Martin said the two companies were not being targeted, but were at the moment easy to identify.
“We’re more concerned about traffic, period,” he said, addressing concerns one contractor raised about right of access in the yard.
“The safety of the yard is paramount,” agreed Clay Hammer, commission chair. However, he was amenable to the limited use of the tour buses, and for the positive light it put on the yard itself. “Not only is it free advertising, it’s advertising we can make a little money for the community, too.”
He recommended looking into having outfitters purchase an annual permit, and Hammer suggested possibly using a radio to communicate with workers onsite that buses would be passing through. Meissner pointed out that level of orchestration would be difficult due to on-site noise and conditions. If anything, he preferred buses stick to a fixed route, skirting between Silvernail Work Road and its nearest connection through the yard to Front Street.
His ideal would be to completely fence off the yard, giving contractors electronic access through controlled gates. But the cost of such a system made it impracticable.
“Those would be I think the meat and potatoes of a workshop,” Commissioner Walter Moorhead suggested.
As the Port Commission does not typically meet through the summer, it agreed to allow the season to continue as it has been. It will take up the issue for next year once it picks back up in the fall.
In other port business, Meissner reported he would be reapplying for state match funds for the rebuilding of Shoemaker Bay Harbor facilities. A lack of funding in this year’s allotment meant Wrangell’s project was passed over for the program. The city had cobbled together $5.7 million in funds from harbor reserves and other sources, and sought a $5 million match. The reapplication process would commence August 1, he explained.
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