NOTN- At a Committee of the Whole work session last night, the Juneau Assembly narrowly voted to delay action on an ordinance that would lock the city’s informal five-ship-a-day cruise limit into law, opting instead to wait for findings from the Visitor Industry Task Force.
The committee voted 5-4 to postpone the measure until after the task force completes its work and issues a report later this year. Supporters of the delay, including Mayor Beth Weldon, said the risk of costly litigation was too high, and the need for stronger data to defend any future ordinance was needed.
“It was said that both parties need to show up in these negotiations, and you know, I get that we can do this one-sided, but we still need both parties to show up for our negotiations over the use of the marine passenger funds. And I’m not saying we’re bowing to the the industry. I’m saying, I think we have a lot to gain by continuing with collaboration.” Said Assembly Member Maureen Hall.
Those who voted against the postponement, said it would erode public trust and ignores years of community support for the five-ship cap, now enforced through a memorandum of understanding with cruise lines.
“I’m a little frustrated to hear the conversations we’re having today, because for the many years that I’ve been on the assembly, I have seen overwhelming support for the five ship limit.” Assembly Member Ella Adkison said, “It’s consistently a thing that scores very highly in all of our surveys, it’s something that everyone has rallied around as a good thing and a good first step. And the only reason we haven’t made it code is because we were not legally able to. And now we have the opportunity to make this very popular public good ironclad, and we’re hesitating. That seems to me like we are just wanting to kick the can down the road. I think there’s nothing wrong with bringing it to public testimony, but I can guess that that public testimony is going to be very in favor. And I don’t think waiting will tell us any more than the last few years have already told us.”
In a story by KTOO, it was detailed that a recent federal court ruling in Bar Harbor, Maine, found that community’s limits on cruise passengers were legal, which could potentially open a path for Juneau to pursue its own restrictions.
But City Attorney Emily Wright warned that a local ordinance would almost certainly face a lawsuit. She estimated litigation could cost the city between one and four million dollars, with no guarantee Juneau would win.
The Assembly voted 5-4 to postpone the ordinance. The Visitor Industry Task Force is expected to complete its work and make recommendations to the Assembly later this fall.
