Sitka Assembly to consider leasing industrial park lot to regional aquaculture association

The Sitka Assembly will consider leasing a second lot at Gary Paxton Industrial Park to the Northern Southeast Regional Aquaculture Association when it meets Tuesday, July 14, at 6 p.m. in Assembly Chambers.

Ordinance 26-18 is at first reading, meaning a second vote will be required before the lease becomes final. The ordinance would authorize a lease of Block 4, Lot 1, a parcel at Sitka's primary industrial zone. Gary Paxton Industrial Park is a former pulp mill site with deep-water access that the city manages for marine service industries. Lease terms, duration, and financial details are not included in the agenda. Those specifics are available in the full packet on the city's website at sitka.legistar.com or in hard copy at the Sitka Public Library.

NSRAA already holds a lease at the park. The association has leased Lot 3 at Gary Paxton Industrial Park since Feb. 27, 2018, according to a city lease background document. Its hatchery operations support commercial and sport fisheries across Southeast Alaska. Commercial and sport fishermen throughout the region depend on hatchery output that shapes fish availability and the broader fisheries economy.

The Gary Paxton Industrial Park board's mission, as stated on the park's official site, is to "strategically develop the park in a fiscally responsible manner that maximizes its economic benefit to the community through creation of meaningful jobs that conform with established community plans and policies."

Alongside the ordinance, the Assembly is set to reappoint Scott Wagner to a two-year term on the Gary Paxton Industrial Park Board.

If the ordinance advances Tuesday, a second reading and final vote would follow at a subsequent meeting before the lease takes effect.