By Jessica Edwards

The borough is discussing three different ways of upgrading the walk between the Port Chilkoot Dock and Lookout Park, but one is already being planned: a $600,000 facelift of the existing sidewalk on that stretch, including work on the walk adjacent to Tlingit Park and the retaining wall there.

The money is among three Haines requests for funding this year from the cruise ship head tax regional impact fund. Along with $1.5 million in Port Chilkoot Dock debt retirement and repair and $124,000 in parking lot improvements, the project stands a good chance of being funded this year, according to state Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines.

The borough’s waterfront committee had not considered the Front Street sidewalk improvements previously, and at Friday’s joint meeting with the tourism advisory board, some questioned spending money on existing sidewalks when other areas have no walks at all.

Member Rob Goldberg said building a sidewalk between the Chilkat Cruises dock and the Port Chilkoot Dock might be a higher priority, but mayor Fred Shields said that sidewalk, although needed, was not the issue at hand.

Tourism advisory board member Judy Heinmiller also questioned the rationale of focusing on the existing sidewalk to Lookout Park. "Why is an existing sidewalk a priority over where we have a need but not an existing pathway?"

In an interview after the meeting, borough manager Robert Venables said the borough assembly had identified that waterfront stretch of sidewalk as a high priority. He said although other sections of town used by cruise passengers also qualified for head tax money, they might be addressed through a communitywide sidewalk plan.

"We’re looking at overall community needs and attacking it at both ends," Venables said.

Three different projects were envisioned between Port Chilkoot Dock and Lookout Park Friday: a waterfront interpretive nature trail such as one the Takshanuk Watershed Council proposed to develop this summer, a totem-lined boardwalk advocated by mayor Shields, and the rebuilt sidewalk. "We can do this in stages and get all three done," Venables said.

The waterfront committee, an ad-hoc group appointed by the mayor, has met three times in recent months to discuss the upgrade.

The walkway has been variously conceptualized as a totem-lined wooden boardwalk, a natural-looking path through vegetation on the beach with interpretive and orienting signs, and a hardened, handicapped-accessible trail providing beach access.

It would potentially cross Port Chilkoot Company property, which extends north of Port Chilkoot Dock. Company president Lee Heinmiller said Friday he favored a natural path that would not disturb the character of the beach, but would be concerned by construction.

The path should guide visitors towards the community rather than serving as a destination, he said. "What we are hoping (people) do is loop through the community and spend their hard-earned money."

Andrew Schicht of PND Engineers, Inc. presented several options for walkways, whether a sea walk pushing out towards the tidelands or a beautified sidewalk. "It could be done in many different ways," he said. "It’s just a matter of a decision on your part."

He presented three highly constructed options for offering intermittent beach access. The first and cheapest was to fill side slopes of a walkway with rock, mirroring the Portage Cove breakwater. A step up in expense would be to build a retaining wall, perhaps faced with timber, and the most costly option would be to construct the walkway with concrete blocks and add a fancy railing. He said the latter option, particularly, might be "more urban and stylized than you want here," but said he wanted to present a range of possibilities.