Sitka group wins ruling on initiative
TOURISM: Measure would require vote on building a cruise ship dock.
By PAULA DOBBYN
Anchorage Daily News
Published: May 23, 2006
Last Modified: May 23, 2006 at 02:12 AM

A fight over cruise ships is being waged in another Southeast town, where the giant vessels began unloading hordes of summer visitors last week.

A group of Sitka residents has won court approval to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would require a public vote before the city could build a cruise ship and freight dock, provided initiative backers clear up the measure's confusing language.

The ruling came from Superior Court Judge Larry C. Zervos on Friday in a case against the city of Sitka by a grass-roots citizens group.

Sitka is one of several Panhandle hamlets where residents debate the merits and drawbacks of having hundreds of thousands of tourists on their streets from mid-May to mid-September. The debate is often polarizing, pitting those who value the millions in sales taxes and the business potential that cruise tourism creates versus those who feel their town's quality of life suffers.

Sitkans for a Clear Vote had battled the city attorney for months over a proposed initiative that would require voter approval before the city could authorize construction of a deepwater dock where cruise ships and other large vessels could tie up. The dock would be located on city tideland in Sawmill Cove, an industrial park and site of a big pulp mill that shut down in 1993.

The city clerk, acting on the advice of municipal attorney Theresa Hillhouse, rejected several versions of the initiative, saying it was poorly worded and unconstitutional. Hillhouse argued that, if approved by voters, the measure would have repealed an appropriation of a nearly $2 million grant from Congress for dock development.

Citizen initiatives may not make or repeal appropriations, according to the Alaska Constitution.

Judge Zervos disagreed with Hillhouse and found that the initiative is not unconstitutional because it "does not repeal an appropriation."

But Zervos agreed with the city that the initiative, as written, is misleading and would confuse voters. He gave the citizens time to clean it up and scheduled a May 31 hearing on the revisions.

Sitkans for a Clear Vote blamed what it considers an unnecessary court fight on Hillhouse.

"In our opinion, the reason why it's so confusing is because we were working with such an uncooperative city attorney. She said you need to address this issue and you need to address that issue. She raised so many concerns that we kept introducing more language," and the initiative got too confusing, said Zach LaPerriere, the group's chairman.

The initiative was "so poorly written that voters could not have concluded what they were voting on," Hillhouse said.

The cruise ships that bring nearly 1 million people to Alaska each summer are controversial, especially in some of the tiny Southeast towns they visit. Over the last decade, bitter community fights have broken out over smokestack emissions, illegal dumping, noise, crowding and downtowns transformed into seasonal economies that shut down in September.

Sitka has no cruise ship dock. The ships that arrive moor offshore and shuttle passengers to land by small boat.

Last October, voters narrowly approved an advisory vote that said the city should proceed with construction of a "multipurpose" dock at Sawmill Cove. Sitkans for a Clear Vote said the language should have spelled out that the dock would primarily serve cruise ships, LaPerriere said.

A majority on the city Assembly decided not to put the phrase "cruise ship" in the advisory question because they feared citizens would vote against it, said Mayor Marko Dapcevich.

Not true, said John Holst, an Assembly member and dock proponent.

"It was very well known what it was that was being proposed. It was no secret at all," he said.