SITKA, ALASKA
The Sitka Sound Science Center has been trying for a while to buy the Sage Building where it currently operates an aquarium and salmon hatchery. The building is part of the Sheldon Jackson College campus, which closed in 2007.
Like many of the buildings on the campus, the Sage Building is not aging gracefully. It’s structurally sound, according to a study the science center had done, but the façade is dirty and covered in peeling paint. It needs a new roof and new windows wouldn’t hurt either.
But the science center’s staff and board say if you look past the cosmetic flaws, you’ll find an economic engine teeming with potential for Sitka. Executive director Lisa Busch says every engine, once in a while, needs a little extra push.
“We need that boost now,” Busch said. “We’re diverse, we’re solid economic development.”
For example, she says the center’s hatchery produces about $700,000 worth of fish every year.
“We put money in the pockets of people that live here, including commercial fisherman and charter boat fishermen,” she said. “We have the support of both of those entities, which I think is pretty cool; that’s kind of unusual in Sitka. We’re doing workforce development, we’re funding community-based research and education programs, and we’re helping our kids find jobs that train them in jobs that they can do here in Sitka.”
Not to mention, Busch says, the thousands of visitors who come through every summer. The 18,000-square-foot property needs to be fixed up for them, and so the center can expand its programs, she says, and the center can’t do that until it owns the property.
An anonymous commercial fisherman is offering a loan to help the purchase happen quickly, and the California-based Karsh Family Foundation is putting up a $100,000 matching grant. “Matching,” because it depends on a city loan, along with a state loan and individual donations.
Assembly member Thor Christianson said the center does great and important work, and that he’s all for helping it out.
“I have big problems with the way we’re doing it, though.”
Christianson said he was opposed to the notion of taking $200-thousand dollars out of the economic development fund without a guarantee it would be paid back. The terms of the loan say it will be paid back only if the science center ceases operations.
“It’s a loan fund. We have to get repaid. And I’d be perfectly willing to have it revolve very slowly. A zero-interest loan, 30 years, and five years before they have to start paying. That’s $550 a month.”
If the science center can’t afford that after five years, then Christianson said, it’s not viable.
Sitka Mayor Cheryl Westover didn’t see it that way. She said if the center succeeds, the city gets a whole lot of economic development. And if it fails, she said the city is the primary lien-holder on the property.
“So it’s really kind of a win-win situation,” Westover said, “because we’ll end up with the building and the tide rights. But I don’t want that to happen, because what I see going on there right now is great and I think it’s only going to get better.”
Assembly member Phyllis Hackett pointed out that the city has made these kinds of loans before – to the Sheldon Jackson Child Care Center and to Sitkans Against Family Violence.
Assembly member Larry Crews said he hadn’t seen enough information, and he reiterated Christianson’s belief that the center should be able to repay the loan.
Crews and Assembly member Terry Blake seemed to be leaning toward a no vote on the loan. A three-three tie would have killed the measure.
In the end, the Assembly voted 5 to 1, with Christianson opposing, to grant the loan. The Sitka Sound Science Center hopes to complete the purchase of its property by Nov. 15.
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