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Storis won’t be homeported in Juneau unless sufficient housing exists, city manager says
Coast Guard proposing ‘unique and untested’ third-party arrangement; Assembly being asked to OK coalition of local, tribal and federal officials to explore options
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
The declarations a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker will be homeported in Juneau have been definitive for the past two years, but Juneau City Manager Katie Koester said Friday it’s not actually a certainty due to housing requirements for crew and their families.
"I fear that there's a degree of uncertainty and I just want to make sure that as a community we're not just sitting around and waiting for things to happen," she told the Juneau Independent.
Her concerns are detailed in a memo Juneau Assembly members will consider Monday night seeking approval for a partnership of local, tribal and federal officials to explore housing for crew of the Storis icebreaker, which the Coast Guard said in 2024 would be homeported in Juneau.
"However, without adequate housing it will not make Juneau its permanent home," Koester wrote.
When asked on Friday if Coast Guard officials have suggested recently they’re rethinking their plans, Koester said no such remarks have been made to her. Also, she noted, the Coast Guard is seeking a contractor to redevelop the waterfront at its downtown Juneau station "so that's a very strong indicator" of plans to proceed.
Inquiries Friday evening by the Juneau Independent to the U.S. Coast Guard about the possibility of the Storis being homeported elsewhere did not receive an immediate response.
The possibility of the Storis being homeported somewhere other than Juneau was rebuffed by Amanda Coyne, a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who has led congressional efforts to get the icebreaker and other new Coast Guard vessels deployed to the state.
"As long as Senator Sullivan is Alaska’s U. S. Senator and chairman of the Commerce Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, the Storis will be coming to Juneau. Full stop," she wrote in an email to the Juneau Independent on Friday evening. "The Storis was commissioned in Juneau. The senator recently got $300 million appropriated for the vessel to be homeported in Juneau. The land has been transferred. The pier is being constructed. The Coast Guard is working toward a solution for housing as we speak. The Coast Guard has made (a) decision. It will be coming to Juneau."
The 360-foot-long Storis is a repurposed and repainted ship originally built in 2012 as a private oil company service vessel. Its purchase by the Coast Guard was controversial due to the ship having a troubled history at sea and top officers declaring the vessel wouldn’t be fit for service without extensive modifications. The ship is currently homeported in Seattle during winter months while those upgrades are being performed, with a target completion date of 2029.
Coast Guard officials and political leaders originally said the Storis would bring about 600 crew and family members to Juneau, but that has been scaled back during the past year to about 360 people. However, the possibility has been raised that a second smaller new Coast Guard vessel could also be stationed in Juneau during the coming years.
The Coast Guard has proposed solving the housing issue for the Storis "through a unique and untested mechanism whereby they issue a request for proposal for 61 housing units to be constructed by a third-party developer in exchange for a guaranteed 5-year lease," according to Koester’s memo.
However, while "the stated intention of the USCG is to purchase the homes, they cannot provide that guarantee under this authority. This presents financing and buildability challenges for developers," she added.
Koester stated she is asking the Assembly to approve a resolution for a partnership because "As a community we need to be aggressive in helping the USCG resolve obstacles to development."
A draft of the resolution names as partners the City and Borough of Juneau, Central Council of the
Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, and Tlingit-Haida Regional Housing Authority. The city is already working with the tribal entities on developing properties they own on Douglas Island with assistance from a federal grant.
Koester also noted there are other area entities such as the Juneau Economic Development Council, Southeast Conference, and Navy League that may be able to assist in housing and advocacy efforts. JEDC, in its October newsletter, noted Juneau needs to quickly develop 50 residences for Storis crew, and "any builders and developers (who) are interested" should contact the council.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
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