Port panel votes on dock design for port expansion

By Diana Haecker
The Port Commission met last Thursday for a work session followed by a regular scheduled meeting to discuss the design of the deep-water basin docks for the proposed port expansion. In the work session the design engineer presented three alternatives. Option 1 provided for three different docks attached to the new causeway. Option 2 proposed a combined 1,075 foot dock on the causeway and a 600-foot dock on the causeway extension. The third option proposed a full 2,000-ft. sheet-pile dock. Harbormaster Lucas Stotts in the past has asked the commission to consider the harbors overcrowding and need for more laydown space. This consideration flowed into the unanimous vote to choose the third option as a 2,000-ft dock would provide more opportunity for laydown space. The commissioners also mulled the utilities that would need to be buried in the causeway. NJUS manager Ken Morton presented a design proposal that included water, sewer, fuel and electricity utilities to be laid. Currently, water is no longer provided to ships after freezing, usually around October. When the Sikuliaq most recently docked at Nome, Bob Madden delivered water to the ship as the pipes were already drained for the winter. Morton said that sewer capabilities are still years away but it would make sense to prepare and lay sewage pipes in the ground.
Harbormaster Lucas Stotts reported that all seasonal workforce has been laid off and that he is busy with administrative tasks, preparing for Nome’s hosting the Alaska Association of Harbormasters and Port Administrators Conference and for a very busy cruise ship season with 22 scheduled landings at the Port of Nome. Stotts said he mulls hiring additional security personnel to accommodate the influx of passengers as some cruise ships arrive on the same day. Stotts said congestion at the small boat harbor needs to be addressed and he hopes for a brainstorm session with the commission to discuss floating docks or other mooring opportunities at the Snake River.
Commissioner Derek McLarty asked if the boat ramp replacement project is considered completed. Port Director Joy Baker said the contractor will complete it in the spring. “As soon as the report is finished, it will be on the commission’s table,” she said. McLarty said it irked him that the contractor did not finish the job on time, left debris behind and affected port users for the summer. Also he reported that he hears comments to the effect “How are you going to manage a $600 million port expansion when you can’t build a $3 million boat ramp?” An answer was tabled to the next port commission meeting to be held on Dec. 16.