Juneau harbor board weighs $365,000 design contract for larger North Douglas ramp

The Juneau Docks and Harbors Board will decide Thursday, Oct. 29, whether to hire PND Engineers for $365,000 to begin designing a larger North Douglas Launch Ramp. The contract is on the consent agenda for the 5 pm meeting, beside a $750,000 transfer to the project from the department's docks fund. The transfer also needs an Assembly ordinance. A draft lists Nov. 16 for its introduction.

Alaska News reported Oct. 14 that the board's operations committee was weighing the waste rock and charter questions.

The design work could decide whether charter boats use the ramp. Port Director Carl Uchytil wrote in an Oct. 13 memo that a commercial loading zone could ease charter congestion at Statter Harbor, lessen wake damage to Auke Bay waterfront property owners and help pay for the expansion. "A rigorous engineering review along with community input may warrant commercial charter use at this facility," Uchytil wrote.

In a 2023 city launch-ramp survey, some users supported expanding North Douglas, while others called it inconvenient and dangerous. "That launch is a mess," one respondent wrote.

The project has been funded so far with $1.225 million, all from the harbors fund. The memo says the docks fund held nearly $4 million at the end of fiscal 2026.

PND's proposal splits the work five ways. Ground testing, at $150,000, includes four borings in existing parking areas and test pits on the beach. Concept development and three public meetings would cost $100,000. A $50,000 study would test whether waste rock from the Kensington Mine could be barged to North Douglas as fill. Coastal modeling, at $40,000, would simulate waves to find ramp and float layouts that limit wave exposure. Surveying would cost $25,000.

The first public meeting would identify user groups and settle whether the ramp should serve boats and tour buses carrying paying passengers. PND would then draw at least three concepts. Docks and Harbors would pick one after the third meeting as the basis for environmental review, permitting and final design under separate future contracts.

The department's six-year capital plan lists the expansion at $10 million in fiscal 2028, $10 million in fiscal 2029 and $15 million in fiscal 2030, or $35 million over three years.