No room for junk: Port commission addresses port storage facilities

The hot topic at the Thursday, July 20 meeting of the Nome Port Commission was storage space.
Many vessels stored on dry ground at the port have been there for years, some since the early 2010’s.
Port Director Joy Baker brought the issue to the Port Commission to discuss solutions to reorganize the vessels currently in the way of staging freight and high-value cargo.
Baker said that vehicles and equipment being stored at the lower industrial pad, located on the west side of the harbor just before the causeway, sometimes take up space that could be used to stage gravel shipments.
“That temporary staging area, which is how it’s supposed to function in the summer, is somewhat reduced to tucking things into the nooks and crannies and dropping things right in front of the ramp in order to work with,” she said.
Many of the previously available storage areas are now used by the Port of Nome expansion project.
The commissioners discussed options like increasing the fees every year or adding a two-year maximum storage limit.
“We need to set a policy for future endeavors and have term limits, or if they’re not in use for ‘X’ amount of years, then they need to go away,” said Port Commission Chair Jim West Jr.
Baker said the port has discussed a timeline where vessels can be stored for one year while they are worked on. “They can sit a whole season, and obviously each winter, and then the following season, if they have a major complication, they need a waiver,” she said. “Otherwise, you go back in the water. Vessels are supposed to be in the water.”
Harbormaster Lucas Stotts said the plan is to move the vessels taking up space in the storage area located at the boat ramp to the south end of the pad.
Commissioner Derek McLarty said that clearing the middle would keep the area open for freight and operations. “Nothing can stay in the middle — period. All has to be on the south side,” he said. “If you want to go beyond that and say it’s got to be in the water every year or every other year with the waiver, I would completely support that.”
Baker said that the bottom line is that the area needs to be clear for operations and cargo. Vessels should be able to be moved at any given time.
During the regular meeting, Vice-Chair Charlie Lean said that vessels that haul out for the winter should expect to be directed where to park. “You could easily be redirected, even if you didn’t place your vessel in the water that year,” he said. “You could be directed to move it within the storage yard at the direction of the staff, and I think that’s the way to do that.”
Baker said that she and Stotts would discuss structure before sending the proposed guidelines to the attorney for workup and then bringing it back to the commission. “In the meantime, we’re going to talk to the owners of these large vessels and advise them that this is where we’re going, so that they have a heads up that this is where they can expect things to migrate,” she said.
The commission also discussed old business – namely, the proposal for a seasonal bathhouse and laundry facility to be located near the harbormaster’s office. The current estimated cost for the bathhouse is just over $2 million. No funding source has been identified for the project yet.
“We’re not pulling the trigger on this at all because there’s no funding source to fully design it or to construct it,” said Baker. “There is interest. There has been interest expressed at the municipal city level along the city side as well as the port side to find out how we can achieve this project, but we’re nowhere near that because we haven’t identified a funding source.”
McLarty suggested the project could be a shared initiative due to the need for public restrooms in Nome. “Maybe the city or utilities or the port or a combination of all three would have better funding sources to get something like this done,” he said.
Baker asked the commission how much further they wanted to take the proposal. “You guys have the magic wand as to put this near the bottom of the list or somewhere toward the bottom or in the middle,” she said. “We can have the guys just stand by for now because we do have a lot of different spots to put money in, but we don’t like to ignore projects that people are interested in seeing something happen.”
West said he feels the commission has done their diligence on the project. “I think we should maybe put this on the back burner in our local priority list for now, just due to the cost of,” he said.
The next meeting of the Nome Port Commission is scheduled for Thursday, August 20 at 5:30 p.m.