Sorted by date Results 76 - 100 of 205
To free up preschool classroom space, Petersburg Children's Center (PCC) hopes to build a parking lot and a new building to house the Eagle's Nest after-school program. The Petersburg Borough Assembly is considering a rezoning ordinance proposed by PCC, passing it in the first of three readings April 15. If approved by the assembly two more times, the ordinance will rezone four lots that are currently leased by PCC, changing the zoning for the areas from residential to public use. PCC wants to b...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly approved the sale of a property on borough-owned tidelands to Island Refrigeration, LLC. at the price of $360,000, plus $5,171.76 in procedurally incurred expenses. Island Refrigeration, owned by Brock Snider, is a young business that does marine refrigeration and electrical services for the Petersburg fleet. The parcel is just under 30 thousand square-feet of vacant waterfront property located off Dock Street, behind Wikan Enterprises and the U.S. Coast Guard....
Days are long and arduous in January and February for trollers fishing Chinook salmon in rough weather conditions. But the "amazing catch rates at good prices" encountered during those months benefitted not only the resident fishermen "out there, grinding away"- but also the overall troll fishery, which harvested over the entire winter allocation of 45,000 king salmon. Grant Hagerman, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) Region I Commercial Troll Management Biologist, told the Pilot that...
The Petersburg School District Board unanimously agreed to join the Coalition for Education Equity of Alaska (CEE) at the board meeting Tuesday night. One reason the district board is joining the coalition is because of its "unique" ability to "use legal avenues to ensure the state and legislature carry out constitutional responsibilities regarding education." Founded in 1996, CEE is a statewide member-based nonprofit that champions access to quality, equitable and adequate public education in...
Last July, Petersburg was covered in smoke when the St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church caught fire. "This fire can consume our building, but not our hearts," parish priest Fr. Jose Thomas had said at the time. The flames ultimately destroyed the building, which was demolished later that fall. While the lot remains empty, the parish of St. Catherine of Siena has continued its church services, which are currently held at First Presbyterian Church. Fr. Jose said losing the former building was "...
The Petersburg Fish and Game Advisory Committee(AC) met on April 8 to generate proposals to the state Board of Fish to change the Blind Slough King Salmon management plan. The need for proposals was driven by public outcry following the announced closure of sport fishing this summer in the freshwater of Blind Slough. The AC agreed on and submitted a proposal that attempts to balance the need to protect the return of broodstock king salmon for the Crystal Lake Hatchery, while also providing...
The Mental Health Trust Land Office (TLO) informed the Petersburg Borough that it will look into a feasibility study for constructing a road in the Trust’s proposed South Mitkof Subdivision on the condition that the plat is approved. If a plat is not approved, the Trust confirmed for the Pilot that work on the South Mitkof Subdivision project “will be put on hold for the foreseeable future” and TLO staff “will need to focus work on advancing subdivision efforts in other areas of the state that will generate revenues for the Trust and its ben...
Last month, a new 3D mammography machine —expected to be up to 60% more effective at detecting tumors— began serving patients in the radiology department at Petersburg Medical Center. Mammography uses x-rays to locate and help diagnose tumors in the breast. The newly installed machine can capture a clear, more in-depth image of a malignancy that may otherwise be missed in a conventional 2D mammogram. “This is a project we’ve been working on for a long time as a department,” said PMC radiology manager Sonja Paul. “We knew the machine we had was...
"Scenario, scenario, scenario. This is only a drill. There has been an airplane crash at the end of the runway," a voice called out from the emergency fire dispatch radio on April 6. "Repeat, this is only a drill." An emergency drill that occurs once every three years took place Saturday afternoon when members of the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services and Search and Rescue simulated a response to an airplane crash at the Petersburg airport runway. The first unit to...
The 2024 golden king crab fishery for the East Central management area -which includes the waters around Petersburg- closed after only four days when area fishermen caught more crab than the season's total guideline harvest level set for all of Southeast. Last year, fishermen reportedly observed a golden king crab population boom in parts of Southeast, but the ability to harvest crab was constrained by harvest levels based on earlier years when the population was very low. Meetings in 2023...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly decided to move forward with Island Refrigeration's application to purchase borough-owned tidelands during the assembly meeting April 1. Details for the potential sale will be outlined in a resolution and reviewed by the assembly in an upcoming meeting. Island Refrigeration, owned by Brock Snider, is a young business that does marine refrigeration and electrical services for the Petersburg fleet. Much of the refrigeration work is done aboard vessels, but the...
The cruise ship summer season is just weeks away - and for Alaska's Little Norway, the harbor is expecting 104 stops from 12 vessels. The first cruise ship is scheduled to arrive in Petersburg on April 27; consistent cruise ship traffic can be expected from May 6 to Sept. 22, with as many as seven port-calls, or stops, in a given week. The cruise ships coming to Petersburg this year are about the same size as recent years - most with a capacity of about 40 to 100 passengers. However, the total...
Petersburg is closer than ever to developing the infrastructure at Scow Bay. Congress passed an appropriations package on March 1 that combined six funding bills for FY2024 - including $4.1 million in Congressionally designated spending (CDS) for a vessel haul out project at Scow Bay Harbor. The money will fund roughly half of the Scow Bay boat haul out project, which is one part of a larger plan to develop the port and harbor infrastructure at Scow Bay. The plan for this project is, primarily,...
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) preseason forecast estimates 1,400 adult Chinook returning to the terminal harvest area this summer. The low abundance triggered the department to close the freshwaters of Blind Slough for fishing king salmon this season. The last time freshwater was fully closed for a season was in 2013. ADFG ordered the closure according to the management plan for the sport fishery. It is a conservation effort to protect the broodstock for the Crystal Lake...
The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed two ordinances in their final readings on March 18. The ordinances amended two different sections under chapter 16.12 of Petersburg municipal code regarding the disposal of borough property. The first ordinance amended the municipal code to increase the assessed property value requirement that voters must approve for disposal of borough property from $500 thousand to $1.5 million. Before this ordinance’s passing, voters in the borough had to approve any sale or trade of borough property with an assessed v...
Most of the racers in the Iditarod Trail Invitational reach the finish line in McGrath, Alaska and celebrate after their impressive journey through 350 miles of Alaskan wilderness. But for Phil Hofstetter, 51, and the handful of other athletes going the full thousand miles, McGrath was just a checkpoint. Having started in Anchorage on Feb. 25, Phil still had hundreds and hundreds of more miles to go until he reached the final finish line in Nome. After doing some maintenance on his bike, oiling...
Over the next five years, the Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DOF) is proposing to harvest timber on thousands of acres of state lands in southern Southeast Alaska - including 1,213 acres on Mitkof Island. This preliminary plan was revealed in a Five-Year Schedule of Timber Sales (FYSTS) scoping document outlining the timber sale activity on state land in southern Southeast proposed by DOF, which is available for public comment until early April. It can be viewed at the Petersburg...
Fierce Allegiance officially bought the Ocean Beauty bunkhouse at 18 Harbor Way on Friday, March 15. Owner Andrew Mazzella, 37, confirmed that he is set to buy all property Ocean Beauty has in Petersburg. "Friday was a huge day," he said. "I closed on [the bunkhouse property] and the stipulation to close on this ... was that I wanted to buy everything Ocean Beauty has in Petersburg." Mazzella negotiated with Ocean Beauty for eight months and now has entered into a contract to purchase all of...
E.C. Phillips & Son Inc. is taking ownership of Trident Seafood's plant in Petersburg. The sale will be completely finalized in April. Trident announced on March 15 that the Ketchikan-based seafood processing company is buying the Petersburg plant along with its main bunkhouse, cookhouse, and two housing units. A spokesperson from Trident told the Pilot in an email that Trident and E.C. Phillips are "fully focused on completing due diligence and finalizing the transaction." Trident and E.C....
Hosted every other year to promote health and wellness in the community, the Petersburg Medical Center Health & Safety Fair takes place this weekend -and this year's theme is "Nurture Your Health With Nature." The main health fair event will take place on Saturday, March 23 at the community center. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. there will be over 25 fair booths available to visit in the community gym. "We have a lot of local people, as well as some regional folks coming in from out of town that will be...
Herring roe ripens as the fish get ready to spawn; their small, white, hard eggs become golden, larger and more desirable. The herring sac roe fishery is a careful waiting game in order to harvest maximum quality mature roe, before the herring spawn. Prior to and during fishing periods, herring distribution, abundance, and quality of roe are monitored by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) via aerial survey, test fishing and vessel sonar surveys to check on the herring biomass. "We've...
Shots fired by a person other than an officer may soon be allowed in the Frederick Point East Subdivision area. As it stands, Petersburg municipal code prohibits the discharge of firearms in the area of Frederick Point East Subdivision - calling it "unlawful for any person, except a peace officer or other state or local official performing a lawful duty, to fire or discharge any firearm within the [area]." The Petersburg Borough Assembly passed an ordinance to amend this section of code in its...
Gears are in motion for the Forest Service to revise its Land and Resource Management Plan - a process that invites public involvement and will take years to complete. The land management plan, or forest plan, provides guidance for future decisions and sets overall management direction. The existing land management plan for the Tongass National Forest was originally adopted in 1997 and amended in 2016. According to the USFS, plans are "strategic and broad in scope" rather than site or project...
The customer line was out the door on opening day at Fire! Bistro - Petersburg's newest restaurant located in the former conference room of Tides Inn. Community members looked forward to eating their fill of gourmet sandwiches, salads, wraps, and smoothies found on a new menu chock-full of flavors missing from the local food scene until Fire! Bistro opened March 5. Owner Chef Juan Herrera is no stranger to the food business. He earned a catering certificate and personal chef certificate from...
A field of snow near the Petersburg Reservoir glistened in the morning sunshine where, at 550 feet above sea level, Forest Service Hydrologist Heath Whitacre jammed a hollow aluminum tube through the snowpack to measure its depth and collect a core sample, making sure to strike the muskeg underneath. The Petersburg Ranger District has monitored two of several snow survey sites in the Southeast region since 1979: The Raven's Ridge site at 1,650 feet above sea level, and the site near Petersburg R...
