Projects at City Dock discussed in public meeting

A meeting was held at City Hall last Wednesday to discuss the upcoming cruise ship season, as well as some proposed projects around City Dock. Cruise ships will begin arriving in Wrangell in April, and the season will close in October. Roughly 20,000 tourists are expected to visit Wrangell this year, 4,000 more than came to town last season. Almost 60 ships are scheduled to dock in town.

In a previous meeting to discuss the city's priorities for the cruise season, held last January, it was agreed to look into the feasibility of two improvement projects at City Dock. One idea was the construction of a covered area along the dock's walkway. Having a covered area on the dock, the discussion went in the January meeting, could serve as booths for vendors on one half of the walkway, while tourists could pass from the ship into town on the other half. By putting vendors on the dock itself, besides the cul-de-sac on land, would allow for more space for tour guides to get people organized and to help with crowding issues.

Harbor Master Greg Meissner was tasked with researching the idea back in January. He was unable to attend the meeting in person last Wednesday, but did speak via teleconference. The construction of a covered shelter on the dock would cost somewhere in the area of $20,000, he said, not counting shipping and assembly. Meissner also added that he had some concerns about putting a covered shelter right on the dock's walkway. Essentially, putting a long tent on one half of the dock, running from land to where the cruise ships will be, will cut the walking area in half. This will bunch people up, he said, and create a single lane of traffic that people will not be able to walk against. A covered shelter could also potentially make it difficult to get vehicles onto the dock. He suggested that they look at his original idea for a covered shelter, which was discussed in January, that was near the dock but not right on it.

The public weighed in on the idea of a covered shelter, as well. While the proposal for a shelter on the dock was popular in January, it was less so last week. Members of the public shared Meissner's concerns about creating a bottleneck or making it impossible for cars to drive onto the dock. There were several proposals as to where to put a covered area. One such proposal was to build an area on the southern end of the cul-de-sac. There was also some debate as to whether this covered area should be a canvas tent or a wooden structure. Borough Manager Lisa Von Bargen and Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore ended the discussion by saying they would research it further, and planned to hold another meeting in April out at the dock itself.

Another idea that was discussed in January was installing an additional float to city dock. Adding another float would give charter boats more room to dock and pick up passengers. Meissner also researched this project, and said that it would cost about $75,000, give or take, to have a new float built. However, it would also take a few months to get said float up to Wrangell and installed at the dock. By the time it would be completed, he said, it would be pretty late into the cruise season. After some discussion, it was agreed that the float was still a good idea, but the city would aim to work on it for the 2020 cruise season, not the current one.

Also discussed in the meeting was exploration and relocating the Fourth of July fireworks. Rushmore said that for the past few years the city has been bumping up against regulations surrounding the fireworks. It is a safety issue, she said, to have so many activities around the dock, next to explosives. It might be in the next two years, or the city might "bite the bullet" and relocate them this season. She said that whenever it happens, it has to be in the near future. One proposed location for the fireworks was the baseball fields at Volunteer Park. This is something that Rushmore said would be explored further.