Making five-ship limit mandatory rather than voluntary sought by trio of Assembly members

Mark Sabbatini
2 hours ago
3 min read

Proposed ordinance set for introduction Monday intended to enforce daily cap citywide, including any cruise ships docking at Goldbelt’s private dock in West Douglas

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

A voluntary limit of five large cruise ships a day in Juneau will become a mandatory rule under a proposed ordinance set to be introduced at Monday night’s Assembly meeting.

The agreement between the city and major cruise lines started in 2024 and has been renewed each of the past two years, with a second agreement this year also implementing a daily limit of 16,000 passengers (12,000 on Saturdays).

Assembly Member Christine Woll said in an interview Friday questions from residents about the industry’s willingness to continue the five-ship limit and the resolution of a court case in Maine about the legality of cruise passenger limits were factors in proposing the change.

"We get questions from the public all the time asking how do we know that the industry will continue to support a five-ship limit since it's voluntary and since they may want to increase traffic in the future," she said.

The Maine case involves a daily cap of 1,000 cruise passengers that voters in the city of Bar Harbor approved in 2022, which was challenged by businesses there in court in 2024. A federal judge this May ruled the limit can be imposed, but only during the peak months of July and August.

"The only reason we didn't legislate this previously (in Juneau) is because the legal landscape didn't support it," Woll said. "But since the Bar Harbor decision changes that, we felt like it was the right time to do it."

The ordinance is being introduced by Woll, Alicia Hughes-Skandijs and Paul Kelly. Woll and Hughes-Skandijs are stepping down from the Assembly after the municipal election in October, while Kelly is seeking a second three-year term for an areawide seat.

A contentious debate has surfaced about whether the existing five-ship limit would apply to a private two-ship cruise port Goldbelt Inc. is proposing on land the Alaska Native corporation owns along the west coast of Douglas Island. Both possibilities have raised objections — downtown businesses are worried about having three ships instead of five each day at nearby docks, and some residents have expressed concerns about the impacts of seven daily ships bringing well over 2 million passengers to Juneau each season.

Kelly, in an interview Friday, said his intention with the proposed ordinance is a five-ship limit citywide, including Goldbelt’s dock if that project is approved and built.

"It's a matter of capacity and what we can handle in our community," he said. "We currently can handle about five cruise ships and so it makes sense to have that as our limit, as we've negotiated in the past. The whole justification for constitutionally being able to set this limit is about capacity and what we can handle."

If at a future time it appears Juneau can handle seven ships per day the ordinance can be amended, Kelly said.

The ordinance, like the voluntary agreement, would apply to ships with room for more than 950 passengers. If introduced Monday it will likely be referred to the Assembly’s Committee of the Whole for initial consideration, and would have to be voted on at a future Assembly meeting where public testimony on the proposal is allowed.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.