Harbor Notes

The Sitka Harbor Department’s plans for 2023 include, first and foremost, replacement/repair of Eliason Harbor’s electrical infrastructure.

Says Harbormaster Stan Eliason, “This is a high priority, and we are currently in the midst of applying for a federal grant for the project. We should hear back by October of this year.” Funds are to be obligated by September 30, 2026, and expended within five years of obligation.

“What’s on our radar for repair and replacement is Eliason Harbor Electrical,” says Sitka Harbormaster Stan Eliason. “Electrical replacement needs to be done and could take as much as $5 million. It is a serious need, but it’s difficult to say when it’s actually going to happen.”

Eliason is still planning on replacing the Fishermen’s Work Float. “That is a pretty critical piece of infrastructure, to get the fishermen back out there and fishing.” Eliason explains that the work float is a Tier II grant, while Tier I grants get priority.

The rebuilding of Crescent Harbor was completed in late 2020, after delays related to Covid-19 and the complexity of restoring electrical power to all the floats. All boats are back in their slips now.

“The boats which did not need electrical were back in place by May of 2020. After that, power was restored to each float, one at a time.” The final returns were in late summer. The project was “a challenge,” pronounces Harbormaster Stan Eliason. “Now we’re done; it’s time to move on.”

Crescent Harbor is being re-built – installation of the timber floats is “going really well,” per Sitka Harbormaster Stan Eliason.

Eliason is hoping to get boats back into their stalls as soon as possible. The Harbor Dept. has a time-lapse camera recording the progress of the renovation and reviews the footage once-a-month. This will provide an archivable record of the project.

“The utility portion,” says Eliason, “will be substantially complete by June 12th. That will be the final portion.

Plans continue for the re-building of Crescent Harbor, located in the center of downtown. Said Sitka Harbormaster Stan Eliason, “We received $5 million from the State of Alaska (out of an anticipated $12 million).” The construction phase of the project should begin during the winter of 2019 with estimated completion by March of 2020.

Eliason thinks that “We are right on track timing-wise, but (the scope of the project now covers) only re-building the timber floats, rather than the whole harbor.”

The next major project slated for the Sitka Harbor Dept. is the re-building of Crescent Harbor, located in the center of downtown. A matching state grant has been applied for, to implement the project.

If the State of Alaska is unable to fund 50% of the project, bonding will have to occur.

According Harbormaster Stan Eliason, the harbor dept. now receives 100% of the fisheries tax. Fisheries tax collected for the 2016 season was $953,323.80.

The transient float is complete, providing 980 feet of additional moorage to the Sitka harbor system. The float, located off Thomsen Harbor just north of the Harbor office, also acts as a protective breakwater. The $5.8 million project was funded partially with a matching state grant.

Harbormaster Stan Eliason said he was pleased with the completed facility, already in use. “It will serve Sitka well,” he said.

A complete refurbishing of Crescent Harbor is the next project to be addressed, according to the Harbor Master Plan.

The rebuilding of the Sitka Transient Float was underway this spring with hope to complete it by summer. The $5.4 million float provides the harbor system with nearly 1,900 feet of new improved facility, now including 50 amp and 30 amp electrical service. The float is used all year by transient boaters, those on the harbor waiting list and people who have to be moved from other spaces.

The float employs the same technology as the recently re-vamped ANB Harbor – wooden floats tied to steel pilings and buoyed by foam-filled polyurethane tubs.