A cruise line representative dodged questions from the Juneau Assembly Thursday afternoon about the company’s plans to develop a new cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas Island.
The interaction took place during a public meeting between the Juneau Assembly and cruise line representatives at City Hall.
Last fall, Royal Caribbean Group announced a partnership with Goldbelt Inc. — a local Alaska Native corporation — to develop a new cruise ship dock on the backside of Douglas Island.
Despite obvious activity going on in the area, Mayor Beth Weldon told a Royal Caribbean Group representative that no one at the city has been informed about their plans for development.
“We see clearing of land on the tip of North Douglas, which has freaked everybody out,” she said. “We’re hearing surveys of docks are done, and so far, we’ve heard nothing from you guys.”
When Goldbelt and Royal Caribbean first announced their plans, the mayor and other city officials said they felt blindsided by the news. And since then, neither company has shared any additional information publicly about the proposed project.
Goldbelt owns about 1,800 acres of land along the north coastline of Douglas, roughly between False Outer Point and Point Hilda on the island’s west side. In recent weeks, the corporation began putting up no trespassing signs in the area and gated off a trail regularly used by recreational hikers for years, despite being on private land. Satellite imagery over the past month shows portions of land have been cleared of trees.
Deputy Mayor Greg Smith asked if either company plans to communicate with the city about what’s going on.
Royal Caribbean Group’s Vice President of Government Relations Russell Benford suggested at the meeting that it is up to Goldbelt to communicate with the city.
“I don’t want to speak for, I’m not able to speak for the developer,” he said. “But, I can tell you that would be my response to you — I don’t know it’s really on us to speak for them.”
Representatives for Goldbelt were not present at the meeting. But, in a text message to KTOO, Goldbelt President and CEO McHugh Pierre said the company was “inspecting the ground to see what can be built and where it might be built.” He did not disclose if the clearing was related to the dock project.
During the initial announcement, Goldbelt and the cruise line shared that they hope to develop employee housing, floatplane and whale watching docks, helicopter pads and recreate a Lingít village for passengers to visit, among other business opportunities to go along with the port.
The fate of that proposed dock is in question after the Juneau Assembly approved a tidelands lease for Huna Totem Corp. to build a fifth cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau earlier this month.
Last year, major cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, entered into an agreement with the city to observe a five-ship daily limit. If approved, Goldbelt and Royal Caribbean’s dock would be a sixth dock.
The joint meeting on Thursday also covered topics with the cruise lines like reducing greenhouse gas emissions, supporting local businesses and communicating with city officials.
There was no opportunity for public testimony during the meeting and the Assembly did not take any action.
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