The city has been closing Lincoln Street several times a week for the last few summers of rapid cruise tourism growth- last year, the street was closed to traffic  on days with over 5000 passengers visiting Sitka.

For the first month of this cruise season, the city elected to leave the street open in a trial run. Planning and Community Development Director Amy Ainslie shared her observations of the month-long experiment with the assembly. She said staff observed some sidewalk crowding, jaywalking, and visibility issues, but also noticed that efforts by the cruise terminal to stagger passenger arrivals may be helping ease congestion.

“I know that more operators are picking up their tours or launching from the dock itself, and so not having to meet as many folks here in town to get off the busses,” Ainslie said. “There have also been policy changes at the dock to stagger ship arrivals and to augment the shuttle bus operations, to have a more steady stream of passengers in and out of town throughout the day, as opposed to kind of large rushes in the morning and in the afternoons.”

She said staff and the Tourism Commission had identified Maksoutoff Street as a possible new location for the temporary bathrooms that have been open on Lincoln Street closure days for the last couple of summers. 

Several assembly members voiced support for moving the bathrooms to Maksoutoff Street, and some signaled interest in resuming street closure on high passenger days. Assembly member Kevin Mosher said he likes that the street has been open again, but did have some safety concerns for pedestrians. 

“I’ve seen a couple residents, you know, either rev their engines or kind of stop abruptly, just kind of aggressive type tactics when they’re driving and around,” Mosher said. “A couple of the vendors did say they’ve seen some near misses of people, so that is a concern for me.”

Municipal Administrator John Leach recommended leaving the street open for the summer so the city would have a full season of data to compare to a season of street closures.

Mayor Steven Eisenbeisz said he could go either way, but his main takeaway from the May experiment was that Sitka needs to move forward with longtime plans to update the main thoroughfare. 

“There are a lot of pros and cons on both sides, and I think they’re all valid points,” Eisenbeisz said. “As someone who, I’ll say, lives down there, lives and works down there, I don’t necessarily have an opinion on this, but I do strongly feel that expediting our Lincoln Street remodel project could alleviate a lot of these concerns in a quite fast manner.”

The assembly ultimately decided that more data is needed, along with more feedback from the Tourism Commission, before making a final decision. That means leaving the street open until at least July, and possibly for the rest of the season. 

Sitka voters have overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have capped the number of cruise visitors beginning next year.

Wednesday’s special election brought out almost 3,000 voters, 73% of whom rejected the proposition. This was the third largest turnout for any municipal election in Sitka since 2018.

Sitka Sound Cruise Terminal owner Chris McGraw led the opposition to the proposition. His group, called Safeguard Sitka’s Future, organized early in the process, and even campaigned to discourage residents from signing the petition initiative.

McGraw was heartened by the night’s results.

“I think it, you know, shows that the community understands the benefits of cruise tourism and that the proposed ballot initiative wasn’t the right answer at this time,” McGraw said in an interview with KCAW after the election returns were released at Harrigan Centennial Hall.

Although the outcome was a decisive “no,” McGraw is aware that the industry has work to do to address the concerns of the 27-percent of voters who supported limiting cruise visits to Sitka, like acquiring better buses, and refining the terms of a memorandum of understanding – or MOU – with City Hall to make sure the 7,000 passenger-per-day cap called for in that document is met.

“But I think that’s all a conversation that you have with the Tourism Commission, and the public, and everybody weighs in so that we don’t jeopardize the economic impact, but still maintain what makes Sitka great place to live,” McGraw said. 

Although it was not a good night for the proposition’s supporters, one of its authors, Larry Edwards, was glad to have had a chance to put the issue before voters – a process which took him two years, and four attempts.

Edwards said voters were faced with a very narrow choice on a complicated issue, and he does not consider the outcome an endorsement of the cruise terminal’s MOU with the city.

“There’s still the question of what numbers does the town really want, and would the town accept a regulatory approach, or does it really like the MOU approach, which is voluntary and really not that enforceable?” Edwards said.

Initiative co-sponsor Klaudia Leccese was unhappy in the outcome, but hopeful that Sitkans had a better understanding of the issue.

“It’s, of course, like he said, a disappointment, but on the other hand, the people got a chance to vote, and I think that’s really critical,” Leccese said. “Hopefully things will work out in the way that’s best for Sitka over the course of time.”

The final tally on Sitka’s Special Election to limit cruise ships was 773 in favor, and 2,071 opposed. Well over half of the electorate chose to cast their ballots early in this election. 121 absentee ballots will be counted on June 2, but they will not affect the outcome. The Sitka Assembly will certify the results at its first regular meeting in June.

Editor’s note: This is a developing story, and will be updated. 

On election day (5-28-25) polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Harrigan Centennial Hall for Precincts 1 and 2. Tune in to KCAW at 8 a.m. on election night to hear live coverage as returns are announced.  

Supporters and opponents of Prop 1, a citizen initiative to limit cruise traffic in Sitka, gathered on Tuesday night to debate the issue. 

Over 150 Sitkans attended the event at Harrigan Centennial Hall, which was organized by the two local advocacy groups and moderated by Lisa Busch, a former reporter and longtime leader of the Sitka Sound Science Center. 

Listen back to the full forum here (Divided into two parts due to audio file length):

Over the last several years, cruise traffic in Sitka has more than doubled the city’s previous record summers– around 600,000 visitors came to Sitka on cruise ships in 2024. Now, after several previous citizen-led attempts, the question of whether to limit cruise traffic is being put out to the voters in a special election. Prop 1 would limit cruise traffic to 300,000 visitors annually and set a daily cap of 4500. It would also establish a permitting process for cruise ships and penalties for ships that violate the new rules.

Participating in the forum were several representatives from Small Town SOUL, the group that filed the citizen initiative to limit cruise traffic. They say it’s necessary in order to preserve Sitka’s character and quality of life, manage overcrowding and help curb environmental concerns, like pollution.

On the opposing side were representatives from Safeguard Sitka’s Future, which is led by local business owners. In making its case, the group pointed to economic growth throughout the community spurred by tourism, and increasing sales tax revenue that’s helped support new city programs and infrastructure. 

Both groups gave separate presentations and were given the opportunity to provide rebuttals. They then fielded around a dozen written questions from the audience.

KCAW will host each group in half-hour, on-air forums later this month.

Sitka’s special election is Wednesday May 28. Early, in-person voting opens on May 13. Find more information about the upcoming special election here.

Next month, Sitka will hold a special election for voters to decide whether they want to cut cruise traffic in Sitka by nearly half. Municipal Clerk Sara Peterson says the election isn’t just “special” because it’s happening in May. It’s actually the first of its kind in Sitka. 

“In my research it is, that’s what I was able to find, that it’s the first one that’s been triggered by the citizen initiative,” Peterson says. “So it’s been an interesting process to go through. And here we are.”

While it’s a different time of year than a regular municipal election, the voting process will look the same when polls open on Wednesday, May 28.

“On May 28 on election day, the polls are open at Harrigan Hall from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.” Peterson says. “Fortunately, we’ve been able to retain the same rooms that we use for the regular election.”

Early voting options will be available as well- voters can cast their ballots by mail, fax, proxy, or in-person beginning on May 13, including on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to noon. Sitkans must be registered to vote locally by April 28, in order to participate.

A local advocacy group Small Town Soul organized the ballot initiative. If approved by voters, it would cap Sitka’s tourism season at 300,000 passengers annually, set a daily limit of 4500 passengers, and set other requirements for cruise ships, including establish a permitting process, requiring the city to enforce violations through fines or revoking permits, and requiring cruise operators to report visitation data to the city. Over 600 people signed the group’s petition to get the cruise limit question on the ballot in a special election. In response, another advocacy group, Safeguard Sitka’s Future formed, calling for Sitkans to vote no. 

Find more information on the upcoming May 28 special election here.

When the Sitka Assembly met on Tuesday (4-8-25), Planning and Community Development Director Amy Ainslie said they’re leaving Lincoln Street open throughout May as a trial run.

“So on March 13, we did take this to the Tourism Commission. They unanimously recommended that we not close Lincoln Street during the summer season,” Ainslie said. “[There was] some mixed feedback from some of the downtown merchants, and so we decided that kind of the middle ground there was to at least trial this for the month of May, to observe and to make plans, and to come back to the assembly.”

For the last three summers, the city has closed Lincoln Street on large cruise ship days, most recently when the number of cruise visitors exceeded 5,000. On street closure days, some vendors set up food carts on the street and a portable restroom was open to the public. 

Ainslie said she would be working with the commission to develop additional pedestrian safety measures, like crossing guards and sidewalk attendants. But she thought the city’s agreement with the cruise dock and a new staggering plan could reduce some of the pressure Lincoln Street has experienced on the biggest cruise traffic days. 

“We also have some really, which I think are going to be some good operational changes from the dock to stagger cruise ship arrivals and departure time so that folks aren’t all coming into town at the same time, as well as the introduction of a scheduling app that will bus visitors into town at a more consistent, steady flow, as opposed to these large rushes coming into town and leaving town during the day,” Ainslie said.

Ainslie said city staff would present their findings to the assembly at its May 29th meeting before deciding whether to leave the street open for the remainder of the summer months.