In the Oct. 4 municipal election, Wrangell voters authorized the borough to sell or lease the 6-Mile mill site, a 39-acre parcel of land on Zimovia Highway. As they explore options for developing the land, borough officials will seek community feedback at an upcoming public forum.
The forum represents an effort to “look at what the community would like to see out there,” said Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore. How does the community think the property can best be utilized for its benefit, she asked.
At the Oct. 19 meeting of the borough’s Economic Development Committee, members decided that the forum would be most useful if attendees had the opportunity to learn more about the property before making suggestions for its use. “Every piece of information we have needs to be out to the public before taking public comment,” said Joan Sargent. The first development step, she suggested, should be “educating the public about the property and its potential and its disadvantages.”
In that vein, Rushmore plans to post information sheets about the property on the borough’s website, wrangell.com, in the coming days, for forum attendees and community members to access.
The property is “one of the last existing deepwater industrial sites available for development options in Southeast Alaska,” according to borough documents submitted by Rushmore. Other deepwater sites in the area are often home to cruise ship docks or industrial parks, like those in Craig and Sitka.
Currently, Channel Construction uses portions of the property for a scrap metal recycling business that operates throughout Southeast. The borough assembly deferred selling any of the land to owner William “Shorty” Tonsgard Jr. or providing him with a long-term lease until they could determine a comprehensive plan for the site. The upcoming forum will be a part of that effort.
At its Nov. 8 meeting, the borough assembly unanimously approved a resolution to allow Borough Manager Jeff Good to finalize a short-term lease with Channel Construction so that operations can continue while the borough develops its property plan.
Regardless of what community members and borough officials decide, development will pose some challenges. The property’s surface conditions are varied and its waterfront bulkhead is failing, Rushmore wrote in a statement to the assembly. “Potential uses vary and may or may not be compatible with Channel Construction’s proposed use.”
The site is the former home of sawmills going back decades, most recently Silver Bay Logging, which shut down operations in 2008.
The forum will take place on Dec. 14 in the Nolan Center at 5:30 p.m. Chris Mertl, a landscape architect with Juneau-based Corvus Design, will facilitate the meeting. Mertl has worked on a variety of Wrangell projects, including the Mariners’ Memorial, the Mt. Dewey trail extension and the waterfront master plan.
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