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.

The question of where Unalaska will concentrate future development is at the top of tonight’s City Council agenda. With oil and gas exploration in the Arctic expected to bring more commercial activity to the community, Council will take up two proposals that would allocate additional lands to development.

The first proposal involves rezoning a portion of Captain’s Bay tidelands from subsistence to developable. If the change is made, companies could then lease the tidelands from the City for constructing buildings, docks and wharves. The area up for rezoning is located between OSI and the Crowley pot yard.

Longtime resident Peggy McLaughlin has been selected as the City of Unalaska’s new ports director. She will be replacing Alvin Osterback, who left the department in December.

McLaughlin first came to Unalaska in 1993. She worked as a pollock processor on a factory trawler, and later joined Horizon Lines’ local office. She stayed with the company for 13 years, running its cargo operations. City of Unalaska Human Resources manager Kelly Stiles says that some of McLaughlin’s big selling points were her familiarity with Unalaska’s industry and its community.

Council addressed a full house on Tuesday night. At the high-turnout meeting, council discussed the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, revised the rental rates for city housing, appointed a new councilor, and remembered a long-time member of the community.

The meeting opened with a remembrance of Emil Berikoff, who passed away in December. An “in memoriam” citation had been presented on the floor of the state legislature earlier this spring.

City Council will be tackling the budget, city housing rates, and the appointment of a new member at tonight’s jam-packed meeting.

The first item on council’s agenda is filling an open seat. Katherine McGlashan, a former member of council, and Tom Enlow have both submitted applications to replace Dick Peck, who resigned earlier this month.

During the work session, council will hear a presentation of the school district budget, and they will discuss raising the rent at the city 8-plex. They will also review the city’s budget plan for next year.

City council met last night to approve two construction contracts related to road maintenance and accept the resignation of one councilor.

Director of Public Works Nancy Peterson opened the special meeting with a presentation that described the city’s road improvement plan. She said that the city is currently working on preventative maintenance to keep costs down, but that it’s difficult to quantify the final price of fixing the community’s roads because of factors like Unalaska’s geographic location and the presence of WWII-era contaminants. The cost for improving just the city’s two main streets, Airport Beach Road and East Broadway, is being projected at $9 million. Smaller arteries could be maintained with locally recycled asphalt, which could help keep costs down and allow major construction to be deferred. She also announced that an ordinance limiting trailer height and use of chains in an attempt to prevent damage to the roads would probably be introduced by July.

City council will hold a special meeting tonight to approve two construction contracts.

The council will open with a discussion of the pavement resurfacing of Airport Beach Road and East Broadway. City staff accepted bids from two firms for the engineering and design phase of the project, and they suggest awarding the $204,000 contract to PND Engineers. According to a memo from City Manager Chris Hladick, the city is hoping to accelerate the pavement resurfacing project and start work on these two roads in the next few months because of winter deterioration. Council is expected to allocate $4 million more to the project as summer approaches.

(Brian Stockman)

A member of city council put in his resignation on Friday, citing a housing shortage as a primary factor.

Councilor Dick Peck has accepted an interim management position with an electric company in Red Lodge, Montana. Though he will start his work with Beartooth Electric Cooperative this Monday, he will hold his council seat through the end of April.

Peck has been involved with city management and governance since he moved to Unalaska in 2004 to serve as the public utilities director. In 2006, he left that position and then ran for council. When reached on Friday afternoon, Peck spoke positively of his experience on city council. He said that he enjoyed being part of the team that built the new power plant and Carl E. Moses Small Boat Harbor, and that he’s proud of advocating for lower property taxes and the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars.

The capital budget is out of the State Senate, and funding for Unalaska’s major projects hasn’t been slashed.

The Senate bill includes $4.1 million for the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant, a top priority for the city. Gov. Sean Parnell had only recommended $3.1 million for that project this year. The plant is expected to cost $16 million, and the city already received $4 million from the state for it last year.