KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Around 50 people turned out last night to take part in the Kodiak Waterfront Plan public meeting.
The city hosted the event which took place at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center.
The engineering firm DOWL HKM is working on three projects with the City of Kodiak and introduced two of the projects last night. There is the overall plan which will address improvements to city-owned waterfront property and there is a separate project to improve pedestrian facilities from Pier 2 to downtown. The pedestrian project is partially funded by state cruise ship tax money.
Tables at the open house were covered with maps of the different waterfront sites. Participants were urged to mark down notes on the maps, suggest ideas and point out the challenges of each location.
The project that drew the most discussion was the proposed sidewalk from Pier 2 to downtown. There are two routes currently under consideration. One route is up Rezanoff Drive which critics say is too steep and long for cruise ship passengers to deal with. The other choice is Shelikof Street where critics say that pedestrians would interfere with the commercial traffic at the fish processing plants.
The project manager for the Kodiak Waterfront Plan is Aaron Christie of Dowl HKM. Last night Christie gave his assessment of the event.
Public comments about the Waterfront Plan can be submitted via the City of Kodiak’s website. The comments will be taken into consideration as the planners work on creating draft plans for the two projects. Those plans are expected to be ready by the end of March or the beginning of April.
