In preliminary drawings, Lot 15 is designated as part of the “West Boat Yard.” GPIP board members want to take a hard look at how best to use that property, and any other available lots, to support the new haulout, which is due to come online by the end of May. (GPIP image)
Board members of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park agreed at their most recent meeting (4-17-25) to give short-term tenants until September 30 to move out, in order to bring in long-term leaseholders involved in the marine services industry.
The largest tract available to support the boat yard – lot 15 – is currently in use as storage, most of it unrelated to boats or fishing. The board anticipates more substantial investment, however, as the community’s long-awaited boat haulout enters service next month.
Linda Behnken, director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, said thoughtful development of lot 15 and surrounding property would give locals a stake in the yard in the event things fell through with Kodiak-based Highmark Marine, which last month won the bid to operate Sitka’s new haulout.
“If we get to the point when this contract is over with Highmark, or they decide to pull out, or it gets pulled back for some reason that we really have all the options on the table, a full understanding of what revenue can be generated from the yard, what the costs are, and what it might look like to have a different operating model out there,” said Behnken.
Park director Garry White agreed that it was time to focus on priorities, as the budget for Phase 1 construction of the haulout is almost spent.
“I think there are higher and better uses,” said White. “Instead of finishing out all of Phase 1, like, do we really need the deck over here, shown in front of the boat in the haul out? That is a pretty spendy thing. Do we really need an on/off float? Or instead of investing in that, should we invest in (upland) electricity, or invest in being able to get over to lot 15, and start opening that up?”
He encouraged the board to have a work session with the public to iron out some of the details that will make the new haulout functional in the near term, and poised for growth in the future.
Local boatwright Mike Nurco actively opposed Highmark’s proposal to run the haulout. Now that they’ve won, however, Nurco said there were no hard feelings. He did want to know a) where the bathrooms would be located, and b) where companies like his could become established, and offset the competitive advantage that he believed had been given to Highmark.
“To level the playing field for the vendors – I think the deck is stacked towards Highmark already – I would like to see where the vendor space can be, and I would really like to see that move forward,” said Nurco. “Just get that going, because that’s the lifeblood of the yard, as much as DIYers, it’s very important to get the vendors out there with a wide array of services.”
The park board supported the idea of long-term leases – comparable in length to bank loans – which could generate the type of investment they were looking for. One prospective vendor, Jeremy Serka, said that he anticipated spending $500,000 on a structure to house his business. Park director Garry White said long-term leases would generate the revenue the park needed to support the upland development of Phase 2 of the boat yard.
The lengthy discussions that have led to this point inspired Chris Hanson, a machinist, to organize local interests into a Marine Trades Association.
“This whole process taught me that if you don’t have a seat at the table at the beginning, you’re not going to get one mid midterm,” said Hanson. “So I think what we need to do is just advocate for the trades as a group, as a whole, from the mouthpiece of the trades. Or have a mouthpiece for the trades themselves. Not antagonistic thing. Just a way for their needs to be met.”
The new travelift for the haulout – the $1.4 million-dollar vehicle that lifts boats out of the water and sets them down in the yard – is en route to Sitka, but unassembled. Municipal engineer Michael Harmon said this expense had been missed. Paying for a crane to erect the travelift will take the project’s contingency fund down to $97,000. The haulout is scheduled to be operational by May 30.
