Fairbanks gets ready for military population influx

North Pole, near Fairbanks, is seeing a sharp increase in local residential and commercial construction in anticipation of new military personnel arriving at nearby Eielson Air Force Base supporting two F-35 interceptor squadrons to be based there. North Pole city officials have issued 30 residential building permits this year, twice the normal number. One new local subdivision, Eagle Estates, will add 39 new units bringing it up to a total of 65 homes. The city has issued $15.6 million in new building permits so far this year not including an expansion of the city water system now underway.

 

CARNIVAL FINALIZES WHITE PASS DEAL: Carnival Corp. was to complete its acquisition July 31 of the White Pass & Yukon Route tourist railway in Skagway and related local dock facilities from Canadian-owned TWC Enterprises Ltd. The purchase is to be followed by a sale of a majority ownership share of the operation to Ketchikan’s Survey Point Holdings, which now operates the Skagway operation for White Pass. The purchase price was $290 million less $80 million to $90 million for debt, taxes and other liabilities.

 

TRANSFER OF FAIRBANKS’ DERELICT POLARIS BUILDING COMPLETED: A group of 30 Fairbanks citizens and community groups chipped in $36,322 to help the city of Fairbanks complete the acquisition of the derelict Polaris Building in the city’s downtown. The money was needed to pay back taxes owed to the Fairbanks North Star Borough and other bills to be paid before the property ownership could transfer. The city will now work to secure $6 million needed to demolish the 11-story structure, which has been unoccupied for years and is contaminated. It was built in 1952.

   Fairbanks community groups are now debating what to do with the building site. One plan being advanced by Explore Fairbanks, the local visitor promotion association, is to build a new convention center. The present Carlson Center in Fairbanks’ Pioneer Park, lacks “breakout” rooms needed for many meetings, is not wired for advanced electronics and is not located near local hotels and restaurants. A new center in downtown Fairbanks would likely need more than the present Polaris Building site, however.

 

LACK OF HOUSING CRIMPS SEASONAL LABOR SUPPLY IN HOMER: Lack of affordable housing has contributed to a summer labor shortage in Homer, a popular tourist destination, and the recent increase in internet-based vacation rentals is exacerbating the problem. Lower 48 communities that rely on seasonal tourism are experiencing similar problems attracting summer workers but Homer officials, so far, are not moving to regulate vacation rentals by homeowners as some Lower 48 communities are doing.

    One local hotel, Land’s End Resort, purchased a local 6-plex to provide lower-cost housing for 18 of its staff, about half of the Land’s End local workforce.

 

NOME TO VOTE ON HOTEL TAX INCREASE: Nome’s council approved an increase of the local hotel tax from 6 percent to 10 percent to be placed on the Oct. 2 local municipal election ballot. The 6 percent tax now raises about $135,000 yearly but the city contributes $144,000 a year in support of the local Chamber of Commerce visitor center. The higher hotel tax would make more money available. Rentals beyond 27 days would be exempt from the tax.

 

KETCHIKAN TO SEATTLE: “COME LIVE HERE!” Ketchikan’s Chamber of Commerce is pitching the Southeast community as a place to live to high-income Seattle tech workers tired of sky-high housing prices and traffic congestion. The hour-and-a-half flight from Ketchikan is about the same as many workers spend commuting in traffic. Among attractions are low taxes and the attractions of outdoor recreation. A resolution is before the Ketchikan Gateway Borough assembly.

 

INUIT CIRCUMPOLAR CONFERENCE IN UTQIAGVIK WRAPS UP: The Inuit Circumpolar Conference wrapped up its 2018 general assembly meeting in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow) with a work plan to promote a ban on high-sulfur marine fuels in the Arctic as well as focusing on regional social and health problems, including suicide. Inuit people from Alaska, Canada, Greenland, the Nordic countries and Russia attend the assembly every four years. Alaskan Dalee Sambo Dorough, a University of Alaska political science professor, was elected as the ICC’s new chair. The next assembly, in 2022, will be in Greenland.

 

UNALASKA JOINS COMMUNITIES BANNING PLASTIC BAGS: Unalaska will impose a ban on plastic bags used in retail sales, although exceptions will be allowed for fresh fruit and vegetables. Violations will carry a fine. The ban takes effect Jan. 1. Several Alaska communities have taken similar actions.

 

FAIRBANKS SEES JUMP IN MARIJUANA TAXES: Marijuana tax revenues to the city of Fairbanks are coming in higher than projected this year, up $70,000 over an initial projection of $600,000, city officials said. However, local tobacco tax income is down $60,000 for reasons that are unclear, the city said, but it may be due to the closure of Sam’s Club, a large retailer that sold tobacco. Tobacco sales, and taxes, are likely to pick up when Costco opens in Fairbanks, city officials said. The Costco opening also brought the city $151,000 in new building permit fees due to extensive renovations of the former Sam’s Club store building for Costco.

FINANCIALLY-STRESSED NENANA CHIPS AWAY AT ITS DEBT: The financially-stressed City of Nenana is chipping away at past-due obligations. The city assembly approved a payment June 26 of $250,039 on debts as part of a $1.13 million budget (revenues are estimated at $1.13 million). The $250,039 covers $161,095 for overdue payroll taxes; $63,000 for accounts payable, and $25,944 in payments on state loans through the Department of Environmental Conservation. The city’s debt accumulated over time, with $755,000 owed to private, state and federal entities. In austerity moves the city has cut personnel, pared back working hours and leased out city facilities to private operators. Nenana is a first class city, one of the state’s oldest, with diversified revenues. It operates its own school district with many of the school costs covered by a long-operating and successful boarding school.