Last Updated on March 6, 2025 by Mrunal & Jiten
KTOO
Juneau | Transportation
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Juneau residents will have a chance to learn more about Huna Totem Corps’ proposal to build a fifth cruise ship dock in downtown Juneau. The corporation and city will hold two joint meetings at City Hall next week where residents can weigh in.
The growth and management of cruise ship tourism is an increasingly divisive topic in town. Juneau City Manager Katie Koester said public input is crucial as the likely multimillion-dollar project could significantly change downtown and tourism’s impact on residents.
“It’s a massive economic development initiative in our community,” Koester said. “Having that conversation before any deliberation, I think it’s really going to weigh into both the requirements that the Assembly puts on any type of lease, and their ultimate approval of it.”
Huna Totem Corporation is an Alaska Native village corporation. It proposed the new dock in 2022 after Norwegian Cruise Lines gave it waterfront property near Juneau’s U.S. Coast Guard station.
The company wants to outfit the dock with a waterfront development called Aak’w Landing, which would include things like underground parking, retail space and a culture and science center. The planning commission approved permits for both the dock and the waterfront development in 2023.
Russell Dick, the president and CEO of Huna Totem, said the project will uplift the Juneau community and Alaska Native people.
“It provides a ton of benefits to the community of Juneau,” he said. “It takes an old gravel, dirt lot that is not very appealing today and turns it into something that I think everyone who lives here can be proud of.”
The meetings next week come long before the Assembly will vote to decide whether or not to approve leasing out city-owned tidelands to Huna Totem. Those tideland leases will determine if the corporation can build the dock. Without them, the project as it stands can’t move forward.
Koester said she expects the Assembly to vote on the tideland leases within the year. Before that though, she said the city wants to make sure residents have enough opportunities to get their voices heard on the proposal.
“This is a really good opportunity for some of that more informal feedback that I think we don’t always have an opportunity to engage with the public in and it’s really important,” she said. “I’d love to see people there.”
Huna Totem’s dock is not the only one proposed in the Juneau area right now. In October, Goldbelt Incorporated and Royal Caribbean Group announced a partnership to develop a new cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas Island. That proposal is still in its design phase and has to go through a permitting process.
The meetings will be held at City Hall in the Assembly chambers on Wednesday from 4 to 7 p.m. and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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