Sports

Juneau’s laws regulating motorized use of Auke Lake need to be enforced.

That theme clearly emerged from Wednesday’s meeting on Auke Lake management.

Dave Hannah, who has lived on the lake shore for about 50 years, put it simply:

“The rules are no good if you don’t enforce them.”

The meeting was the third in a series being held by CBJ Parks and Recreation to take public testimony from users and lakeside residents.

The review grew out of an accident last summer that resulted in the death of a teenager being towed in an inner tube that collided with a jet ski.  While the accident investigation did not result in any charges against a jet-ski driver, the city vowed to evaluate ordinances put in place in 2007 and 2008.

University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor John Pugh told the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee that use of the lake and area around it has increased a lot since that time, but enforcement is nil.  He said he sees a number of infractions every day during the summer from his office.

“There are people using the lake with boats over 16 foot. There’s people who come in from the salt water and run their engines to run out the salt water in the lake and that happens day in and day out, I’ve observed it,” Pugh said.  “There’s other misuses in terms of running inside the buoys that happens day in and day out as well.”

Pugh said he watches parents drop their boat and kids off at Auke Lake for the day unsupervised, and worries about their safety.

[quote]“I don’t think it’s appropriate for teenagers to be running around with vehicles on a lake that do over 70 mph unsupervised.  And frequently that has been happening in recent years.  And that’s a very dangerous situation,” he said.[/quote]

Jet skiers and wake boarders said the city doesn’t need more regulations; instead those in place now should be enforced.  But that’s difficult for the Parks and Recreation Department and Juneau police.

PRAC chairman Jeff Wilson said it’s better if users police themselves.

[quote]”Everybody has to get along on this lake and think about other people enjoying the lake and I hate to start having the police or staff go out and write tickets,” Wilson said. “That seems like that’s not what we want to do. We want the community to feel safe and recreate there.”[/quote]

Stuart Robards said the issue is similar to problems the city faced years ago with hunters on the Mendenhall Wetlands.

“We had a situation that you probably are aware of on the Mendenhall Wetlands, where there were a lot of objections and complaints from people who were getting buck shot peppering their windows and that sort of thing,” Robards recalled. “The Department of Fish and Game and the Game Board mandated that everyone who hunts on the Mendenhall Wetlands will have a hunter education card in addition to their hunting license. ”

Robards suggested the city require Auke Lake users take a boater safety course, though he noted that too would be hard to enforce.

Parks and Recreation Director Brent Fischer said the city will continue taking written public comments on the issue, and staff will consider the comments as they review existing ordinances. He expects to send recommendations to the PRAC by January, when additional public hearings will be held.  Then the PRAC will send its recommendations to the Juneau Assembly.

It’s not the full mountain, but Eaglecrest Ski Area will open the Porcupine Lift on Saturday.

Eaglecrest General Manager Matt Lillard says a lot of man-made snow covers Dolly Varden and Muskeg beginners’ trails.

The first Saturday of December is always Eaglecrest’s target opening, but Lillard says it became clear about a week ago that enough natural snow would not fall by then, “so we decided that we can make enough snow with our snowmaking crew and our guns to open up the Porcupine area.”

He says the conditions on Porcupine are “really really good.  So we’re excited to open up, get the season going and we just hope Mother Nature fills in the rest of the mountain in the meantime.”

Mother Nature has a lot to fill in. The Eaglecrest website shows 33 inches of snow at the top of Ptarmigan and 12 inches at the base.  Lillard says another two feet of wet heavy snow would be ideal for opening up the rest of the mountain.

He says the city-owned ski area has enough snow-making capability to pump out the fake stuff from Porcupine to an area called the “flats,” at the bottom of Ptarmigan Lift.  He expects to move the guns further up the mountain in the next day or so.

“We already started making some snow there about three weeks ago, and we’ll continue to do that and fill in some holes in the flats.  Our goal is to get open as soon as we possibly can and we’re going to use every resource we have to do that,” he says.

Food service, the ski, rental and repair shops will be open on Saturday, and Porcupine Lift will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Four months after an accident on Auke Lake took the life of a Juneau teenager, lake management is being reviewed – starting with public meetings.

Sixteen- year-old Savannah Cayce died June 23^rd when her inner tube collided with a jet ski.  She was being towed by another jet ski somewhere in the middle of the lake.  A police investigation ensued and no charges have been filed.

CBJ Parks and Recreation is holding a series of meetings to hear the public’s impression of lake management.

Parks and Landscape Superintendent George Schaaf says regulations governing motorized use of the lake went into effect five years ago.  Since then there’s been a new boat ramp, a bridge across Auke Creek, and the Auke Lake Trail has opened.

In the next couple of years a multi-use path will be built along Glacier Highway, and the wayside park near the boat ramp will be improved.

“When you have a lot of changes on the lake and you also have a regulatory scheme that we’ve been challenged with, we basically looked at it and said this is a good time for us to review and see if the plan is working and if the plan needs to be changed than how should it be changed,” Schaaf says. 

After many meetings and lengthy, sometimes emotional debate, the city adopted new motorized use policies in 2008.

Schaaf says two familiar themes were raised at a meeting last week on the UAS campus.

“A lot of the folks who generally saw that there were some issues with motorized use of the lake felt that the lake was maybe not large enough to support the type of motorized uses that are out there right now,” Schaaf says, “and on the other side there were folks there who pretty consistently said it was the only fresh water lake in Juneau that was available for motorized use.”

The open house on Auke Lake is Thursday at 7 p.m. in Centennial Hall Egan Room.  Then the Parks and Rec staff will come up with recommendations, to be discussed by the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.  Schaff says any policy changes would have to go through the CBJ Assembly process.

Juneau Parks and Recreation Director Brent Fischer says the city cannot afford to operate an ice rink at Dimond Park in the Mendenhall Valley.

In a presentation to the Juneau Assembly Committee of the Whole Monday, Fischer cited declining use at the city’s only current indoor ice facility – Treadwell Arena – plus the cost of running a new rink.

“Based on the declining user group membership and rink use, the demand just does not indicate a current need for an additional sheet of ice,” Fischer said. “If we were to operate a facility similar to the Treadwell Ice Arena at Dimond Park, based upon the current budget, the CBJ just cannot afford it.”

The nonprofit Juneau Community Foundation received a $650,000 legislative grant earlier this year for planning and design of a Dimond Park Ice Rink. The project was inserted into the state capital budget by Valley Representative Cathy Munoz.

The community foundation proposed building the facility on CBJ land at Dimond Park, then turning it over to the city to operate upon completion. A similar arrangement was used to build the Dimond Park Field House, completed in 2008.

But Fischer said an ice rink is not part of the city’s current plans for Dimond Park.

“In the original 1996 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan, it did mention the rink in the valley, but it was taken out in the 2007 addition due to the addition of the Treadwell Ice Arena,” he said.

On the other hand, Fischer said the city’s plan for Savikko Park, where Treadwell Arena is located, refers to the “potential for a second rink to be added.”

Fischer said demand at Treadwell is highest during peak hours – defined as 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends. He admitted a second rink would help alleviate some of the pressure for ice time during those hours.

Assembly member Jesse Kiehl said he was sympathetic to users wanting more prime time skating opportunities.

“As we look, though, at what may or may not be possible to meet that demand, it seems to me that it would be worth it, if the city’s going to be involved in such a study, to look at more than one potential site,” Kiehl said. “And see if we can find, if a second sheet is justified, what’s the most efficient way to do it?”

The legislative grant to the community foundation can only be spent on the Dimond Park proposal. But the Assembly directed the city manager to work with the nonprofit to commission an independent feasibility study that would look at all possible options for a second rink. The city would cover the costs associated with studying the feasibility of the location next to Treadwell.

Community Foundation President Eric Kueffner said he was satisfied with that idea.

“The whole point of the community foundation is we don’t want to waste these funds,” Kueffner said. “We don’t want to start off down this avenue and use this money to study the construction of a facility if the city says, ‘Well, we have other plans for that location.’ That was our very first major concern.”

For now it appears the project will move forward, albeit cautiously, as the Assembly and city staff figure out the best way to proceed.

The city manager is expected to bring a draft request for proposals for the feasibility study back to the Assembly at some point in the future. No timeline was given.

Read the full presentation.

The state high school football playoffs get underway this weekend, with both Juneau teams in action.

The Thunder Mountain Falcons host the Homer Mariners tonight (Friday) in a medium-schools semifinal game at Falcons Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Homer comes to Juneau with a 5-2 record overall in the regular season, 4-1 in the Northern Lights Conference. The Falcons finished 5-3, going undefeated in the Southeast Conference. The teams played twice last season, with the Mariners winning both contests – 84-20 during the regular season and 46-6 in the playoffs.

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears are scheduled to play Service on Saturday at 2 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup.

The Cougars of the Cook Inlet Conference are ranked second in the state’s large-schools division with a 7-1 overall regular season record — the only loss coming in a non-conference game against Leilehua, Hawaii to start the season. The injury-riddled Bears on the other hand come into the contest 4-4 overall, 3-3 in the Railbelt Conference. Service handed Juneau-Douglas a 64-21 loss in last year’s playoffs, also the last meeting of the two teams.

Saturday’s game is scheduled to kickoff at 2 p.m. at Dimond Alumni Field in Anchorage.

Should a second ice rink be located at Treadwell Ice Arena, or the Mendenhall Valley?

That’s the topic of a meeting tonight (Wednesday) dubbed Twice the Ice.

When Treadwell arena was built, plans called for a second ice sheet there sometime in the future. Then talk turned to the Valley, near Thunder Mountain High School, the Dimond Park Fieldhouse, and new Dimond Park Aquatic Center.

Ice skater Robert Sewell has helped organize tonight’s meeting. He says it’s time to begin the dialogue and resolve the issue, because Juneau needs more ice.

He believes it’s important to maintain and develop the current arena.

“There’s a vibrant skating and hockey community that has focused on use in Douglas for some years. That community needs to be enhanced and protected. If it’s spread out over 15 miles it’s difficult to see that the same level of coherence will occur and continue to evolve,” Sewell says.

He calls it a resource equity as well as cost-control issue.

“It’s difficult to see how the city could justify having two Zamboni’s, two heating systems, two cooling systems, two staffing patterns, simply to add on a second sheet of ice,” he says. “That is a significant additional expense.”

The Twice the Ice discussion is Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Douglas Library.