The tidelands outlined in blue are being rezoned as developable

Discussion of how to handle development in Unalaska’s Captain’s Bay dominated Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. City staff brought forward a proposal to rezone a section of tidelands in the bay from subsistence to developable. Changing the zoning would allow for further industrial build-up in the area extending west from Offshore Service Inc.

Council ultimately voted 6-0 to make the change, but not before hearing considerable public comment, both for and against the proposal.

Unalaska resident Vince Tutiakoff said he’s worried about what development could mean for the bay’s fragile ecosystem.

“There is no real tide out there, it doesn’t move. It goes up there, stays there, tide goes out and whatever debris, oil… There have been several oil spills out there at OSI [Offshore Services Inc].”

Tutiakoff added that one of the major chum salmon spawning streams in the area borders on the tidelands the city is planning to rezone.

Resident Tom Robinson echoed Tutiakoff’s concerns, adding that if the City does push forward with development, it should also consider ways to mitigate its impact on the bay.

“Help us seek grants to clean it [the area] up, replant what is lost, set in an oil spill plan.  This can be reversed to where we don’t have to step in oil at low tide. For those that this as a negative, throw in a positive.

Other residents, like Bill Shaishnikoff, who owns property upland from the proposed rezoning area urged council to go even further and extend the developable tidelands area all the way to the end of the bay.

“We all know that Shell is going up to the Chukchi Sea, going up to the Beaufort Sea this year. When they find that world-class pool of oil that we all think is there, this all-weather, ice-free harbor is going to be extremely important. We better be – we should be – ready.”

City planning director Erin Reinders encouraged people to see zoning as a way to ensure control over where development happens.

“Zoning really is a tool that helps us guide development. It also helps us protect other areas that we as a community feel are worthy of that protection. It’s a hard decision, it’s a very difficult conversation, but we have to draw those lines somewhere, encouraging development to go some places to protect other areas.”

Council also unanimously approved submitting an application to the State for control of more tidelands in Captain’s Bay, Iliuliuk Harbor and Dutch Harbor.

The rezoning ordinance will have a second reading on May 22. The application for additional tidelands now goes on to the State for negotiation.