From January 23rd-25th, Spruce Root will be hosting a Master Class workshop for mid-stage Southeast Alaska entrepreneurs to help them navigate running a business amidst larger global changes from climate change to emerging technologies like AI. Michael Mausbach joins KCAW for the Morning Interview to discuss more of what participants could expect from the upcoming Juneau-based workshop, as well as how one could register for the event before its deadline of January 9th.

At its Thursday (4/9/20) night budget meeting the assembly spent less time on the actual budget,  and more time discussing what measures they could take to reduce the burden on Sitka residents affected by COVID-19. 

Assembly member Valorie Nelson proposed delaying the property tax appeal deadline to June 15th.  That unanimously passed. Nelson also proposed pushing the filing date for city sales tax returns to June 30th, and waiving penalties, fees, and late payments. 

Asked about the impact of the proposal, the head of Sitka’s Finance Department, Jay Sweeney, said postponing sales tax filings would make it hard to track exactly how the local economy was faring. 

“If we delay the reporting, then we won’t be able to give the type of estimates the assembly was asking for on a week-to-week basis for what is the affect of the economic slow-down on the municipality,” he said. “Without the returns being filed, we won’t have the ability to provide that information, so that’s a drawback to be considered.” 

The sales tax extension passed 5-2 with members Eisenbeisz and Mosher opposed. 

During public comment on the COVID-19 relief discussion, municipal clerk Sara Peterson read a submission from Mike Finn. Finn said that the assembly should do even more, by removing water, sewer and trash charges from the utilities bill for Sitka businesses that were required to close. He said that the COVID-19 relief bill covered payroll, but not many other expenses.

“Businesses are already losing profits and will struggle to get through the winter months with minimal or no summer season,” he wrote. 

Nelson said she wanted to do more.

“If there are businesses that are truly, truly fumbling or on the brink of failure, for crying out loud, we virtually gave half-a-million dollars to Baranof Island Brewing Company,” she said. “We have got to figure out a way that we can help these people if there’s a chance they can reopen after all this craziness is gone.” 

Member Thor Christianson said he’d be willing to draft and cosponsor more legislation down the line, what he said could be, essentially, a Sitka version of the CARES Act. And member Kevin Mosher suggested an ordinance that allows a sales tax free weekend once a month.

The assembly will consider the two extensions for sales and property tax as emergency ordinances at its meeting on Tuesday (4/14/20). At that meeting, the assembly will also consider delaying the seasonal utility rate hike to July 1. And the assembly will consider an extension of the “hunker down” ordinance, and a mandate to require all essential employees arriving in Sitka to quarantine for 14 days, and for their employers to submit safety plans to the city. 

Sitting on Lake Street, The new Aspen Hotel opened July 14th. (KCAW Photo / Cameron Clark)

The opening of the Aspen Hotel in downtown Sitka this July significantly eased the community’s accommodation crunch, but parking remains in short supply.

In the spirit of “Curious City,” a public radio series dedicated to solving ongoing urban mysteries brought forward by listeners, KCAW’s Cameron Clark addresses a question we heard while standing in line for a sandwich at the Sitka Subway earlier this summer: Where will all the guests at the new Aspen Hotel park?

Downloadable audio.

In summertime Sitka is alive with activity. Fishing, wildlife viewing, and the arts bring hundreds of visitors to town, many who stay overnight. While there are now plenty of hotel rooms, stores, and eateries downtown, the same can’t be said for parking.

Todd Denkinger grew up here, but moved away about 30 years ago. While visiting family recently, he came to an unpleasant realization.

“It’s actually kind of ironic, it’s harder to park here than the town that I live in, in Seattle. I go to downtown in Edmonds, I can always find a place to park. Come down here, it’s a little rough,” he said.

Cars are nestled bumper to bumper on both sides of Lincoln Street. The Sitka and Totem Square hotels have lots filled to capacity with patrons and shoppers. And the Crescent Harbor parking lot is packed with the overflow.

Why is parking so limited?

According to Sitka Director of Planning and Community Development Mike Scarcelli, there’s no parking requirement for businesses downtown.

“Parking isn’t the highest and best use of land, especially in an area where you want it to be compact. And as we know in Sitka even though we have a large island with beautiful recreational areas, the developed area is actually just a small  portion of that. And so land is a valuable commodity,” he said.

Scarcelli recently looked through a book with photos of Sitka from the 1970s and noticed something interesting.

“I was looking through the site plans and the build outs of the different businesses downtown, and what I saw was that a lot weren’t built out to the property lines. There was front yards, side yards and backyards,” Scarcelli said. “Then over the last 30 to 50 years there was a change of really building out businesses.”

So the tendency of business owners to create more retail space at the expense of parking has led to the dense and compact downtown that Sitkans know today.

And then on July 14th, along comes the four-story Aspen Hotel, in the heart of Sitka’s commercial area. Although the police station and state offices are just across the street, everyone’s asking the same question, “Where will the Aspen guests park?”

Aspen Hotel Regional Director of Sales Marketing and Community Relations Carol Fraser says that there’s nothing to worry about.

“The parking lot is right behind us. There’s a blue house on the lot right now and we rented that for the last year as our job site trailer. So we’re going to be tearing that down, and then we’ll pave the back parking lot so we’ll have plenty of parking for our guests,” she said.

The Aspen Hotel parking lot is still underway, but when finished, it will be straight across from the police station. (KCAW Photo / Cameron Clark)

The lot will have at least 30 parking spaces, which should be plenty for the 71 suite hotel.

According to Fraser, ever since Aspen broke ground in Sitka, they’ve been receiving calls from both the city and residents asking about parking. They couldn’t say anything publicly until the transaction was completed.

“We have a lot of parking at our other hotels because none of them are right downtown and most cities don’t have good parking in their downtown core,” Fraser said. “So we knew if we could figure it out it would be a great amenity for the guests.”

The parking lot is set to be finished in September before the business travelers come. But for now guests with rental cars must join locals in the search for that elusive downtown parking space.