ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING | HEALTHCARE TECH | USACE CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS FEBRUARY 2024
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CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2024 | VOLUME 40 | NUMBER 2 | AKBIZMAG.COM
SHAPE YOUR TOMORROW
FE AT UR E S 10 INSURANCE Risks in Business
Choosing the right commercial insurance coverage By Tracy Barbour
16 HEALTHCARE Tech That Cares
With more than a century of investing in Alaska, First National continues
Testing innovative solutions to health challenges
to put your financial needs first. From buying a home to growing your
By Terri Marshall
business, you can count on our experienced team to deliver
22 TRANSPORTATION
personalized service and innovative banking solutions
Sled Homes
Hauling housing materials across the tundra to Point Lay
to help you shape a brighter future.
By Rindi White
68 CONSTRUCTION
FNBAlaska.com
USACE Major Infrastructure Projects in 2024 Emphasis on best small business practices By Cameron McLeod
76 OIL & GAS
Sing a Song of Storage
Cook Inlet's natural gas backup By Nancy Erickson
82 FISHERIES
49th State Brewing | Wayde Carroll
Fishing Far into the Future
Crew training aims to hook a new generation By Dimitra Lavrakas
98 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Cost of Homelessness
How to address the ongoing effects on businesses By Tracy Barbour
88 SMALL BUSINESS Travelers' Brews
49th State Brewing opens an airport outlet By Amy Newman
ABOUT THE COVER Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht, or the Kenai River People’s Learning Place, opened in 2022. The building’s façade features wood repurposed from the community’s historic cannery, as well as copper-colored aluminum panels, featured on our cover, which simulate salmon skin. Engineering and design firm Stantec provided its services for the project, owned by Kenaitze Indian Tribe. Giovanna Gambardella, buildings principal and architectural leader at Stantec, says that when it comes to culturally responsive design, “You’re creating a partnership between the designers, who are experts in the technical aspect, and the community, who are sharing their stories about what their culture means to them.” Cover photo by Wayde Carroll Photography
QUICK READS 8 FROM THE EDITOR 106 SAFETY CORNER 4 | February 2024
110 INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS 112 RIGHT MOVES
114 ALASKA TRENDS 116 OFF THE CUFF
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
MEMBER FDIC • NMLS# 640297
HAVE YOU HEARD?
CONTENTS FEBRUARY 2024 | VOLUME 40 | NUMBER 2 | AKBIZMAG.COM
A PFD is a great way to start saving for education.
SPECIAL SECTION: ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING 32 STORY STRUCTURES
60 SENSE OF COMMUNITY
Architectural design as a storytelling medium
Culturally responsive design fits buildings to place and purpose
By Vanessa Orr
By Vanessa Orr
Wayde Carroll Photography
Scott Rhode | Alaska Business
No matter what sparks your child’s curiosity and imagination, we have a plan for it.
42 INSPECTING INFRASTRUCTURE
52 STROAD TO RECOVERY
By Rachael Kvapil
By Scott Rhode
Before or after a disaster, building inspections can improve safety
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
Flexibility to use for education expenses in and out of state.
Answer “Yes” to the Alaska 529 question on the PFD application to contribute half of a PFD into an Alaska 529 account, and you will be automatically entered to win a $25,OOO scholarship account.*
To learn more visit Alaska529plan.com SAVE IN ALASKA. STUDY ANYWHERE.
Balancing the needs of roads and streets
Alaska Business (ISSN 8756-4092) is published monthly by Alaska Business Publishing Co., Inc. 501 W. Northern Lights Boulevard, Suite 100, Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2577; Telephone: (907) 276-4373. © 2024 Alaska Business Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Alaska Business accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials; they will not be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self addressed envelope. One-year subscription is $39.95 and includes twelve issues (print + digital) and the annual Power List. Single issues of the Power List are $15 each. Single issues of Alaska Business are $4.99 each; $5.99 for the August & October issues. Send subscription orders and address changes to circulation@akbizmag.com. To order back issues ($9.99 each including postage) visit simplecirc.com/back_issues/alaska-business.
6 | February 2024
Use your savings at any eligible university, college, vocational school, apprenticeship, or even K–12 public, private, and religious schools.
Go online to request a Plan Disclosure Document, which includes investment objectives, risks, fees, expenses, and other information. You should read the Plan Disclosure Document carefully before investing. Offered by the Education Trust of Alaska. T. Rowe Price Investment Services, Inc., Distributor/Underwriter.
*Certain restrictions apply; visit Alaska529plan.com for complete rules. 202311-3212535
FROM THE EDITOR February has been looming in my mind as I’m expecting to welcome a baby into this world sometime mid-month. Anticipating this new little person, for quite some time now I’ve been a frequent flier at medical offices as many friendly and competent healthcare professionals have done their best to ensure my pregnancy ends with a healthy mother and baby. In one recent visit, while I waited a few moments for the doctor, I happened to look at the floor. In this particular exam room, the floor was linoleum, and instead of meeting the wall in a flat configuration, the linoleum wrapped up the bottom of the wall for 3 or 4 inches, rounded at the bottom and trimmed and sealed in the corners. The effect is essentially a tub at the bottom of the exam room, which I immediately envied. Liquids don’t have any cracks to seep into, and dirt and debris are easily swept or mopped with no sharp corners or molding to hide in. It is a smart design that meets the room’s purpose beautifully. I might remodel my own bathroom someday to follow suit—I’ve heard children can occasionally create messes. I’m sure there are hundreds of other design choices made for the room that I didn’t notice that serve both medical professionals and patients. I may not have seen them, but an engineer, architect, or interior designer considered them in depth as the medical facility was designed, constructed, and finished. And of course that planning extends far beyond that room to the road I drove on and the car I traveled in, for example. If I imagine removing all of the engineering and architectural insight that influenced just that one trip, here’s the scenario I’m left with: walking from a cave to meet a person, perhaps just lounging in the snow, who would have nodded their head and said, “Yup, you look pregnant. Might come soon!” I very much prefer the modern experience of designed transportation, infrastructure, and equipment. By mid-month I’ll be out on maternity leave, turning over this publication to the capable hands of Editor Scott Rhode and the rest of the Alaska Business editorial team. I’m excited to see what they pull together in the next few issues, and if their work is as exceptional as I expect it to be, consider taking a moment to let them know.
VOLUME 40, #2 EDITORIAL Managing Editor Tasha Anderson 907-257-2907 tanderson@akbizmag.com
Editor/Staff Writer Scott Rhode srhode@akbizmag.com
Associate Editor Rindi White rindi@akbizmag.com
Editorial Assistant Emily Olsen emily@akbizmag.com
PRODUCTION Art Director Monica Sterchi-Lowman 907-257-2916 design@akbizmag.com
Design & Art Production Fulvia Caldei Lowe production@akbizmag.com
Web Manager Patricia Morales patricia@akbizmag.com
SALES VP Sales & Marketing Charles Bell 907-257-2909 cbell@akbizmag.com
Senior Account Manager Janis J. Plume 907-257-2917 janis@akbizmag.com
Senior Account Manager Christine Merki 907-257-2911 cmerki@akbizmag.com
Marketing Assistant Tiffany Whited 907-257-2910 tiffany@akbizmag.com
BUSINESS President Billie Martin
Tasha Anderson Managing Editor, Alaska Business
VP & General Manager Jason Martin 907-257-2905 jason@akbizmag.com
Accounting Manager James Barnhill 907-257-2901 accounts@akbizmag.com
CONTACT
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8 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
This year, TOTE Maritime Alaska celebrates 49 years in the 49th State! TOTE is proud to have served Alaska since 1975, connecting communities with dedicated, reliable service from Tacoma, WA to Anchorage, Alaska. With our “built for Alaska” vessels and roll-on/roll-off operations, our service and operations were designed to meet the unique needs of the customers and communities of Alaska. Join us in commemorating nearly half a century of excellence in shipping to the Last Frontier.
49 IN THE 49TH
I
INSUR ANCE
Choosing the right commercial insurance coverage By Tracy Barbour
10 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
t's a no-brainer that all businesses need some type of insurance, but it is crucial for companies to choose c ov e ra g e t h a t n o t o n l y f i t s t h e i r budget but offers ample protection against unforeseen risks and potential financial setbacks. Whether a company is a small startup or a large, wellestablished entity, understanding the intricacies of commercial insurance is essential for supporting longterm business success. Every company is unique and faces different risks, so a one-size-fits-all approach will not suffice. The first step is for the company to assess its specific situation and identify risk, according to Christopher Pobieglo, p re s i d e n t o f B u s i n e s s I n s u ra n c e Associates in Anchorage. “Most business owners know what their risks are, but what we are talking about is formalizing the process of identifying risks. This will include looking at things like your contacts, leases, and site inspections,” he says. “A lot of times, there are very unique risks that require specific coverage.” Often businesses allow their risk assessment decisions to be driven by what others dictate, such as coverage required to secure a contract, license, or lease. But external requirements should not be the primary determining factor. “ The problem is that those people who are asking you to get insurance are worried about their interests, not yours,” Pobieglo says. “ While certain requirements are important, they shouldn’t be the totality of making your insurance decisions.” There are a wide range of important aspects to consider when assessing risk and selecting coverage, including the industry, business size, location, assets, and legal requirements. There is a huge difference between running a roofing company and a coffee shop. Plus, many specialized carriers and programs are designed around certain business types. “A large Fortune 500 company will be able to get things out of their insurance program that ‘ J o e t h e p l u m b e r ’ c a n’ t , ” P o b i e g l o says. “In a perfect world, you want to insure everything, but you have to balance the cost versus the amount of coverage. Maybe you choose to self-insure some areas and manage risk around others.” www.akbizmag.com
Tracey Parrish, owner and operator of Alaska Pacific Insurance Agency, also cites risk assessment as the starting point for choosing the right commercial coverage. She emphasizes that owners should set aside long-term aspirations when assessing current risk. “I don’t want to know their ten-year plan,” says Parrish. “I want to know the right-now.” Companies should consider what could disrupt or dissolve the business in the short term. Parrish uses straightforward, easyto-understand language to walk
Alaska Business
businesses through risk identification. For example, if a prospective customer wants to start a tour company, she would ask clarifying questions like: Will you be picking people up, or will they be meeting you there? Will you own the vehicle or rent it? Do you have someone else who will drive the tour van? Will you be going 10 miles or a longer distance? “The customer generally doesn’t know that those things all matter,” Parrish says. “The way you answer those questions determines your risk and insurance rate: you make your risk.”
February 2024 | 11
“Before I give them the cheapest, I want to give them what they need… When they buy just what they need to get their certificate of insurance or license, that may not be the best thing for them.” Tracey Parrish Owner/Broker Alaska Pacific Insurance Agency
12 | February 2024
provides compensation for legal costs Types of Insurance A variety of insurance options are and potential settlements should an a v a i l a b l e a n d m a y b e re l ev a n t t o employee bring a lawsuit against the business operations. For instance, company for unfair treatment in the b u s i n e s s e s w i t h o n e o r m o r e workplace,” Goble says. “Typically, EPLI employees in Alaska generally must policies cover sexual harassment, have workers' compensation insurance. retaliation, discrimination, wrongful A n d a l l c o m p a n i e s n e e d g e n e ra l termination, racism, and failure to hire.” liability insurance in case someone is injured on their property. “There’s Securing Professional Help no circumstance that a business can N a v i g a t i n g t h e c o m p l ex i t i e s o f say that they have no general liability c h o o s i n g t h e r i g h t c o m m e r c i a l exposure,” Pobieglo says. insurance can be a daunting task, There are also more specialized b u t c o m p a n i e s c a n c o n s u l t w i t h forms, depending on the situation. ex p e r i e n c e d i n s u ra n c e a g e n t s o r Key examples are commercial b ro k e r s t o s i m p l i f y t h e auto, even if the business process. Independent does not own vehicles; insurance professionals property insurance, which is can provide quotes from a form of asset protection; multiple carriers, along business interruption with guidance on coverage insurance, which provides limits, deductibles, and coverage for loss revenue; p o l i c y t e r m s . T h ey c a n and cyber insurance, which ensure business owners is becoming increasingly understand their unique Tracey Parrish m o r e p e r t i n e n t w i t h t h e Alaska Pacif ic Insurance risks and recommend the Agenc y escalation of cyberattacks. most suitable policies to Larger enterprises, which typically protect their operation. have a board of directors, can use For instance, Parker, Smith & Feek— directors and officers (D&O) liability which is a majority employee-owned insurance to protect the personal c o m p a n y — h a s a c o m p e n s a t i o n assets of individuals serving as a model that incentivizes its employees director or officer if they are sued t o c o l l a b o r a t e t o b e s t s e r v e i t s by employees, vendors, competitors, c l i e n t s , a c c o rd i n g t o G o b l e . T h i s i n v e s t o r s , o r c u s t o m e r s . “ D & O leads to its clients having access to i n s u r a n c e c a n c o v e r b r e a c h o f not just the local broker they work fiduciary duty, misrepresentation of with directly but also with some of company assets, misuse of company the most knowledgeable insurance funds, fraud, failure to comply with professionals in the world. “ These workplace laws, theft of professionals are spread intellectual property, or lack throughout our numerous of corporate governance,” Practice Groups that says Ross Goble, an include but aren’t limited account executive with t o c o n s t r u c t i o n , e n e r g y, Parker, Smith & Feek. healthcare, real estate, Also, if a company has marine, and transportation,” an owner, executive, or any he says. “Our government individual who is considered contracting and mergers critical to the business, it and acquisitions Practice Ross Goble m a y n e e d a k e y p e r s o n Parker, Smith & Feek Groups are two of life insurance policy if the our fastest-growing individual’s death would be financially groups and can help serve Alaska devastating to the organization. Native corporations.” Another type of insurance that some I n a d d i t i o n , G o b l e s a y s , P a r k e r, companies may need—but is often Smith & Feek clients have a dedicated overlooked—is employment practices claims advocate to expertly guide liability insurance (EPLI). EPLI can t h e m t h ro u g h t h e c l a i m s p ro c e s s provide coverage to a company from at no additional cost. The firm also lawsuits over how it treats current, has in-house loss control specialists former, or prospective employees. “It w h o c a n i d e n t i f y p o t e n t i a l f u t u re Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
losses for clients and offer advice to prevent them. They also assist if the insurance company requires exc e s s i v e l o s s c o n t ro l m e a s u re s and offer alternative solutions—and their services are available to clients at no additional cost. Alaska Pacific Insurance Agency is an independent agency that sells “everything” insurance in twenty-five states. The firm, which has been in business for nearly twenty-five years, offers one-stop shopping to meet customers’ comprehensive needs. “We have access to different insurance companies, so you have more choices,” Parrish says.
Many of the agency ’s employees have been with the company for a d e c a d e o r l o n g e r, w h i c h e n a b l e s its clients to build a long-term relationship that can benefit their business. “We are personal advisers and consultants for a lifetime,” Parrish says. “As you grow, we grow. We start with you at the beginning and roll with you until the end.” Business Insurance Associates is also an independent agency with access to numerous carriers. The firm works with 125 different insurance companies and can offer a variety of coverage at different fees. It also guides businesses through the critical
tasks of assessing risk, comparing coverages and quotes, and identifying the most suitable insurance products. “ You have to understand that you will never be an insurance or risk management expert,” says Pobieglo, an insurance industry veteran of twentyplus years. “That puts you in a place where you need a trusted relationship with someone who can help you. In the long run, they will save you an unbelievable amount of time.”
Common Mistakes
Pobieglo says one of the most common mistakes businesses make when securing insurance is not
“A large Fortune 500 company will be able to get things out of their insurance program that ‘Joe the plumber’ can’t… In a perfect world, you want to insure everything, but you have to balance the cost versus the amount of coverage.” Christopher Pobieglo, President, Business Insurance Associates
Alaska Owned & Operated Since 1979 www.chialaska.com info@chialaska.com ph: 907.276.7667
We work as hard as you do to provide great service and insurance protection to our clients. Let us show you how to control your Insurance costs.
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 13
Best Practices for Purchasing Insurance As soon as you think you want to start a business, call an insurance agent.
Independent insurance professionals can provide quotes from multiple carriers, along with guidance on coverage limits, deductibles, and policy terms. They can ensure business owners understand their unique risks and recommend the most suitable policies to protect their operation.
Get referrals, interview multiple agents, and tell them you are shopping for quotes. Choose a good broker, work with them, and let them do the hard work for you. Be honest when answering an insurance agent’s questions so that you do not waste anyone’s time and the agent can figure out what is best for you. Understand what your policy might exclude. Do not put the insurance agent in charge of everything; do your own due diligence.
14 | February 2024
Goble has noticed that policyholders allowing enough time to put the best product in place. Taking a week or often misunderstand the complexities even longer—instead of just a few of building insurance. Typically, they days—to get a commercial insurance are unaware that many insurance program together can enable them companies have a “coinsurance” clause to find a preferred carrier with better that requires the policyholder to have limits of no less than 80 percent of the pricing and coverage. A n o t h e r e r ro r P o b i e g l o s e e s i s replacement cost value of the building. businesses focusing on price instead “If the policyholder has limits under 80 of value. An experienced insurance percent of the replacement cost value, broker can help clients obtain coverage in the event of a partial loss claim, the that is adequate and fits within their insurance company will not pay for the financial parameters. “We understand entire claim but will use the formula t h a t y o u h a v e a b u d g e t , a n d i t i s (current limits divided by required my duty to find you the best pricing limits) multiplied by the claim amount, minus the deductible,” and coverage,” he says. he explains. “Many S i m i l a r l y, P a r r i s h s a y s policyholders mistakenly businesses often request use the tax assessed value, the least costly option, but how much they could sell that could be a mistake. “I t h e b u i l d i n g f o r, o r h ow do want to give them the much it cost them to build cheapest,” she says. “But the building (which could before I give them the have been thirty-plus years cheapest, I want to give ago) to determine the limit them what they need… used for the building.” When they buy just what Christopher Pobieglo Once companies consult t h e y n e e d t o g e t t h e i r Business Insurance w i t h a p ro f e s s i o n a l a n d c e r t i f i c a t e o f i n s u r a n c e A ssociates or license, that may not be the best d e t e r m i n e t h e i r i n s u ra n c e n e e d s , thing for them. That ’s why people they can collect and compare quotes should pick an experienced agent— f ro m m u l t i p l e i n s u re r s . I n d o i n g and we are experienced. We are not s o , t h ey s h o u l d n o t o n l y ex a m i n e m o n ey - m o t i v a t e d b e c a u s e w e a re t h e c o s t s b u t a l s o t h e c o v e r a g e not a commission-driven company limits, deductibles, and policy terms with our employees, so we are going t o e n s u re t h e i r i n s u ra n c e m e e t s their business needs. to take care of you.” Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
H R M AT T E R S
JOB SEARCH 2024
Written by Paula Bradison, CEO PeopleAK
T
aking the first step to finding your next opportunity can be daunting. Equally daunting is the search process businesses invest in to identify potential candidates. For many job seekers, pursuing a dream job can feel more like a nightmare. In speaking with several seasoned executives the last opportunity was presented to them by word of mouth or perhaps a recruiter called them repeatedly until they finally answered the call. This process is typically referred to as “head hunting.” Compounding the stress of finding a job is the rapidly changing landscape to identify legitimate job opportunities. Social media, applicant tracking systems and newly evolving AI technologies are being leveraged by companies trying to reduce costs and identify legitimate applicants who want to work. What makes the job market so strange now is the pace of change with regard to the job market both by job seekers and employers. Think about it, in just 3 short years we have seen a workforce come out of a pandemic, into
the “Great Resignation,” with job seekers driving labor costs by competitively putting themselves out to bid and in response large companies had to compete and stay lean now accessing modern AI to recruit and screen candidates prior to evaluating a resume. The pendulum has certainly swung creating unique opportunities and significant challenges for both applicant and employer. Old school methods prove expensive yet we have found may offer some practicality. As a boutique consulting firm, we have recently been working with individuals taking coffee shop appointments, conducting strengths evaluations and developing resumes so that applicants can take a very intentional approach to securing a quality position. On the other side of the recruitment and placement effort, we are working with employer’ HR professionals to introduce engaged employees and identify strengths of their current team. By working to develop intentional and focused recruitment efforts, employers have become more intentional about “what problem they are
trying to solve,” versus looking only at the resume or worse allowing a software to evaluate the applicant based on the resume alone. By perpetually identifying talent, taking meetings, and making introductions we are working to humanize the recruitment process. Happily, we are finding fewer “fall offs” and absorbing time and materials for employers allowing HR professionals to do what they do best, managing on-boarding, engagement programs, benefits administration and compliance. In short, recruitment has become a full-time job requiring much more effort and access to resources than just placing advertisements on LinkedIn.
Paula Bradison, CEO For more information call (907) 276-5707 or visit our website at PeopleAK.com
HR Matters is sponsored content:
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any healthcare needs require in-person visits, but some s e r v i c e s c a n b e p rov i d e d by new and developing technology. Alaskans are at the forefront of exploring some of the technological solutions that are helping people meet their health needs in a timely, affordable way. In the December issue of Alaska Business, Jacqueline Summers, exe c u t i v e d i re c t o r o f H e a l t h T I E , introduced readers to the Alaskab a s e d h e a l t h c a re i n n ov a t i o n h u b aimed at bringing change makers together. Health TIE focuses on four primary sectors: behavioral health, intellectual and developmental disabilities, senior care, and substance u s e d i s o rd e r s . C o l l a b o ra t i n g w i t h entrepreneurs who are developing
H E A LT H C A R E
Tech That Cares
innovative solutions to these sectors t h r o u g h t e c h n o l o g y, H e a l t h T I E creates spaces for cross-networking providing an invaluable service to these changemakers. Here, then, are some of the innovators testing healthcare technologies in Alaska.
Step Away
Patrick Dulin, a psychologist at UAA, has been in clinical practice for twenty years working with individuals dealing with alcohol misuse disorder. “We have a hard time reaching people with addiction,” says Dulin. “About 90 percent of people who have an alcohol problem don’t get any help at all. Our goal is to bridge that gap using the phones we carry all the time.” By creating the Step Away app, Dulin
hopes to give people suffering from alcohol addiction a convenient and affordable way to develop awareness and the motivation necessary to make a change. “What we’ve seen so far is the app reaches people who wouldn’t otherwise get any help at all,” says Dulin. “Working mothers who have no time to schedule regular inperson therapy sessions, people who are reluctant to admit to others that they have a problem, and individuals who can’t afford in-person therapy can receive the guidance necessary to make positive changes through the use of the app.” The app’s design is multifaceted. The first step is to help people get an awareness of what kind of problem they have and how severe it is. “Monitoring—how much they drink,
“The opposite of addiction is community. OpiAID is building a data bridge to help bring communities together.” David Reeser, Founder, OpiAID
Testing innovative solutions to health challenges By Terri Marshall
From finance to health care to construction, UA is preparing students for Alaska’s jobs, building Alaska’s workforce pipeline. Learn more at empower.alaska.edu
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2023 Workforce Reports
16 | February 2024
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community. OpiAID is building a data bridge to help bring communities together. We want to earn the trust of Alaskan residents and encourage them to ask clinical professionals more about OpiAID. We hope that clinicians will reach out to learn more about the technology when approached by patients for information.”
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MapHabit
18 | February 2024
Health TIE connected Dulin to Recover Alaska, a statewide alcohol education and advocacy initiative, and it is also working with Dulin to integrate Step Away into established treatment programs.
OpiAID
O p i A I D ’s m i s s i o n i s f o c u s e d o n supporting clinicians’ efforts to curb opioid use by giving them access to interpreted behavioral and health data that will help them stop inappropriate drug-seeking behavior while continuing to help patients with valid medical needs. The heart of OpiAID’s mission comes from founder David Reeser ’s compassion for his neighbors both in his home city of Wilmington, North Carolina and across the nation. “I read a statistic that 11.6 percent of the working population in my city misuses or abuses opioids,” says Reeser. “That caught my attention and captured my heart, and I wanted to become part of the solution.” Reeser sold his IT company and went all in on OpiAID. Drawing from his combined b a c k g ro u n d o f s p e n d i n g t h i r t e e n
years in patient care and recent years in the tech industry, Reeser set out to develop a wrist-worn technology that detects biometric patterns that allow healthcare teams and patients to track in real-time how the patient is adjusting to medications used to aid in the recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD). The information allows clinicians to make timely adjustments to medications and to provide intervention when necessary. “ Think of it like diabetes: by measuring a patient’s glucose level, care teams can adjust the amount of insulin needed,” explains Reeser. “The data we collect allows clinicians to do the same for patients receiving medically assisted treatment for OUD.” OpiAID is currently pursuing US Food and Drug Administration clearance for this groundbreaking technology. An OpiAID pilot project is currently underway in Alaska. “ Working with Alaska MAT [medication addiction treatment] programs, our goal is to ex p a n d a c ro s s t h e s t a t e , o f f e r i n g services to whoever needs it,” says Reeser. “The opposite of addiction is
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“By focusing on moderation, the app helps people to drink safely. People appreciate that because the app isn’t pushing an agenda; it’s simply helping people to make different and better decisions.” Patrick Dulin Founder Step Away
Verrrrity | Envato
when they drink, and why they drink—is one of the most important parts of what the app does,” says Dulin. “Developing a w a re n e s s a n d t h e m o t i v a t i o n t o make a change are key aspects of changing drinking patterns.” Step Away also helps individuals to set up a reasonable goal, whether t h ey a re f o c u s i n g o n m o d e ra t i o n or abstinence. “Over 80 percent of the people who use the app want to drink less,” says Dulin. “The app will tell people if they are not meeting their goals and provide suggestions. By focusing on moderation, the app helps people to drink safely. People a p p re c i a t e t h a t b e c a u s e t h e a p p isn’t pushing an agenda; it’s simply h e l p i n g p e o p l e t o m a k e d i f f e re n t and better decisions.” The app can be downloaded and used for free for a week. Users are then charged a $5 fee monthly. “This is very affordable for a lot of people, but in some cases, even $5 presents a barrier,” says Dulin. “Organizations can buy a package and distribute it for free to their users, and we’re hoping to see more of that going forward.”
A mission-driven organization, MapHabit focuses on helping individuals with Alzheimer ’s disease, dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities improve their quality of life while reducing stress for their caregivers. CEO and co-founder Matt Golden’s motivation for developing MapHabit s t e m s f ro m p e r s o n a l ex p e r i e n c e . “Matt was motivated by an uncle who had developed Alzheimer ’s,” says Jill Reffett, vice president of business d ev e l o p m e n t a n d re i m b u r s e m e n t for MapHabit. “His uncle’s loss of independence had a profound impact on him, beyond the disease. Matt
believed that a program designed to help his uncle maintain independence despite his loss of memory would have given him more quality of life.” In collaboration with co-founder and neuroscience specialist Stuart Zola, Golden’s vision was realized. Based o n n e u ro s c i e n c e , M a p H a b i t u s e s technology to produce customized audio and visual maps, including pictures and video, with step-by-step instructions for daily routine tasks. T h ro u g h s t e p - by - s t e p p ro m p t i n g , developmentally challenged individuals and those suffering from m e m o r y l o s s d ev e l o p h a b i t s t h a t lead to independence. “About two years into the project, Matt realized the program could work for individuals with Down syndrome too,” says Reffett. In collaboration with LuMind IDSC Foundation, MapHabit offered families of children with Down syndrome ages 7 to 17 the use of the platform to study the potential of utilizing step-by-step visual support. “Both of my children have Down syndrome, and my oldest has a dual diagnosis of Down syndrome
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 19
“No one talks about what the transition into motherhood might do to your identity, your body image, or your professional work... Sharing and normalizing this message before women are in crisis is a big part of my inspiration behind Moms Matter Now.” Holly Brooks Co-founder Moms Matter Now
20 | February 2024
a n d a u t i s m , ” s h a re s R e f f e t t . “ O u r family was part of the study before I joined MapHabit.” Notable changes realized during the pilot project included higher adaptive behavioral skills and improvements in quality of life relating to the speed and/or ability to complete a c t i v i t i e s o f d a i l y l i v i n g . P a re n t s noted reduced stress and a decrease in caregiver burden. A pilot program was recently launched in Alaska and has seen a n o u t p o u r i n g o f s u p p o r t . “ We’re working with numerous agencies to address Alaska’s unique challenges and to secure funding sources within the state to make the program affordable and accessible for all who need it,” says Reffett.
Moms Matter Now
Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are mental health disorders experienced during p re g n a n c y o r a f t e r h a v i n g a n ew baby—something that people don’t typically talk about. Recognizing this, Moms Matter Now co-founders C a l i s a K a s t n i n g a n d H o l l y B ro o k s d ev e l o p e d a n o n l i n e p ro g ra m t o meet the needs of expecting moms, new moms, and parents looking for more tools to enrich their parenting experiences. Kastning moved to Anchorage when she was eight months pregnant. “I w a s n o t p re p a re d f o r h ow l o n e l y l i f e w o u l d b e w i t h a n ew b o r n , n o family in town, or having any friends with kids,” she says. “Looking back, I realize how valuable that feeling of security, connection, and support is in a mother ’s journey while pregnant and postpartum.” Brooks is a two-time Olympic cross-country skier. Following her retirement from competition, Brooks turned her attention to becoming a m o t h e r. S h e i s n ow a t h e ra p i s t specializing in athletes’ mental health and maternal mental health. “PMADs are the number one complication of childbirth that no one addresses,” she says. “No one talks about what the transition into motherhood might do to your identity, your body image, or your professional work. We tend to romanticize motherhood and put a lot of pressure on parents.”
Brooks’ road to motherhood wasn’t simple. Working with an i n f e r t i l i t y s p e c i a l i s t , s h e s u f f e re d t h ro u g h t w o m i s c a r r i a g e s b e f o re becoming pregnant with twins. “ F o r t h e f i r s t y e a r, I b a t t l e d w i t h shame-inducing intrusive thoughts which I told no one, especially not my husband. PMADs are so much more than postpartum depression, and sharing and normalizing this message before women are in crisis is a big part of my inspiration behind Moms Matter Now.” Brooks and Kastning designed the Moms Matter Now course to be ev e r y t h i n g t h ey w i s h t h ey h a d a s new moms. “ The course has thirty videos and is very comprehensive dealing with issues like perfectionism, mom rage, mom guilt, body image, c o g n i t i v e d i s t o r t i o n s , a n d m o re , ” says Brooks. “ We spent over a year creating the course with evidence-based material.” The program was launched in March 2021. “Calisa and I had been thinking about this for a long time, but the pandemic became the catalyst for launching the program,” says Brooks. “Women were becoming mothers in isolation with zero social support.” The program features more than ten hours of videos for approximately the price of one therapy session. It’s also always accessible, day or night. “ We sell direct to consumers, and anyone can buy the course online at any time,” says Brooks. “It’s a perfect baby shower gift—a onesie is great, but the baby will outgrow it in two weeks. This is a sustainable gift.” A re c e n t g ra n t a l l ow e d B ro o k s and Kastning to gift the program to 250 Alaskans statewide. “Employers can also buy the program for their employees as part of a benefit package and we hope to see that expand,” says Brooks. M o m s M a t t e r N o w, M a p H a b i t , O p i A I D, a n d S t e p A w a y a re j u s t a f ew o f t h e i n n ov a t i v e h e a l t h c a re enterprises that Health TIE is helping to test in Alaska. Whether boosting ideas that originate within the state or connecting out-ofstate developers with Alaska’s health networks, Health TIE is helping to create tools for simpler, cheaper, and more accessible care.
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
Scot t Bailie
T R A N S P O R TAT I O N
P
oint Lay has a housing problem. The community is home to around 350 people, says Ta ġ i u ġ m i u l l u N u n a m i u l l u H o u s i n g Authority (TNHA) board member Sophie Tracey, but the community only has about seventy-five homes. In many homes, two or even three generations are living under one roof. It’s one of the most densely populated communities in the state, says Griffin Hagle-Forster, CEO of TNHA, one of fourteen regional housing authorities in Alaska. TNHA operates as a consortium for six villages in the North Slope region, receiving federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding to build houses for the communities it serves. “Point Lay is, of the communities we serve, by far the most overcrowded. The definition [of overcrowded, by HUD] is one person or more per room. Severely overcrowded is 1.5 persons per room. In Point Lay, about three out of four houses there are overcrowded, with most of those considered severely overcrowded,” Hagle-Forster says. U s i n g a c o m b i n a t i o n o f g ra n t s , COVID-19 relief funding, and assistance
from the Denali Commission to clear asbestos from three existing structures, TNHA is building three duplexes in the community, providing new houses for six families. Funding is relatively simple, though, compared to the challenge of transporting construction materials all the way to the Chukchi Sea coast, about 200 miles southwest of Utqiaġvik.
“Timing was a big factor in our decision to use that mode of logistics… Rush Delivery Once we were T h a t ’s w h e re l o g i s t i c s c o m p a n y Lynden stepped in. In addition to ready, we really moving cargo for oil and gas projects on the North Slope, Lynden Business Development Manager Roger Wilson wanted to keep says the crew spent about eight days last winter traveling 990 miles round the prospect of a trip from Deadhorse hauling housing materials to Point Lay. 2023 construction L y n d e n Tr a n s p o r t t r u c k e d t h e m a t e r i a l s f r o m A n c h o r a g e t o season alive.” Deadhorse, then Lynden Oilfield Services’ PistenBully Snowcats towed the materials to Point Lay. It’s not a shipping mode TNHA uses frequently, Hagle-Forster says. Shipping
Griffin Hagle-Forster CEO Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
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Sled Homes Hauling housing materials across the tundra to Point Lay By Rindi White
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Three PistenBully Snowcats hauled materials and equipment across the tundra last April for the Point Lay housing project.
“These projects are clear examples of how challenging logistics in the Arctic can be… No one else on the planet can do this type of work in the North Slope region.”
Scott Bailie
Paul Friese, Vice President, Alaska Sales, Lynden Transport
Hauling construction materials and equipment by PistenBully Snowcat allowed the Point Lay housing project to stay on schedule. Scott Bailie
24 | February 2024
anything to Point Lay is expensive, at between $1 and $3 per pound of freight on average. But overland was the right choice in this instance because it allowed the materials to get to Point Lay in March, sooner than waiting for a summer barge to arrive. Although the project had been in the works for about five y e a r s , H a g l e - F o r s t e r s a y s s ev e ra l steps—such as environmental reviews, access and ownership issues, and other tasks—had to be ironed out before ordering materials. All the while, the clock was ticking on the COVID-19 relief funding set to be used for the project. “ Timing was a big factor in our decision to use that mode of logistics,” Hagle-Forster says. “Once w e w e re re a d y, w e re a l l y w a n t e d t o k e e p t h e p ro s p e c t o f a 2 0 2 3 construction season alive.” Moving the materials any other way might have saved money, but it would have delayed the start of construction Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
until August, which is late in the season for the northern community.
Heavy Load Over the Tundra
The nearly Iditarod-length traverse ov e r t h e t u n d ra f o l l ow e d w i n t e r access trails the North Slope Borough maintains, Hagle-Forster says. A dogsled team could have easily outpaced them; they traveled about twelve miles per hour. “I hope the drivers got some good podcasts downloaded,” HagleForster says with a laugh. Some of the freight was difficult to get to the building site in other ways: septic tanks and foundation beams longer than 50 feet are a cumbersome load. But towed behind the PistenBully, size was not an issue. “These projects are clear examples of how challenging logistics in the Arctic can be,” says Paul Friese, Lynden Transport vice president of Alaska sales. “No one else on the planet www.akbizmag.com
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 25
Point Lay resident Teri Ferreira secures electrical cable to the interior framing of one of the new homes under construction in the village. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
can do this type of work in the North Slope region. Lynden’s combination of relationships and leveraging our specialized equipment to do this work creates a unique One Lynden experience for our customers.” With the spring arrival of the materials, Hagle-Forster says TNHA’s crew and contractors were able to complete site remediation—which included asbestos removal, funded by the Denali Commission—and level the ground with fill. One duplex shell is complete, and construction has taken off, with occupancy expected in late 2024.
From Former School to Apartments
Point Lay resident Sonny Henry and TNHA plumber Jim Ladd work together to route indoor utilities. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
26 | February 2024
In the North Slope Borough, which has been home to the Iñupiat for more than 10,000 years, Point Lay is a relatively new village. It first appeared on the 1880 US Census and then on the 1890 census, but it did not appear again until 1940. The community has moved throughout the years, once because of seasonal flooding at the mouth of the nearby Kokolik River. The community’s location today dates to 1974, when it moved to a site near the US Air Force Distant Early Warning station. The original North Slope Borough School District school was built after that move with funding from the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. Over time t h e s c h o o l d e t e r i o ra t e d , a n d t h e new Kali School, bearing the Iñupiaq name for the village (which means “mound”) was built. The original school building and the teacher housing behind it were condemned. By the mid-2010s, families desperate for housing moved in. Hallways were c u t o f f, a n d c l a s s ro o m s b e c a m e apartments. There was no water and sewer, as those utilities had been shut off after the ground shifted from permafrost subsidence and caused leaks. According to a 2017 Point Lay Comprehensive Plan, residents at the school relied on water delivery and honeybuckets. In a community about 230 miles north of the Arctic Circle, known for windy, snowy conditions, the closed school was not habitable and barely qualified as a shelter. “These buildings are not safe for habitation, yet there are few other options,” the comprehensive plan states. Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“In one apartment with a family of five, you could see outside. The roof was disconnected from the walls. It was really bad conditions,” Tracey says.
Construction progress on the first duplex prior to installation of the roof panels in July 2023. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
Waiting List for Houses
Tracey says Point Lay is a young village, and it’s growing. The school until recently had fewer than 100 students, but now it has surpassed that number. “Every year, more mothers are having children; we’re only growing,” she says. For some families, having three generations under one roof is j u s t t o o m u c h . E v e n s u b s t a n d a rd housing, such as the former school, becomes a consideration. Hagle-Forster says twenty-seven people were living in the former school buildings. Those residents were moved, some into a borough-owned eightplex built in 2022. But the maximum number of people allowed per unit in that complex is four, Tracey says, so two families who had more than four members—one was a family of eight— had to move elsewhere. Tracey says the new housing, with three bedrooms, won’t be restricted to families of four. But it’s not guaranteed that the displaced residents of the former school will be living in the new duplexes. Point Lay residents who are on a waitlist for housing will be contacted first, Hagle-Forster says. Applicants must meet income qualifications and agree to a twentyfive-year lease-to-own agreement. If they complete the program successfully, keeping the duplex in good repair and maintaining it as a primary residence, not a rental, the residents receive title to the unit at that point, Hagle-Forster says. Tracey hopes that Cully Corporation, the Alaska Native village corporation for Point Lay, can assist residents in getting more houses built. “Out of hundreds of people, that’s going to help six families; it’s not going to make a dent in what we need,” Tracey says. “I do hope in the near future is that our corporation can work with the community so we can get more housing; we have one of the highest homelessness rates, period—people wishing they could have their own housing, instead of having to move from one family to another just to have a bed to sleep in.” www.akbizmag.com
Structural insulated panels manufactured by Alaska Insulated Panels in Wasilla are installed on the roof by TNHA carpenters Chad Eddy and Ron Arnold in August 2023. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 27
Subsidence of ice-rich permafrost has seriously degraded existing infrastructure in Point Lay, including many residential foundations. TNHA’s new homes are built with adjustable steel foundations that also permit the relocation of the whole home if necessary. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
TNHA CEO Griffin Hagle-Forster sits atop a stack of old pilings following demolition of three condemned ‘70s-era structures in May 2023. Kali School is in the background. Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
“Point Lay is a very costly place to build in; it’s a lot of money for affordable homes; these are goodquality homes, but not luxury homes by any stretch. Some of the cost is in engineering an adaptive foundation that is versatile for that environment; we think of it as an insurance measure.”
that happens with wood stud framing. Hydronic boilers provide baseboard radiant heating with a Toyo stove backup, and heat recovery ventilators allow fresh air in after it has been warmed while also discharging stale air. “ We try to keep it really simple. One of the factors we have to think about is, these homes are 500 miles from the nearest Home Depot,” Hagle-Forster says. “We specifically select these mechanical systems for reliability above all.” The twist, Hagle-Forster says, is beneath the floor. The foundation can be adjusted, so if permafrost degrades one corner of the lot, the home can be jacked up in that area and adjusted to keep it level. And instead of pilings extending into the ground, t h ey ’re o n a l a rg e s l e d , s o i f t h e community relocates, the structures will be easier to move. Point Lay rests on permafrost that’s becoming less permanent every year due to climate change. To plan ahead for potential relocation, the village re c e i v e d $ 5 m i l l i o n i n 2 0 2 2 f ro m the federal government.
Most homes in Point Lay are built on pilings, generally extending between 16 to 25 feet below the soil. The pilings allow for seasonal fluctuations in ground level. But the fluctuation h a s l a r g e l y b e e n d ow n w a rd — t h e permafrost is melting. In some places, Tr a c e y s a y s , t h e b o t t o m s o f t h e pilings are exposed. “In 2008 or 2009, when you went under my house, you could jump as high as you can and barely touch the bottom [of the house],” Tracey says. About five years ago, she and her husband used some low-grade gravel to fill up the area under their house, filling it to the point that “you had to duck to get under,” Tracey says. Now, the ground beneath her home has subsided to the point that you have to jump high to reach the floor of the home again.
Along the Coast
The total housing project costs $5.5 million, Hagle-Forster says. That’s a lot for three duplexes in Anchorage or the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, but the expense of shipping the materials
in adds considerable cost. The unique foundation is costly too, he says, but it has become a necessity. “Point Lay is a very costly place to build in; it ’s a lot of money for affordable homes; these are goodquality homes, but not luxury homes by any stretch. Some of the cost is in engineering an adaptive foundation that is versatile for that environment; we think of it as an insurance measure,” Hagle-Forster says. “ We have to build like the future depends on it because it does.” Hagle-Forster says TNHA will build five more units in 2024 from one side of the Arctic Ocean coast to the other: a duplex in Kaktovik, a duplex in Nuiqsut, and a single-family house in Wainwright. The structures will be similar to those built in Point L a y, o n a d j u s t a b l e a n d m o v a b l e foundations. Instead of hauling on sleds, though, Hagle-Forster says for these three projects the Alaska Air National Guard will help transport the materials on a cargo plane as part of an Innovative Readiness Training program mission.
Time to sell your company?
Griffin Hagle-Forster CEO Taġiuġmiullu Nunamiullu Housing Authority
Cold-Climate Duplexes with a Twist
The duplexes are fairly standard three-bedroom, one-bath, one-story units, Hagle-Forster says. TNHA, working with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center at UAF, has come up with a design that works well in the North Slope region: units with a large cold storage space and an Arctic entry, with water pipes routed in the interior of the home, as close to the water heater as possible. The homes are well insulated, using panels with eight-inch poly-foam cores, eliminating heat loss 28 | February 2024
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ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
C
ampaign in poetry, govern in prose: the advice for politicians applies to building designers as well. Inspired by their muse, architects craft imaginative blueprints. Informed by physics, engineers draft practical schematics. The resulting structures reflect both approaches. Architectural poetry might convey a narrative or a cultural motif, lyrics sung in the medium of concrete, steel, or wood. Through urban design, architects and engineers tell the story of how city dwellers relate to the built environment. And the prosaic task of building inspection sustains the story long after the designers have faded away. Within this special section, enjoy our attempts to convey the functional beauty of design.
STORI E S Shaped by age-old community traditions, our design honors stories of people and places across Alaska.
www.bettisworthnorth.com 30 | February 2024
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ALASKA’S COMMUNITY BUILDERS™
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Story Structures Architectural design as a storytelling medium By Vanessa Orr
CEO P fef fer D e velopment
I
n 1964, Alaska was hit by the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the state, which left huge swaths of destruction behind. One of the hardest-hit areas w a s t h e Tu r n a g a i n n e i g h b o r h o o d i n A n c h o ra g e , a subdivision built in the ‘50s, where huge chunks of the neighborhood fell into the ocean. Although the area was rebuilt, its history remains, notably in the home of Mark and Desiree Pfeffer.
32 | February 2024
Built-In Stories
KPB Architec t s
MARK PFEFFER
Mark Pfeffer, founder of the firm KPB Architects, designed the house himself. “When we broke ground, we found the ruins of houses from the ‘50s that had slid onto this lot during a landslide, so the concept was to rejuvenate those structures and fill in the gaps around them with new construction,” he says. Because the original houses had three different types of siding, including shiplap, board and batten, and asbestos
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A cluster of houses knocked off kilter and out of square: Mark Pfeffer’s design of his home subtly recalls what happened to the Turnagain neighborhood on March 27, 1964. KPB Architects
A more recent earthquake created an opportunity for another story to be told in Eagle River. The quake in November 2018 badly damaged Eagle River Elementary, and BDS Architects got the job to design a new school. “The building required fairly extensive renovations to make it safe for students, but while doing that, we had the opportunity to refresh the school and inject their neighborhood story into the architecture,” says Jennifer Midthun, an associate at the firm. S h e s a y s B D S A rc h i t e c t s o f t e n integrates stories into their designs. “Architecture has this ability to say a lot about the person or the organization it represents; you can imply a lot a b o u t y o u r c u l t u re , y o u r t h o u g h t processes, and your feelings about a subject through a building, so we try to integrate this storytelling into our work fairly regularly,” Midthun explains. For Eagle River Elementary, designers drew inspiration from the school’s established symbols. “ Their school mascot is the eagle, and their motto is ‘From eaglets to eagles, our students soar to new heights in education,’ so we decided to incorporate that into the building.” Working with school district stakeholders, the firm chose a photo of an eagle sitting in a birch tree as a starting point in their design. Motifs of eagles nesting and flying can be found throughout the school. Designers incorporated the bright gold color www.akbizmag.com
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 33
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
shingles, Pfeffer incorporated board and batten into the exterior of the house as well as in the interior. “When people visit my home, they wander through and wonder why things are certain ways,” he says. “ When I tell them the story of the site, they think it’s really cool and they share the story with others. Apparently word has gotten around.” The result is a home that resembles, inside and out, a conglomeration of houses that once stood in the Turnagain neighborhood. Each room is tilted and swiveled, as if tossed by the force of the quake. “While not everything I design starts with a story, when I was lucky enough to find this lot, it was the perfect opportunity,” Pfeffer says.
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
BDS Architects Jay Jumanan
Playgrounds invite interaction, by their nature, so the design at Russian Jack Springs Park responds with its own character. Corvus Design
34 | February 2024
Landscaping Tells the Tale
At Russian Jack Springs Polar Bear Playground in East Anchorage, the centerpiece is a children’s slide formed from the bear ’s tongue. Far from a functional necessity, it was a choice Corvus Design made to tell the neighborhood’s story. “We used iconic Alaska elements in the design, as well as theming that celebrates transportation in Alaska: boats, planes, and a snowcat,” says Briggs. He adds that the Russian Jack project was especially meaningful, as it replaced old, dilapidated tennis courts and an abandoned restroom building to create a playground for a diverse neighborhood that had been underrepresented from a parks perspective. Briggs says discovering what clients really want sometimes requires extra work. “Every project is different, and you have to figure out with each client what the best way is to get information out of them,” he says. “Some clients are familiar with the design process and others are not, so you have to be more foundational to bring them along in the process. “Often when people tell you what they think they want, you have to go deeper than that, to make sure that the design outcome solves a problem or meets a desire,” he adds. Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“Whether we’re working with a school or a community organization, we adapt what we do to them.” As for the final reveal, Briggs says that the best reaction to their work is one that hurts a little bit. “When people show up and see the outcome of their input, the designer should become invisible,” he says. “But that’s perfectly fine because it’s great when a kid or adult can see their involvement in the process right in front of them. Ideally, they’ll interact with the story naturally as something of theirs— they’ll just get it.” He notes that while some stories can be shown quite literally, such as pavement created to look like a river, other stories may be more abstract and might not be as obvious at first glance. “When we’re doing fun projects like playgrounds, especially when combined with tribal entities as clients, it gives us lots of room to tell stories,” he says. “I jokingly call myself the landscape whisperer; I listen carefully to what a client has to say in order to identify the stories they want people to see or experience in their site and landscape.”
“I jokingly call myself the landscape whisperer; I listen carefully to what a client has to say in order to identify the stories they want people to see or experience in their site and landscape.” Peter Briggs, Founder, Corvus Design
Multiple Levels of Meaning
While working on the Chugachmiut Health Clinic in Seward, for example, Briggs says he was impressed by tribal curriculum that includes traditional foods and animals. To integrate that traditional knowledge, the proposed design includes screen panels around a sitting area that feature illustrations of the aquatic life of Prince William Sound, created in collaboration with artist Lucas Elliott. This backdrop is another way to communicate and share cultural information and reinforce connections to the land. “I love the multiple levels of meaning that can be possible on a well-designed site; every time you go there, you should find new things,” Briggs says. “The first time, you may see the literal concrete braided river channel; the next time, you might spot the boulders in the landscape representing something of importance. I think that sites are best when you can’t understand them with just one visit; every visit gives an opportunity to experience and learn new things.” When designing the City of Yakutat Playground, which is located on the www.akbizmag.com
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ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
The rebuilt Eagle River Elementary School is a building-sized retelling of a single photograph of an eagle perched on an autumn birch.
of the birch’s autumn leaves into the building’s interior and exterior, and a landscape architect planted birch trees in front of the school. Outdoor spaces are often carefully considered as a stage to demonstrate an organization’s narrative. “We build stories into the landscape,” says Peter Briggs, founder of Corvus Design, which works on a broad crosssection of projects from playgrounds and trails to corporate offices, libraries, and museums. “ They can be used as a design theme, helping you to organize the way you look at a site and providing inspiration. “Some projects are your bread and butter, like parking lots and metal buildings that don’t leave much room to tell a story; they’re just very functional sites,” he adds. “But when you move beyond the functional, at a minimum, a story or design theme is important to tie things together and help you make design decisions.”
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
town’s waterfront, Briggs says meetings with the tribe and local school children h e l p e d d ev i s e a c u s t o m i z e d l o o k based on their stories. “The fence on one side of the playground is designed to look like clan house panels with formline artwork, and as part of that, we helped one of the clans develop their art,” says Briggs, noting that Alaskan Native artist Shane Brown assisted on that project. “We also talked to school kids about what they like to do in Yakutat—like riding ATVs, hunting, reading, and surfing— so we created playground pieces with illustrations of those activities. This playground is one of my favorites and is fully unique to Yakutat.” The playground is fully inclusive, and the design includes a wharf with a boat, a crab trap, and artwork for the fish that are caught in the area. “With such place-specific design, we hope that we provide a framework for kids to play and use for their own stories and be open to reinterpretation as well—in a child’s mind, that boat might become a spaceship,” says Briggs.
Not just any playground, this park in Yakutat illustrates a tale of crab fishing in the Gulf of Alaska, and users can elaborate on that theme. Corvus Design
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A playground fence is like a book, with the Tlingit language on one page, formline art on the flipside, and the shape of a clan house as a cover. Corvus Design
36 | February 2024
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The campus of the Alutiiq Center near Midtown Anchorage, which is the headquarters of Afognak Native Corporation and its subsidiary, Alutiiq, doesn’t have much room for landscape flourishes, but they are there for visitors to appreciate. KPB Architects infused the site design and the five-story building with images of Afognak Island and the region of the Alutiiq people. Pfeffer explains, “The grass basin in the front of the building represents the ocean, and the walkway to the front door is reflective of a ramp going out to the docks. The whole building is set in a basin, and it’s easy to imagine an island out in the water; it’s a very beach-like landscape.” Further, the Alutiiq Center ’s walls proclaim its heritage to passersby. “One of the most striking features of the building is the exact replica of four ancient petroglyphs found in the Alutiiq region, which go back more than 5,000 years,” says Pfeffer. Storytelling elements aren’t always so literal. For example, KPB Architects designed the downtown Fire Station #1 in Anchorage with a focus on public duty combined with private lives. A
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Corvus Design
“I think that sites are best when you can’t understand them with just one visit; every visit gives an opportunity to experience and learn new things.” Peter Briggs, Founder, Corvus Design
workplace where employees eat, sleep, and work in 24-hour shifts suggested a metaphor: “The story behind the design is that firefighters are a brotherhood, similar to monks in a monastery,” Pfeffer explains. Around that central concept, KPB Architects organized the functional parts of the fire station. The building features a firefighter museum, a public-facing area similar to a space where monks would sell cheese or wine to the public, as well as a bell tower, which is also the hose drying tower. The 30,000-square-foot masonry and steel building also includes areawide administration offices, ten apparatus and support areas (which Pfeffer likens to the monastery’s chapel), as well as living quarters for the firefighters. The large front apron/ plaza (the cloister) enables the public to view firefighters at work, and glass doors and strategically placed windows provide an up-close look at gear, fire poles, hose-washing, and other firefighting-related activities. Upstairs dining and living spaces transition to individual sleeping quarters in the rear. The metaphor might not be obvious from the curb, but the story is there for anyone to read it. 38 | February 2024
Purpose on Display
One of Pfeffer’s most recent story structures is almost impossible to miss. It’s the world’s largest bas relief sculpture, a concrete façade on a rental car center at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Pfeffer launched the first privately developed rental car center in the country in Anchorage, and he followed that up with similar buildings nationwide. The 3.5-million-squarefoot rental car center in Newark is his latest. It opened in November, showing off a seven-story helix that serves as a canvas for a cast-in-concrete mural. “This is an example of a building literally telling a story, showing all of the kinds of transportation related to the airport,” explains Pfeffer. “I based the idea on the History of Cinema mural at the Cinerama Theater in Seattle and worked collaboratively with Don Clark of Invisible Creature Studio, the artist for Cinerama.” The mural features airplanes, rental cars, traffic control towers, pilots and passengers, as well as the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center, world flags, and more. In
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“Architecture has this ability to say a lot about the person or the organization it represents; you can imply a lot about your culture, your thought processes, and your feelings about a subject through a building, so we try to integrate this storytelling into our work fairly regularly.” Jennifer Midthun Associate BDS Architects
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BDS Architects
Corvus Design
An organization’s mission can be stated in words, and it can be told through design, such as the easily operable office doors and wide-open reception area at Access Alaska.
Mark Meyer
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Once upon a time, a salmon leaped in a stream. The shiny scales of the Upper Tanana Health Center and the braided walkways are a storybook printed in copper, concrete, and stone.
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
A building's form and finish could represent almost anything, so designers tie elements together with a theme. Upper Tanana Health Center tells the story of salmon through its eye-catching exterior panels.
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 39
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ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING A movie theater in Seattle inspired Mark Pfeffer to turn the exterior of his Conrac Solutions rental center at the Newark, New Jersey airport into a history of transportation. The art of Don Clark is cast into the structural concrete.
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the boldest way possible, the building announces its purpose. Mission-based design is one approach that BDS Architects uses to embody the purpose of a client’s space, according to Midthun. For example, on a project for Access Alaska, a nonprofit that serves the disabled community, BDS Architects made sure that the building held true to the organization’s mission statement, which is to encourage and promote the total integration of people who experience a disability, and for senior Alaskans to live independently in the community of their choice. “ We w o r k e d w i t h t h e i d e a t h a t anyone with a disability can and should be able to function within their workplace or any space just the same as any able-bodied person,” says Midthun. “We used that mission to drive the design; everything about that renovation embodied universal design, making sure that every person on staff could use the space to their utmost function.” By designing the building to be fully utilized by those with disabilities, BDS Architects was able to share Access Alaska’s story and demonstrate that any company could remake their own space to be disability friendly. “Not only does it show that if we can do it, you can do it, too, but on a different level, it makes the community more comfortable within that building,” says Midthun. “If a building reflects a person’s story, they ’ll feel welcome. It still has to be functional, but making that building feel good to the people using it ensures that they’ll actually use it.”
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Before or after a disaster, building inspections can improve safety By Rachael Kvapil
Since 1922, the University of Alaska Fairbanks‘ College of Engineering and Mines has been launching careers in global engineering and computer science. CEM isn‘t just about engineers in lab coats; we are a dynamic group of creative thinkers, working together to tackle problems, change lives, and boost Alaska‘s economy.
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ntil disaster strikes, building safety is something few people consider. In the past few years, earthquakes, snow loads, and high winds have done extensive damage a ro u n d A l a s k a . A f t e r t h e f a c t , p ro f e s s i o n a l building inspectors play a large role in assessing damage and ensuring safety during repair. In advance of disaster, though, inspectors make sure new construction complies with building codes. While building inspections can certify the integrity of a building, it is only one component in preparing residential homes and commercial structures for the next unforeseen event. In the simplest terms, a building inspection is an examination of a structure to determine its condition. The reason for inspection determines the level of detail. Sean Baginski, principal engineer at PND Engineers, says an inspection can range from searching for code violations to examining structural integrity after major seismic events, wind, or snow load damage. 42 | February 2024
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Levels of Inspection
For older buildings or buildings that lack plans for documentation, a building structural inspection is called for. These can focus on a specific component, like a sagging beam or cracks in the basement walls, or they can be a complete assessment of structural soundness. This is different from an as-built structural inspection, which is a thorough documentation of how the building was put together. This type is typically done for buildings that don’t have a complete set of plans, generally when they are undergoing significant modifications. Emergency structural assessments are the type that follows major earthquakes, extreme winds, or roof collapses. These aren’t close examinations; rather, inspectors search for evidence of structural distress such as cracked drywall, out-of-plumb walls, disconnected components, cracked windows, stuck doors and windows, failed foundations, or failed slopes outdoors. “During the last major earthquake, thousands of these inspections were conducted in the area and resulted in a number of buildings being condemned,” says Baginski. At times, inspections depend on the code requirements. For instance, a building special inspection follows the International Building Code for certain critical components, usually for seismic or wind resistance. Baginski says these inspections occur during construction by certified building inspectors approved by the local jurisdiction or by the engineer of record or designee. S o m e s p e c i a l i n s p e c t i o n s re q u i re additional certifications, such as for welding, where a certified welding inspector may be required. Two more types of building i n s p e c t i o n s p l a y a n i n t e g ra l ro l e 44 | February 2024
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“On the odd occasions where something significant is caught, we work out a reasonable approach forward with the contractor and owner, given the installed condition, to ensure the final product is safe and minimizes the impact on the contractor’s operation.”
PND Engineers
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Most people only meet a building inspector when they’re buying a home. Lending institutions usually require one to ensure code compliance for electrical, mechanical, architectural, and structural components. Although this category of inspection is the one most people are familiar with, it isn’t the only one. Baginski says at least six other categories exist beyond the buyer’s inspection.
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Inspections at various times during a building's lifespan can improve safety outcomes, ranging from when it is under construction to after a catastrophic event.
Sean Baginski, Principal Engineer, PND Engineers
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ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING Common errors building inspectors find can include misinterpretations of drawings details or overlooked items on plans or specifications, which is why it is beneficial to inspect a building before construction is complete.
Greg Latreille
PND Engineers
throughout construction. Structural o b s e r v a t i o n s by t h e e n g i n e e r o f record or their designee periodically ensure that the contractor is following t h e i n t e n t o f t h e p l a n s . F i n a l l y, jurisdictional structural inspections are necessary to obtain the Certificate of Occupancy. Baginski says the local building safety department conducts inspections of select critical elements a s a d o u b l e c h e c k t h a t p l a n s a re followed and installations adhere to municipal requirements. Baginski adds that credentials vary for each type of inspection. In general, all structural inspections are expected to be performed by practicing engineers familiar with the construction type. He says work should be overseen, if not conducted, by a licensed civil or structural engineer. Home inspectors are also required to obtain a state license. Likewise, 46 | February 2024
Needless or Necessary?
Despite well-defined codes, some communities have found loopholes. Latreille says most remote communities don’t have building departments or inspectors to enforce codes. Other communities like Eagle River opted out of requirements to submit plans prior to construction or have a city building inspector inspect and approve construction. Eagle River made this decision during the formation of the Municipality
Principal Engineer
within some jurisdictions (such as the Municipality of Anchorage), special inspectors must register with the city.
Code Catchers
Baginski says the most common errors PND Engineers finds w h e n c o n d u c t i n g i n s p e c t i o n s a re misinterpretations of drawing details o r i t e m s ov e r l o o k e d o n p l a n s o r specifications. He says complex projects increase the possibility that something will be missed. His advice when working with a building inspector is to be honest and straightforward. He says if a problem is known beforehand, point it out to the inspector and try not to get confrontational. “Most contractors are pretty respectful when dealing with inspections and inspectors,” says B a g i n s k i . “ T h ey k n ow i t 's p a r t o f the job and take care of things
immediately. On the odd occasions where something significant is caught, we work out a reasonable approach f o r w a rd w i t h t h e c o n t ra c t o r a n d owner, given the installed condition, to ensure the final product is safe and minimizes the impact on the contractor’s operation.” In the United States, building codes fall under the purview of state and local governments. Most codes adopted by Alaska state agencies are a customized version of the International Building Code or International Residential Code ( I B C / I R C ) . H ow ev e r, t h e s t a t ew i d e codes aren’t the standards used in every community. Local governments conduct an additional review before determining which of the statewide codes applies to their community. “When state agencies do their review, they decide if they’re going to
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BBFM Engineers, Inc.
adopt a new version of code,” says G re g L a t re i l l e , p r i n c i p a l e n g i n e e r at BBFM Engineers, Inc. “Then local governments go through their own lengthy review and decide what to adopt and what to strike or if they want to make additional local amendments based on the needs of their community.” New construction projects adopt any changes to the code as soon as they are approved, while existing projects continue under the code in which they were started. A set of building drawings will identify the code edition used during construction and inspection, including all the types of inspection required beyond the municipal level. W h i l e l o c a l b u i l d i n g c o d e s a re highly specified, state building codes www.akbizmag.com
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 47
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“Inspectors are critical to the process… People think they’re saving money by not having an inspection until something happens. At that point they have no choice but to fix the damage—or worse, deal with the loss of life.”
still apply statewide to inspection programs like those administered through the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. Likewise, certain inspection categories are required to follow IBC or statewide building codes. Most inspection requirements are dictated at the local level, also referred to as “deferred jurisdiction” or “jurisdictional level.” However, the State Fire Marshal governs if a city government doesn’t have a building department, as in Homer.
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PND Engineers
“Inappropriate
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Not all new construction in Alaska undergoes inspection; it depends on regional regulations and, sometimes, the preference of the project owner. For those that do, there are generally multiple inspections to look at various aspects of the build.
design by a contractor is not necessarily something an inspector will pick up on… An inspector will be able to tell if a beam is not connected correctly, but a design flaw is something he won’t be able to identify.” Greg Latreille
48 | February 2024
before 1990, he says unless there was a major repair or remodel, there is almost no chance it was inspected, at least to today’s standards. When it comes to rural Alaska, Baginski says inspections are entirely up to the contractor. Bigger projects are more likely to have been inspected, but rural tract housing and spec homes have a high likelihood of bypassing inspection. “It comes down to the level of insistence on the part of the ow n e r t o e n s u re i n s p e c t i o n s a re completed,” says Baginski.
Force of Nature
According to Latreille, not all structural problems, especially those caused by snow loads and high winds, fall on the shoulders of building i n s p e c t o r s . L a t re i l l e ex p l a i n s t h a t many of the recent structural failures were either due to a design flaw or the natural event exceeded the design requirements. In the case of design
flaws, he says it is usually something unexpected like discovering the style of truss used in the roof design wasn’t the best choice. For instance, several commercial buildings constructed in the ‘70s and ‘80s used a top chord hung truss that is subject to failure due to how the roof connects with the load-bearing wall. “Inappropriate design by a contractor is not necessarily something an inspector will pick up on,” says Latreille. “An inspector will be able to tell if a beam is not connected c o r re c t l y, b u t a d e s i g n f l a w i s something he won’t be able to identify.” Likewise, extreme weather events like recent high winds are beyond the designed capacity of many existing structures. Latreille explains that welldesigned structures are constructed to the expected environmental s t re s s e s . W h e n t h e e n v i ro n m e n t changes and loads are greater than before, then the chances for
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structural damage increase. “ We t r y o u r b e s t t o d e s i g n f o r what Mother Nature throws at us,” says Latreille. “But Mother Nature is going to do what she wants. And that led to failures that an inspector can’t anticipate.” Still, Latreille emphasizes that the amount of damage in the Eagle River Valley caused by the 2018 earthquake could have been reduced or avoided if all structures had been built to code. Going forward, he encourages people w i t h ex i s t i n g h o m e s t o c o n s i d e r having an inspection done. He realizes sometimes this is a hard sell because no one wants to voluntarily spend extra money. However, he says it ’s unwise to think that, just because a structure survived the 1964 and 2018 earthquakes, it will survive the www.akbizmag.com
PND Engineers
of Anchorage, and the practice c o n t i n u e s t o t h i s d a y. A l t h o u g h many construction projects in the area still follow code and submit to building inspections, a large number in Eagle River don’t. “Inspectors are critical to the process,” says Latreille. “People think they’re saving money by not having an inspection until something happens. At that point they have no choice but to fix the damage—or worse, deal with the loss of life.” Latreille likens building without an inspection to driving on a highway without police enforcement. “People are going to speed because there is no chance of repercussion,” Latreille says. “Just having a cop there makes people play by the rules.” Baginski emphasizes that chances are high that structures built after 1990 in larger cities have received multiple inspections during construction. As for buildings built
Principal Engineer
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 49
PND Engineers
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
“We try our best to design for what Mother Nature throws at us… But Mother Nature is going to do what she wants. And that led to failures that an inspector can’t anticipate.” Greg Latreille Principal Engineer BBFM Engineers, Inc.
next extreme event. Just like snow and wind storms, he says no two earthquakes are alike. At the same time, Latreille doesn’t want to sound apocalyptic. He says many businesses and homeowners have taken steps to ensure building safety since the 2018 earthquake and recent extreme storms. In Anchorage, the municipality issued a recommendation to commercial building owners to have roof trusses inspected and take action if necessary. Latreille says many building owners followed through with these recommendations and strengthened their roof systems after last winter. “Building owners took it upon themselves to care enough to pay for an inspection and repairs,” s a y s L a t re i l l e . “ T h e re a re o t h e r s w h o h a v e n’ t , e i t h e r b e c a u s e t h ey d o n ' t t h o ro u g h l y u n d e r s t a n d t h e situation or don’t have the funding to solve the problem.” 50 | February 2024
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Balancing the needs of roads and streets
crash rate is on Gambell Street between 9th and 15th Avenues, and Ingra Street has the region’s highest per-mile rate of vehicle crashes. To Allen Kemplen, president of the Fairview Community Council, a highway t h ro u g h a n u r b a n n e i g h b o r h o o d is illogical and unsafe. “You'll move mountains to make a road safe for somebody in an automobile or a truck, right? But making a road safe for human beings—flesh and blood—you don't seem to care,” says Kemplen. In forty-nine states, Marohn has seen it before. “This is North America,” he says. “Anchorage is not uniquely bad. It is typical bad.” The conflict is part of the message Marohn came to Alaska to deliver, part
of a discussion he started when he gave a name to Gambell’s flawed design.
Rules of the Stroad
Streets are spaces where people and vehicles mix. Roads connect living centers—town to town or one part of town to another. On streets, drivers expect to stop for pedestrians or for vehicles turning, parking, or loading. On roads, pedestrians risk their lives where drivers have priority. M a n y, m a n y f a c i l i t i e s b l u r t h a t distinction, as Marohn observed around 2011. In his papers, he invented the portmanteau “STROAD.” The capital letters were meant to catch attention, as engineers and planners would ask about the non-existent acronym.
“I think the north side of Spenard is a pleasant place for both drivers and pedestrians and hopefully could be a model for other places in Anchorage.” Meg Mielke, President, Spenard Community Council
52 | February 2024
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February 2024 | 53
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Stroad to Recovery
D
uring a late autumn sunrise, Charles Marohn walked through Anchorage’s Fairview neighborhood. Marohn, perhaps the most famous traffic engineer in the country, had been to forty-nine other states, and his tour finally brought him to Alaska. What he saw, he said afterward, made him sad. Gambell Street and Ingra Street, bisecting Fairview, are part of the Seward Highway junction with the Glenn Highway. Along narrow sidewalks, traffic roars by at 35 miles per hour. Marohn quipped, “Is it s p e l l e d ‘g a m b l e ’ b e c a u s e y o u ’r e gambling to cross it?” A state study in 2018 found the Anchorage area’s highest pedestrian
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Alaska Business
Ingra Street widens heading into Fairview, encouraging drivers to accelerate above the posted speed limit of 45 miles per hour before hitting a stop light. Alaska Business
Believing that cities have overbuilt infrastructure beyond the capacity of their tax base to support, Charles Marohn founded the nonprofit Strong Towns to advocate for sustainable urban development. Alaska Business
54 | February 2024
Lane, and the Northern Lights B o u l ev a rd a n d B e n s o n B o u l ev a rd couplet. Kimerer also points to Dimond Boulevard, Tudor Road, and Muldoon Road as examples. The Old Seward Highway was o n c e t h e ro a d o u t o f A n c h o ra g e until businesses grew around it, so a new highway was built in 1971. A similar conflict in Cooper Landing, where Sterling Highway traffic slows to neighborhood speed, is being addressed by a 15-mile bypass, slated for completion in 2028. In Wasilla, the Parks Highway serves as both a main drag and an
inter-city link. Bypass concepts have been proposed since the ‘80s. The latest planning and environmental linkage study was in the works last y e a r, g a t h e r i n g p u b l i c c o m m e n t , until it was paused. By contrast, Palmer has a more amiable relationship with t h e G l e n n H i g h w a y. S i g n a l s s t o p traffic at major intersections, but the downtown area is conspicuously off the main arterial. “ I l i k e P a l m e r, ” s a y s K i m e r e r. “A little more character.” His colleague, Cloud, adds, “Enjoyable to be there.”
No slight against Wasilla; every North American town has its stroads.
A Stroad Less Traveled
In Fairbanks, Airport Way is a fine c ro s s - t ow n c o n v ey a n c e . H ow ev e r, miles of chain-link fence on either side indicate conflicting needs. The fence discourages pedestrian crossing b e c a u s e t h e ro a d s l i c e s t h ro u g h where people might walk. Last year, two roads paralleling Airport Way received sidewalk upgrades. Pedestrian amenities could boost the overall rating for Fairbanks on Walk Score, a website for apartment
“I hadn’t really thought about the distinction between a road and a street… Roads take you from place to place. Then you slow down in those places, and those are the commercial nodes with streets.” Stephanie Cloud, Landscape Architect, Bettisworth North
Stroad Smarts
T h e F H WA c l a s s i f i e s r o a d s b y function: interstates, urban or rural arterials (that is, highways not built to Interstate System standards), major and minor collectors, and local roads (which Marohn calls “streets”). According to the agency, collectors “balance mobility with land access.” By calling collectors “stroads,” Marohn admits there’s some criticism implied. H o w e v e r, i t ’ s n o t n e c e s s a r i l y pejorative. “I feel like it’s more of a neutral term,” says Mark Kimerer, principal landscape architect at Bettisworth North, “because i t ’s s o m e t h i n g w e l i v e w i t h a n d experience on a daily basis.” For instance, stroads that intersect the Gambell Street-Ingra Street alignment include the Fifth and Sixth Avenue couplet, Fireweed
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State transportation crews installed a oneblock fence along Minnesota Drive late last summer, despite the Spenard community’s wishes for pedestrian-friendly development.
O n c e d e f i n e d , s t ro a d s b e c o m e obvious. “It is a transportation investment that tries to both move traffic and create economic development at the same time. When you’re building a stroad, you’re building a really bad road that also is a really bad street,” Marohn says. The term remained somewhat obscure until 2021 when the Yo u Tu b e c h a n n e l N o t J u s t B i k e s p u b l i s h e d t h e v i d e o “ S t ro a d s A re Ugly, Expensive, and Dangerous (and they’re everywhere).” That ’s where Stephanie Cloud, a landscape architect with Bettisworth North, first learned of it. “I hadn’t really thought about the distinction between a road and a street,” she says. “Roads take you from place to place. Then you slow down in those places, and those are the commercial nodes with streets.” Tra d e - o f f s b e t w e e n a c c e s s a n d mobility are well understood. For instance, a diagram published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) plots an inverse relationship between mobility and accessibility. As Marohn puts it, “ The value of your road goes down when you start building stuff [along it]. If you’re building a road to move cars q u i c k l y, a n d s o m e o n e c o m e s a n d says, ‘We need to put a signal here so we can have a big-box store and a gas station,’ well OK, but you’ve just wrecked the road.”
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The Low Stroad
The process of making Gambell Street and Ingra Street part of a h i g h w a y w a s “a c l e a r a c t o f discrimination,” according to a resolution adopted by the Anchorage Assembly in 2022. Plans for a highway link skirting Merrill Field airport were scrapped due to cost after the 1964 earthquake. Instead, the couplet was widened in 1966 despite warnings
Offices of Bettisworth North overlook Fireweed Lane, an example of a road lined with restaurants, offices, and repair shops that might benefit from a more street-like environment. Alaska Business
that doing so would harm the neighborhood—one of the few areas where property covenants did not exclude non-white homeowners. Around the same time, the I S t re e t a n d L S t re e t c o u p l e t ( t h e north end of Minnesota Drive) was routed through South Addition. Kemplen, who previously worked as a transportation planner, points to inclined curves that slow traffic on three lanes in each direction instead of four. “They had separated sidewalks, they had trees, they had slower speeds,” he says. “Fairview? There’s no separation. You walk on Gambell Street, a 4-foot-wide sidewalk… If you’re not scared-the-bejeezus-out-of, you’re not a human being!” Marohn calls it an “oft-repeated story ” that happened to minority neighborhoods across America. “I look at how much money you have spent on infrastructure that is actually making you poorer. You’ve spent three times what you should’ve s p e n t , a n d a s a re s u l t , y o u m a d e your neighborhood worse. It just makes me sad,” he says.
Fairview has seen improvements since the original sin of the Gambell Street-Ingra Street couplet. On side streets, Kemplen helped bring about “traffic calming” by interrupting the grid with chicanes and tighter intersections. “We implemented that vision, and it’s a totally different place,” he says, recalling that people used to be afraid to go outdoors. “And what we want to do is to take that same positive result and apply it to the Gambell-Ingra corridor.”
Stroad Warriors
Engineers have a variety of tools for fixing a stroad. They either push it toward road-like mobility or street-like accessibility. For North Spenard, Kimerer says “Complete Streets” was the watchword for his landscape architects. They were involved in designing transit stops, wayfinding columns, banners, and the color scheme. B a l a n c e d s t ro a d s a re p o s s i b l e . Marohn likes the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where center lanes move cars quickly while separated edges are for
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“When you’re building a stroad, you’re building a really bad road that also is a really bad street.” Charles Marohn, Founder, Strong Towns
hunters that has become a simple measure of walkability. In Alaska, Fairbanks has the highest score with 32 out of 100, just ahead of Anchorage’s 31. Juneau, the only other Alaska city scored, has 21; all three are considered “car dependent.” Some neighborhoods score better ( b u t m a n y a re n o t s c o re d a t a l l , including Fairview; a heat map shows a friendly green zone straddling the Gambell Steet-Ingra Street couplet). Out of forty in Anchorage, the top spot goes to “Downtown Spenard,” the segment of Spenard Road that ov e r l a p s M i d t ow n n o r t h o f 3 2 n d Avenue. Its walkability of 87 is nearly on par with New York City or topranked San Francisco. Spenard, once the road from Anchorage to an out-of-town lumber 56 | February 2024
c a m p , h a s s t e a d i l y b e c o m e m o re s t re e t - l i k e . T h i r t y y e a r s a g o , t h e segment south and west of Minnesota Drive was overhauled into a three-lane street with wide sidewalks. Those improvements were partly thanks to NeighborWorks Alaska, a nonprofit housing organization. “Our community members and advocates w e re p a r t o f t h e re d e s i g n , ” s a y s Lindsey Hajduk, director of community engagement. “It was forward-looking in the ‘90s and gave us an example of what we could do to make more of that ‘neighborhood feel’ along the corridor.” A m o re re c e n t p h a s e rev a m p e d the Downtown Spenard stretch. Bettisworth North had a hand i n i t , d e s i g n i n g c ro s s w a l k s a w a y from signaled intersections and consolidating driveways.
Meg Mielke, president of the Spenard Community Council, welcomes the change. “I think the north side of Spenard is a pleasant place for both drivers and pedestrians and hopefully could be a model for other places in Anchorage,” she says.
Fork in the Stroad
M a n y o f W a l k S c o r e ’s h i g h e s t ranked Anchorage neighborhoods have Minnesota Drive as part of their boundary. That is, the expressway manifests a barrier to walkability. A new barrier was installed late last summer at the edge of Downtown Spenard. A fence in the median between Northern Lights Boulevard and Benson Boulevard is meant to deter jaywalking. With the Northern Lights Center mall and Walgreens on one side and Carrs
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Aurora Village on the other, shoppers o n f o o t m u s t c ro s s t h e “o u t s i d e” corners of the Northern Lights B o u l ev a rd a n d B e n s o n B o u l ev a rd intersections; crossing is forbidden at the “inside” corners. The Spenard Community Council protested in November, passing a resolution fourteen to four in favor of removing the barrier. “The majority believed that the wall makes things worse for drivers, pedestrians, as well as businesses and homes on both sides,” Mielke says. “There is a concern that the wall is part of a process of making Minnesota Drive a high-speed highway without pedestrian crossing.”
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The 2021 reconstruction of north Spenard Road consolidated driveways, added planters and benches, and installed crosswalks where drivers actually stop for pedestrians in the street. Kevin Smith Photography | Bettisworth North
walking and parking. The Esplanade
such as undoing the rift that split
i n d ow n t ow n C h i c o , C a l i f o r n i a , i s Fairview in the ‘60s. “You walk on Hajduk explains, “This is the similar: fourteen blocks of a through street (a “road”) flanked by frontage f i r s t f e d e r a l p r o g r a m o f i t s k i n d Gambell Street, roads (or “streets”). where the federal government has M a ro h n a d d s , “ I d o n’ t t h i n k i t ’s a c k n ow l e d g e d that transportation a 4-foot-wide impossible to design a good stroad, d e c i s i o n s a n d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e but those are the 0.1 percent l i k e t h i s w e r e i n t e n t i o n a l l y sidewalk… built to disenfranchise already exception to the rule.” A balanced, nuanced approach to disadvantaged communities.” If you’re not Out of forty-five successful transportation must think beyond grabbing as much federal funding applicants, Fairview was one of four as possible to move vehicles at the n o n - g o v e r n m e n t a l o r g a n i z a t i o n s scared-theexpense of everything else, according awarded a grant. Also, the Anchorage to Kemplen. “It’s more than just moving Assembly appropriated a 20 percent bejeezus-outtraffic safely, fast,” he says. “It’s a road match, for a total of $672,000. The money is meant to give residents doesn’t force everybody into of, you’re not a that a n a u t o m o b i l e b e c a u s e y o u d o n’ t a voice in the state’s Seward-Glenn Connection Project, which has the human being!” maintain the sidewalks.” stated goals of improving regional Allen Kemplen President Fairview Community Council
58 | February 2024
End of the Stroad
Fairview has some federal funds to fix its stroad problem. Last February, NeighborWorks Alaska helped the community obtain a $537,660 grant under the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program. The 2021 infrastructure package set aside m o n ey f o r e n v i ro n m e n t a l j u s t i c e ,
travel between the highways while also adding to livability and local travel in surrounding neighborhoods. H a j d u k s a y s , “ We w a n t t o m a k e sure our efforts are collaborative and integrated, so the planning that we'll do with the community-led vision can feed into that and ultimately move it further down the line.”
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Past concepts for a Gambell Steetad_alaskabusiness_v.indd 2 Ingra Street remedy have included a cut-and-cover trench or an elevated freeway. “Both of those are horrible ideas,” in Marohn’s opinion. Based on what he saw that morning during his walking tour, “You do not have the traffic volume to justify anything more than taking out two lanes.” Marohn acknowledges that constricting highway-to-highway traffic would inconvenience commuters. However, he sees “living out on the edge” as a lifestyle subsidized by the inconvenience of urban residents. Convenience, on the other hand, drives economic vitality. Cloud says, “Pedestrians, if they ’re out walking, they’re going to spend more money. If you take more time, you’re window shopping, you can pop in these shops.” Reconnecting Fairview benefits the whole city, in Kemplen’s view, because a vibrant neighborhood attracts private capital and adds value to adjoining land uses. “Why can't we identify streets that are designed around the people?” he asks. “Public right-of-way is for all of us.” www.akbizmag.com
1/2/2024 2:28:28 PM
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to place and purpose By Vanessa Orr
Stantec | Wayde Carroll Photography
ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING
Culturally responsive design fits buildings
While many buildings throughout Alaska showcase culturally responsive d e s i g n — m o s t n o t a b l y, t h a t o f indigenous cultures—there are many other examples, in schools, libraries, police stations, healthcare facilities, and more.
“We hope most of all for the users to see Seeking Stakeholder Input this as home. Client input is key, and in t h e c a s e o f a c o m m u n i t y - u s e To feel, ‘This is building, it may require talking to a number of stakeholders. ours.’ We want “You can’t just come in and create a culturally responsive design. You need them to take to listen to people and be responsive to what they feel is important,” e x p l a i n s G i o v a n n a G a m b a r d e l l a , possession buildings principal and architectural leader at Stantec. “You’re creating a of it and for partnership between the designers, w h o a re ex p e r t s i n t h e t e c h n i c a l it to be their aspect, and the community, who are sharing their stories about what their building.” culture means to them.” “One of most important elements to keep in mind when approaching these groups is to make sure that the voices participating are the
Stephen Henri Principal Architect Architects Alaska
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Sense of Community
“A
sk any three architects to define culturally responsive design, and you’ll get four different answers,” Architects Alaska principal architect Stephen Henri says with a laugh. What is Henri’s answer? “I believe that, as architects, our main purpose for existing is to create places for people, and the way we do that best is if the places we create reflect the people who will be using it,” he says. “ To my mind, that means including references to their culture, how they live, and how they think of themselves.” Culturally responsive design can be expressed in materials, colors, and graphics. Henri adds that it can also be imbued into the bones of the building itself. “While we do design buildings that are simply functional, when we can, we want a building to be representative of or aligned with the way of life of the people that use it,” he says. “Part of that is more than skin-deep references. It can be part of the actual structure of the building and how it lays out in three dimensions.”
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Reflecting Community Character
Rather than emphasize the function of the police station, Stantec’s design reflected the importance of shorebirds and art to the culture of Homer. Stantec
62 | February 2024
true representatives of the culture and have the group’s authority to represent them,” adds Carel Nagata, Stantec senior architect. “ Yo u n e e d t o e n s u r e t h a t t h e right cultural bearers are willing to p a r t i c i p a t e , ” s a y s K a re n Z a c c a ro , Stantec senior architect. “ We don’t want to operate in a vacuum—we need their help to determine what the most important cultural values are to their community.” To t h i s e n d , S t a n t e c ’s p rew o r k procedure includes visioning sessions that define not only who the main stakeholders are but also allow designers to hear from many different people in the community. “A n y c o m m u n i t y g r o u p , l i k e a c o m m u n i t y c o u n c i l i n A n c h o ra g e , f o r ex a m p l e , h a s a g o a l o r v i s i o n they’re trying to reach, but oftentimes t h ey d o n’ t h a v e t h e s a m e g o a l s , ” Nagata says. “During the prework phase, we make sure that everyone is on the same page and is going the same direction.” Consensus can take time, though. “Not only do you need to get everyone together in a room to listen to each other, but you have to be aware of cultural differences in the way we communicate and in the way that decisions are made,” says Nagata. “You also have to be aware that some members of the group may want a lot Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
When designing the Quinhagak K-12 school for the Lower Kuskokwim School District, Stantec took the time to talk to local families and looked at community artifacts and clothing to learn about their culture. As a result, the school's hallways incorporate designs celebrating Yupik family patterns woven into protective rails, which are used as wayfinding opportunities. Stantec also worked with the Kenaitze Indian Tribe Education Council o n t h e K a h t n u h t ’a n a D u h d e l d i h t (Kenai River People’s Learning Place) campus, which opened in 2022. The 67,000-square-foot facility repurposes wood from the community ’s historic c a n n e r y, a n d t h e ex t e r i o r o f t h e building features a custom coppercolored aluminum panel pattern that s i m u l a t e s s a l m o n s k i n . T h e l o b by features a 16-foot diameter tribal seal embedded in the floor. “The council felt that it was important for future generations to explore and learn about Dena’ina culture and that facets of the design could be used as teaching moments,” says Gambardella, noting the 20-foot diameter rendering of the tribe’s Traditional Values Wheel that is displayed on the floor of the multipurpose room. “It’s a very approachable teaching tool that is used every single day.” Because the tribe historically u s e d t h re e v o l c a n o e s i n t h e a re a a s n a v i g a t i o n t o o l s , t h e g ra i n o f the faux-wood vinyl floor orients toward those peaks. “ I t w a s re a l l y i m p o r t a n t t o t h a t group to have elements that were very personal to their immediate s u r ro u n d i n g s , ” s a y s N a g a t a . “ F o r example, they have words for every section of the Kenai River, which we used as classroom names. The river also has many different shades of blue, which we used on the building walls and at each of the classroom entries.” Farther south on the Kenai Peninsula, Stantec infused an institutional building with local culture, producing a work of art. The Homer Police Station reflects the community’s connection to nature www.akbizmag.com
“You can’t just come in and create a culturally responsive design. You need to listen to people and be responsive to what they feel is important.” Giovanna Gambardella, Buildings Principal and Architectural Leader, Stantec
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of design, where others want it under the radar. Our design process needs to reflect all of these concerns.”
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Healthy Harmony
Quinhagak K-12 school's hallways feature graphics that celebrate Yupik family patterns. Stantec
As a learning place for the people of the Kenai River, the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht campus incorporates teaching opportunities at every turn, particularly centered on the theme of wayfinding. Stantec
64 | February 2024
Many of Architects Alaska’s projects also showcase culturally responsive design. “Whenever we can, we like to include someone on our team as the culture bearer; someone who is either from that local culture or very familiar with it,” says Henri. The culture bearer makes introductions to stakeholders and sets up conversations with people in the community. F o r ex a m p l e , w h i l e w o r k i n g o n Chugachmiut Health Center in Seward, Architects Alaska held meetings with tribal elders who shared the history of a tuberculosis treatment center that had once been on the site. “A lot of people had gone there or had relatives there, and they wanted to see some kind of acknowledgement or reference to it,” says Henri. “Without talking to them, we would never have known how much that mattered to them.” Consequently, the exterior landscape includes a monument with a plaque. “One of the things that has come up a lot within indigenous communities is that they want to see their Native languages reflected in their buildings,” Henri adds. “ There are more than twenty distinct Native languages here, and many communities are trying to rebuild them after decades of not being encouraged to use them.” The Dena’ina Health and Wellness Center in Kenai was designed to represent the culture of the Dena’ina people, who were the original inhabitants of the Upper Cook Inlet region. Architectural details throughout the building represent the history of the area and its people, including century-old Douglas fir planks (reclaimed from a Kenai River cannery) that span much of the interior. The ocean is depicted in blue across the floor near the main entrance; agates inset in the flooring were collected by tribal members, and Dena’ina names are used throughout the facility. Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“While we do design buildings that are simply functional, when we can, we want a building to be representative of or aligned with the way of life of the people that use it.”
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“Some of the design is more obvious and some is more subtle,” says Peter Briggs of Corvus Design, who worked on the exterior plaza landscape design. “ You might not k n ow t h a t s o m e o f t h e b u i l d i n g ’s wood was salvaged unless someone told you about it, but the inside concrete, which is seeded with agates f ro m t h e b e a c h , l i t e ra l l y h a s t h e local landscape built into it. It’s just like beach combing.” Architects Alaska also worked on the expansion of the Tanana Chiefs Conference Chief Andrew Isaac Health Center in Fairbanks, working with the Athabaskan Native community to include cultural references when the existing ambulatory clinic was enlarged to include operating rooms and more service lines for cancer treatment. “They had a very nice facility already, including a lot of cultural references for the community,” says Henri. “Our goal was to build on that, adding 100,000 square feet of space in harmony with that design. Though our part was a little more functionally based—more about operating rooms and nursing stations and team workrooms than www.akbizmag.com
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and the arts, as well as the fact that the police are considered good neighbors. “The community wanted a welcoming, beautiful space,” says Gambardella. “This wasn’t done as an afterthought; art was integrated into the facility both as part of the façade and the landscape.”
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“You might not know that some of the building’s wood was salvaged unless someone told you about it, but the inside concrete, which is seeded with agates from the beach, literally has the local landscape built into it.” Peter Briggs Founder Corvus Design
rivers that are so important to the people of Interior Alaska.
Suiting Local Needs
Architects Alaska also worked with the Russian Old Believer Community, a population descended from the Russian settlement of Alaska in the 1 7 0 0 s , w h o w a n t e d t h e i r c u l t u re reflected in the design for the Kachemak-Selo Elementary/High School outside of Homer. “This community lives a traditional lifestyle based on Russian Orthodox beliefs and doesn’t socialize much outside of their community,” says Henri. The village near the head of Kachemak Bay has no road access, so everything must come in by barge, boat, or plane. “It was interesting learning what was most important to them,” says Henri of the ongoing project that is currently awaiting more funding. “What we came up with is an almost residential-looking school with sloped roofs, wood elements, and an exposed structure that makes it more friendly and hospitable.” Henri adds that the cultural responsiveness was less about the built form but more about how designers worked with the community to discover its needs. What Kachemak Selo needed, it turns out, was a building that fits the scale of the village. “Unlike most schools, which are masonry castles that can last for fifty years and stand up to graffiti, this building is for a small community of people, and it needs to be in scale with that,” Henri says. “It is also a little more hospitable and approachable than a standard school might seem.”
A Building Sings the Culture
public-facing spaces—we were still able to weave in meaningful re f e re n c e s t o t h e c u l t u re o f t h e people coming there.” Architects Alaska worked with the c o n f e r e n c e ’s c u l t u r a l c o m m i t t e e to include a cultural gallery on the first floor where Native art and artifacts are displayed. The building also features large graphics of medicinal Native plants on the walls of the exam rooms, such as those used to treat arthritis naturally. A c u r v e d l i n e a r w a l l re f e re n c e s t h e 66 | February 2024
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W h e n i t ’s d o n e r i g h t , c u l t u ra l l y responsive design can have a huge impact on those who use the finished product. In any given building, “We hope most of all for the users to see this as home. To feel, ‘This is ours.’ We want them to take possession of it and for it to be their building,” says Henri. “An architect is most successful when people forget that they are involved.” The designer ’s job is to interpret the community’s wishes and then step out of the way. “The best compliment we’ve ever gotten was when a Native www.akbizmag.com
corporation leader walked into the Dena’ina Health and Wellness Center a n d s a i d , ‘ T h i s p l a c e re a l l y s i n g s D e n a’ i n a , ’ ” H e n r i s a y s . “ I t w a s a n extraordinary compliment to hear that we’d gotten that close to reflecting elements of their culture and helped them feel that the building belonged to them. That’s when you know you’ve been successful—when it speaks to the people who use it.” T h e K a h t n u h t ’a n a D u h d e l d i h t campus evoked a similar response. “I was sitting on a plane next to a woman
from Kenai when she started talking about the library,” shares Gambardella. “She said that her husband, who was terminally ill, used to go to the library every day because the lounge space had windows and a fireplace, and he could sit there and enjoy the sunlight among his community.” Gambardella recalls almost crying on the plane. She says, “It was very touching to hear that we are creating spaces that are so community-minded. That us really thinking about who uses this space is important.”
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Any building can have walls and exterior benches. The particular forms at the Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht campus reflect the importance of salmon and beluga whales to the Kenaitze Tribe.
Captain Charles Bier wir th | USACE- Alaska Dis tric t
CONSTRUCTION
USACE Major Infrastructure Projects in 2024 Emphasis on best small business practices By Cameron McLeod 68 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
T
he US Army Corps of Engineers – A l a s k a D i s t r i c t ( U S AC E ) i s preparing for a productive 2024 construction season. The organization’s robust workload includes major infrastructure construction efforts under the district’s civil and military p ro g ra m s i n ev e r y c o r n e r o f t h e state. These projects are constructed i n c o l l a b o ra t i o n w i t h a v a r i e t y o f stakeholders and contractors. “ P ro t e c t i o n o f p e o p l e a n d l o c a l e c o n o m i e s i s a c e n t ra l t h e m e i n the district ’s upcoming workload,” s a y s Va l e r i e P a l m e r, a c t i n g c h i e f of the district ’s Programs and Project Management Division. “These important constructions will inhibit coastal erosion, support
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 69
In North Pole, the Moose Creek Dam Safety Modification Project is another key effort that will have a valuable i m p a c t o n t h e g re a t e r F a i r b a n k s c o m m u n i t y. B a u e r F o u n d a t i o n Corporation of Florida will enter its third season constructing a mix-inplace concrete barrier wall under a contract currently valued at $75.7 million. Once finished, it will span 6,200 linear feet at depths of up to 65 feet at the dam. The improvement project was needed after a USACE modification
The Kenai River Bluffs Erosion Project will place 42,400 cubic yards of armor rock, 33,200 cubic yards of crushed rock, and 13,100 cubic yards of gravel base at the base of the eroding bluffs near Kenai. The USACE-Alaska District will award a contract for this project in 2024, with a significant amount of construction anticipated for the year as well. Cameron McLeod | USACE-Alaska District
study conducted in 2017 recommended the establishment of a reinforced dam embankment to extend the life of the aging infrastructure. T h e s a f e t y u p g ra d e w i l l e n h a n c e the dam’s strength and stability to provide the greater Fairbanks area with continued flood protection for many years to come. The district concluded the 2023 construction season at Moose Creek Dam in October. The team reached the midway point of their work and will continue to install the barrier
in the spring. Construction of this project began in the spring of 2022 and is scheduled to be complete by January 2026. The modification is the largest USACE civil works construction effort in Alaska since the completion of the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project near Juneau.
Northern Shores
Meanwhile in Nome, the construction of the Port of Nome Modification Project will provide larger vessels with improved access to the existing
“The Alaska District’s current objectives in military construction are in line with larger goals around the agency… Quality-of-life improvements will continue to be a significant priority for the organization in 2024.” Valerie Palmer, Acting Chief of Programs and Project Management, USACE–Alaska District
“Protection of people and local economies is a central theme in the district’s upcoming workload… These important constructions will inhibit coastal erosion, support national security, and bolster human health and safety.” Valerie Palmer, Acting Chief of Programs and Project Management, USACE–Alaska District
n a t i o n a l s e c u r i t y, a n d b o l s t e r human health and safety.” USACE expects to award at least $125 million for civil works projects, making this category its largest area o f i n v e s t m e n t i n 2 0 2 4 . F o l l ow i n g the enactment of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act in January 2022, the district’s portfolio of projects will be funded with nearly $1 billion for critical civil works and disaster relief projects in the coming decade. Many of these efforts will contribute to the development of the state’s water resources, help boost economies, and 70 | February 2024
reduce flood and storm risks for more than one dozen communities.
Civil Infrastructure Projects
In 2019, USACE published the Kenai River Bluffs Bank Stabilization Section 116 Feasibility Study that recommended the establishment of a protective berm at the bluff toe. The protective material will span nearly 5,000 feet along the base of the eroding bluff. It will consist of 42,400 cubic yards of armor rock, 33,200 cubic yards of crushed rock, and 13,100 cubic yards of gravel base. On September 25, 2023, Colonel Jeffrey Palazzini, commander of the
Alaska District, joined Michael Connor, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and Terry Eubank, city manager of Kenai, in the signing of the project partnership agreement. “ This project is protecting some critical infrastructure in the community of Kenai,” Palmer says. “Residences, businesses, and the local senior center will each receive protections from coastal erosion because of this important work.” The district is awarding a contract for the Kenai River Bluffs erosion project in 2024, with a significant amount of construction anticipated to begin this year as well.
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The Moose Creek Dam Safety Modification Project stems from a 2017 modification study that recommended the establishment of a reinforced dam embankment to extend the life of the aging infrastructure and provide the greater Fairbanks region with additional protection during high-water events. Cameron McLeod | USACE- Alaska District
The Port of Nome Modification Project will provide larger vessels with improved access to Nome’s existing harbor by enlarging the outer basin and creating a new deep-water basin at a depth of minus 40 feet. The USACE-Alaska District intends to sign a project partnership agreement with the city of Nome in early 2024. PND Engineers
A new child development center at Fort Wainwright is a key example of the USACE-Alaska District’s commitment to military members and their families. The new facility will accommodate 338 children ranging from 6 weeks to 5 years old. This facility is nearing completion and is anticipated to be ready for use in 2024. Katy Doetsch | USACE-Alaska District
harbor by enlarging the outer basin and creating a new deep-water basin at a depth of minus 40 feet. Dredging is required to deepen and maintain both basins and associated navigation channels. Currently, ship transportation is limited by existing depths in the outer basin of minus 22 feet. This depth is inadequate to safely accommodate vessels of drafts greater than 18 feet. USACE signed the project partnership agreement with the city of Nome in January, marking the official start of implementing construction efforts between the two stakeholders. The project opened for solicitation s h o r t l y a f t e r t h e a g re e m e n t w a s signed, and USACE expects a contract to be awarded in the third quarter of the federal fiscal year. “ The port modification at Nome carries some far-reaching implications,” Palmer says. “The region’s economy and national security interests will each see tangible benefits from this construction.” In Alaska’s northernmost community of Utqiaġvik, the district will execute the Barrow Coastal Erosion Project from funding allocated under the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. Utqiaġvik experiences severe coastal storms, so USACE will create a rock revetment at the bluff area, build a protective berm, and raise Stevenson Street. This effort will directly protect important cultural resources, infrastructure, and human safety. “ This is an essential project for the North Slope Borough and the community of Utqiaġvik,” Palmer says. “The construction will protect their critical infrastructure and cultural resources from the intense storm damage that the area often experiences.” On August 29, 2023, Palazzini signed the project partnership agreement for the Barrow Coastal Erosion Project with Harry Brower Jr., mayor of the North Slope Borough. The district issued a request for proposals for Phase I of the project in December, and USACE anticipates a contract award in the third quarter of the federal fiscal year.
Military Construction
The runway extension project at 72 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
On August 29, Colonel Jeffrey Palazzini, district commander, Harry Brower Jr., mayor of the North Slope Borough, and Senator Dan Sullivan participated in a ceremonial signing of the project partnership agreement for the Barrow Coastal Erosion Project in Utqiaġvik. This critical construction will reduce the risk of storm damage to about five miles of coastline by creating a rock revetment at the bluff area, building a protective berm, and raising Stevenson Street. Cameron McLeod | USACE- Alaska District
“Small business contributions span throughout the entire portfolio of what the Alaska District does… They are critical for our ability to accomplish civil works, environmental, construction, and design projects.” Ryan Zachry, Small Business Professional, USACE–Alaska District
J o i n t B a s e E l m e n d o r f - R i c h a rd s o n continues to be one of the district’s largest and most significant military construction projects. In July 2022, the district awarded a $309 million contract to Kiewit Infrastructure West C o . t o ex t e n d t h e ex i s t i n g n o r t h south runway by 2,500 feet to bring its total length to 10,000 feet. This construction will significantly increase JBER’s capability as a force projection platform and further advance the national defense strategy. So far, the team has excavated more than 11 million cubic yards of material while working year-round and is rapidly www.akbizmag.com
approaching the end of excavation. This critical project is scheduled for completion in September 2025. “ The Alaska District ’s current objectives in military construction are in line with larger goals around the agency,” Palmer says. “Qualityof-life improvements will continue to be a significant priority for the organization in 2024.” These projects include new infrastructure as well as renovations and modernization of existing facilities requiring upgrades. Among these renovations is J B E R ’s Tu r n a g a i n H a l l d o r m i t o r y. Alaska Business
The district awarded a $20.3 million contract to Silver Mountain Construction of Anchorage under a 100 percent small business set-aside in November. Improvements at the facility will upgrade a common area on the first floor and convert two rooms on the upper floors into new b e d s p a c e s t o ex p a n d re s i d e n t i a l capacity to 58 occupants. The district anticipates the construction to be completed in January 2026. In addition, the district awarded a $67 million contract to UNIT C O M A PA N Y i n M a y 2 0 2 3 f o r t h e construction of an 84-person dormitory February 2024 | 73
to complete a remedial investigation, feasibility study, proposed plan, and record of decision at the Nike Site Bay Formerly Used Defense Site on the Knik Arm, which housed a Nike Hercules missile system during the Cold War. After completing the remedial investigation in 2022, Brice continues to work closely with the district to complete the remainder of the required project documentations.
Representatives of the USACE-Alaska District attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a new eighty-fourperson dormitory at Clear Space Force Station in August 2023. This project will provide a modern living facility to members of the military serving at the installation. Cameron McLeod | USACE- Alaska District
Work with USACE
“Forming a partnership with an established business through a mentor-protégé agreement or performing as a subcontractor on large contracts are excellent ways to establish a small business on the radar of the Alaska District.” Ryan Zachry, Small Business Professional, USACE–Alaska District
at Clear Space Force Station. The three-story facility will consist of a reinforced concrete foundation with slab on grade, reinforced concrete masonry walls with exterior insulation and finish, and a standing seam metal roof. This important project will also include a severe weather passageway from the new dormitory to a central location. Meanwhile, a new child development center at Fort Wainwright is another important example of the district ’s commitment to quality-of-life enhancements for military members and their families. The $31.2 million contract for this facility was awarded to Watterson Construction in November 2021. The new center will accommodate 338 children ranging from 6 weeks to 5 years old. This 74 | February 2024
project is nearing completion and is anticipated to be ready for use in 2024.
Collaborating with Small Businesses
Working with small businesses is a key element of the district’s project execution strategy. In all areas of the organization’s missions, small businesses are critical and highly valued. “Small business contributions span throughout the entire portfolio of what the Alaska District does,” says Ryan Zachry, small business professional at the Alaska District. “They are critical for our ability to accomplish civil works, environmental, construction, and design projects.” The district has maintained project set-asides for small businesses for military projects at JBER, Fort
Wainwright, Eielson Air Force Base, and Eareckson Air Force Station on Shemya Island in 2024. Renovations and qualityof-life upgrades for people serving in the military stand as the most notable designations, although large projects such as the JBER runway extension project still maintain an important small business component. The district’s Formerly Used Defense Sites program also contains numerous examples leveraging small business contracts in support of the mission. In one instance, USACE contracted with ARS Aleut Remediation to decommission a septic vault at Caines Head-Fort McGilvray in Resurrection Bay near Seward. The team completed this work in September 2023. In addition, the district contracted with Brice Engineering of Anchorage
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
For small businesses that wish to partner with the district for the first time, Zachry recommends two methods to facilitate their experience. “Forming a partnership with a n e s t a b l i s h e d b u s i n e s s t h ro u g h a mentor-protégé agreement or performing as a subcontractor on large contracts are excellent ways to establish a small business on the radar of the Alaska District,” Zachry says. “Our organization values past performance when seeking contractors, and these are great approaches to establishing that experience.” Registration on the “System for Award Management” website, which can be accessed at www.sam.gov, is another critical component of small business participation with the district. It’s the official US government system for contract opportunities, data, and entity information. “This platform is a superb tool for small businesses to gain awareness of and compete for contracts,” Zachry says. “ The entire federal government uses this platform whenever they buy anything.” The Apex Accelerators program, formerly known as the Procurement Te c h n i c a l A s s i s t a n c e p ro g ra m , i s another valuable resource for small businesses that wish to work with USACE. This government program provides education and training re s o u rc e s t h a t e q u i p b u s i n e s s e s with the tools and knowledge they need to participate in federal, state, and local contracts. “A lot of new small businesses are not aware that there is a government agency with the sole mission of helping them compete for government contracts,” Zachry says. “They provide many of their services for free and are excellent at what they do.” www.akbizmag.com
Projects across the state spanning many of the district’s missions will be awarded and executed in 2024, and the organization is excited to work with partners and stakeholders t o c o m p l e t e them. Important civil w o r k s p ro j e c t s i n m a n y l o c a t i o n s will see progress in the solicitation and awarding process this year. As these constructions take shape, t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e d i s t r i c t ’s collaboration with its partners stands clearer than ever.
Alaska Business
“Our relationships with contractors, no matter their size or expertise, are critical to accomplishing these projects,” Palmer says. “They are an indispensable element of the Alaska District ’s mission, and we couldn’t execute our work without them.”
Cameron McLeod is a public affairs specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers–Alaska District.
February 2024 | 75
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rom Homer to Fairbanks, Cook Inlet natural gas keeps homes warm for ENSTAR Natural Gas Company customers and the lights on for Railbelt electric utilities. However, Cook Inlet gas users— which include Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), Interior Gas Utility (IGU), Matanuska Electric Association (MEA), ENSTAR Natural Gas, Chugach Electric Association (CEA), and Homer 76 | February 2024
ALASKA
Electric Association (HEA)—have been warned about a potential lack of natural gas production on the horizon. In April 2022, Hilcorp Alaska, Cook Inlet’s largest natural gas producer, announced it did not have “line of sight” to produce gas beyond its existing contracts with the utilities, which begin to expire in 2024. W h i l e s e a rc h i n g f o r a l t e r n a t i v e supplies, utilities are utilizing every
tool in their kit to efficiently manage the decreasing gas available. One of these tools is storage.
CINGSA to the Rescue
While producers have their own means of storing natural gas, Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska (CINGSA) is Alaska’s first commercial natural gas storage facility. “Historically, gas fields in the Cook
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I n l e t c o n t a i n e d l a rg e v o l u m e s o f gas under high pressure,” explained John Sims in a 2018 regulatory filing. Sims is the president of E N S TA R , w h i c h o p e r a t e s C I N G S A o n b e h a l f o f t h e i r m u t u a l p a re n t company, SEMCO Energy. “As gas fields are depleted, however, the pressure of the fields drops,” Sims’ testimony continued. “The depletion of local gas supply and associated www.akbizmag.com
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 77
“Chugach uses CINGSA to ensure gas deliverability to our power plants throughout the year.” Julie Hasquet, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, Chugach Electric Association
Potter Gate Station in Anchorage. Josh Martinez | ENSTAR
“We definitely are concerned about what’s available on the market right now… That is why we’re being proactive and looking ahead to the future to make sure that when the time comes, there is absolutely a supply of gas ready to go.” Lindsay Hobson, Director of Communications and Corporate Resources, ENSTAR Natural Gas
78 | February 2024
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declining gas deliverability raised concerns about the ability of gas and electric utilities with gas-fired generation in the Cook Inlet—primarily ENSTAR—to meet the peak demand of commercial and residential customers. Natural gas storage was identified as a means of addressing the declining gas supply and deliverability and ensuring reliable gas service in the Cook Inlet and surrounding areas.” Constructed in 2012, CINGSA is designed to hold 11 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas, approximately onewww.akbizmag.com
third of ENSTAR’s annual consumption, according to Lindsay Hobson, ENSTAR’s director of communications and corporate resources. ENSTAR is CINGSA’s largest customer, and CEA and HEA also have firm contracts with CINGSA. With other entities, CINGSA has interruptible contracts, meaning they are not guaranteed either injection or withdrawal quantities, says Hobson. “Utilities purchase gas from Cook Inlet gas producers,” Hobson explains. “ G a s i s d e l i v e re d by n a t u ra l g a s pipeline to various customer locations. On a daily basis, ENSTAR purchases gas on behalf of its customers. If gas delivered is more than ENSTAR’s customers consume, the excess is then injected into CINGSA.” The same holds true for CEA and HEA. In addition to managing its seasonal purchases, CEA withdraws gas stored in CINGSA to manage its daily peak demand in the mornings and evenings. During cold days when customer demand for gas is high or purchases from producers are not sufficient to meet customer demand, the three utilities withdraw gas from CINGSA. “Chugach uses CINGSA to ensure gas deliverability to our power plants t h r o u g h o u t t h e y e a r, ” s a y s J u l i e Hasquet, CEA’s senior manager of corporate communications. Located on the Kenai Peninsula, CINGSA consists of both subsurface and surface facilities. Natural gas is stored in five wells penetrating an underground reservoir known as the Cannery Loop Sterling C Pool, approximately 5,000 feet below the Kenai River and surrounding areas. Injections and withdrawals are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Two surface pads are separated by a road: one pad holding wellheads and the other gas compression Alaska Business
facilities. A 16-inch pipe passes under the road transporting gas between the two pads, feeding gas into wells for storage and retrieving gas according to customer need.
Utilities Look for Options
Most electricity generated by HEA and CEA relies on Cook Inlet natural gas as a fuel source. Natural gas supplies 85 to 90 percent of HEA’s power to its 25,000 members on the Kenai Peninsula, with the remainder coming from the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project near Homer, according to Keriann Baker, HEA’s director of member relations. CEA’s electrical generation mix is 82 percent natural gas, 15 percent hydroelectric, and 3 percent wind, says Hasquet. CEA also owns a t w o - t h i rd s i n t e re s t i n t h e B e l u g a River gas field, with Hilcorp Alaska the remaining partner. As contracts expire with Hilcorp Alaska—HEA in 2024, CEA in 2028, and ENSTAR in 2033—utilities are looking for options. “ENSTAR has agreed to supply HEA with natural gas at the expiration of Hilcorp’s contacts,” says Baker. The Railbelt electric utilities and ENSTAR Natural Gas, together with the support of the Alaska Energy Authority and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, have formed the Utilities Working Group to assess future gas supply needs. The working group engaged Berkeley Research Group (BRG) to develop scalable options to the natural gas supply gap. The Phase I assessment presented to the Regulatory Commission o f A l a s k a ( R C A ) i n J u n e n a r row e d possible solutions from approximately ten categories to three: further Cook Inlet resource development, importing liquefied natural gas February 2024 | 79
Josh Martinez | ENSTAR
“On a daily basis, ENSTAR purchases gas on behalf of its customers. If gas delivered is more than ENSTAR’s customers consume, the excess is then injected into CINGSA.” Lindsay Hobson, Director of Communications and Corporate Resources, ENSTAR Natural Gas
(LNG), and constructing a gasline from the North Slope. In addition to Southcentral utilities, solutions also must satisfy Marathon Petroleum Corporation, a major industrial user at its Nikiski refinery, and the Interior Gas Utility, which trucks LNG from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks. IGU recently signed a twenty-year contract with pipeline company Harvest Midstream to supply LNG from the North Slope instead of Cook Inlet beginning sometime in 2024. “Gas production in Cook Inlet field peaked in the mid-2000s at around 200 Bcf per year and has steadily declined to the current annual production of approximately 70 Bcf per year,” reads a background section of the Berkeley report. “Formerly active export facilities of Agrium Kenai Nitrogen Plant and K e n a i L N G s t o p p e d o p e ra t i n g i n 2 0 0 7 a n d 2 0 1 5 , re s p e c t i v e l y, d u e to the shortage and cost of gas produced in the region.” Idling those industrial-scale users spared the remaining gas supply for utilities, but the shortage hasn’t gone away. Gas consumption in Southcentral totals about 75 Bcf annually; if not for CINGSA bridging the gap between 80 | February 2024
production and demand, the state’s most populous region would’ve spent the last few years in crisis mode. “We definitely are concerned about what’s available on the market right now,” says Hobson. “That is why we’re being proactive and looking ahead to the future to make sure that when the time comes, there is absolutely a supply of gas ready to go.” Phase II of the Utilities Working Group report is expected early this year.
CINGSA Prepares to Expand
To m e e t i n c re a s i n g d e m a n d f o r storage and maintain a steady supply during winter months, CINGSA filed with RCA in November for approval to expand its storage facility. The project would drill two new wells, add two new compressors and various above-ground facilities, and increase storage capacity by 2 Bcf, according to the proposal. Anticipated capital costs are estimated at $72 million. CINGSA plans to fund the expansion with a combination of members’ equity and long-term debt. CINGSA held an open season earlier in 2023 to gauge interest in a potential expansion and understand
the magnitude of expansion required to meet the region’s need. “ E N S TA R r e q u i r e s t h e g a s deliverability contemplated in the 2023 Expansion Firm Storage Service Agreement for use during the 2024 to 2025 heating season,” the filing reads. “ T h e B R G re p o r t l o o k s a t ev e r y possible option for additional natural gas to the Cook Inlet. Each option requires additional storage to continue to serve the region. The expansion of CINGSA’s capacity is critical to maintain energy security for our customers,” says Hobson of the filing. Service is anticipated to begin November 15, 2024 and remain in effect through March 31, 2044.
Utilities Remain Optimistic
“ T h e r e w i l l b e g a s , ” E N S TA R ’ s Hobson asserts. “ The big question i s : W h a t w i l l t h a t s o u rc e b e a n d how much will it cost?” HEA’s Baker agrees. “Gas will be available to HEA and others in Alaska,” says Baker. “ The supply of Cook Inlet gas is certainly receiving more public attention, but it is an issue we have been working to resolve for some time.”
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
T
hirty years ago, all a young person needed to fish commercially was a boat, some gear, and a sense of adventure. According to the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), young fishermen today face staggering entry costs, high operating costs, and a level of risk that is equivalent to buying a starter hotel. ALFA is committed to helping interested persons enter the industry. Through a variety of programs, it’s helping the next generation of commercial fishermen launch and sustain viable businesses. In January 2021, ALFA and the Alaska Marine Conservation Council saw the success of their outreach to Congress with the passage of the Young Fishermen’s D e v e l o p m e n t A c t . A s p a r t o f t h a t f e d e r a l l a w, t h e National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Sea Grant Office awarded close to $1 million to help fund onship training and mentorship for young fishers in Alaska. “ We were fortunate to receive federal funding, and we’re working with state partners and rural communities to expand training,” says ALFA’s Co-Deputy Director and Communications and Program Director Natalie Sattler. The program provides funding and support for s t a t e , t r i b a l , l o c a l , o r re g i o n a l l y b a s e d n e t w o r k s o r partnerships to create training and educational opportunities in sustainable fishing and business p ra c t i c e s . I t a l s o c re a t e s m e n t o r s h i p o p p o r t u n i t i e s to connect retiring fishermen and vessel owners with beginners and offers financial support and guidance for new fishery entrants.
Antonpetrus | Envato
FISHERIES
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 83
The skipper of F/V I Gotta snapped a picture of Alice Tirard holding a king salmon during her crew training placement with the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association.
“When you go trolling for the
Eric Jordan
entire summer it becomes so much more than just catching fish. You are working a job, certainly, but it’s a job without set hours, and
Trainees learn skills in the refrigeration trade from instructor Dan Kane through a partnership between the Alaska Vocational Technical Center and Trident Seafoods.
the workplace is a constantly
Alaska Vocational Technical Center
“We want to spread this program to other communities,” says Sattler. “Our program materials are available to other organizations and communities throughout Alaska and the country interested in starting their own crew programs.”
Training in Return for Jobs
“The time for companies to invest in the skilled trades is right now, especially in Alaska,” says John Ozburn, vice president of human resources at Trident Seafoods. “As much as the fishing industry is currently dealing w i t h a ‘g r a y i n g o f t h e f l e e t , ’ t h e p ro c e s s i n g s i d e i s d e a l i n g w i t h a ‘graying of the trades.’” Trident Seafoods recently launched a program intended to close that skilled trades gap to help boost the perception young people have about the opportunities that are available. The company ’s move is a giant step forward and a major commitment to developing the skilled trade workforce of fishing’s future. Trident Seafoods’ Skilled Trades Tra i n e e P ro g ra m u s e s s t r u c t u re d training focused on industry needs, a s w e l l a s m e n t o r i n g , t o d ev e l o p 84 | February 2024
skilled trades workers for shore-based processing operations throughout Alaska. Through a partnership with Alaska Vocational Technical Center in Seward, Trident developed a two-year skilled trades training course, with an additional commitment of two years’ employment with Trident Seafoods. Trainees are exposed to multiple skilled trades during their first year of the program, such as operations and maintenance of mechanical, electrical, and refrigeration systems. Getting firsthand experience, they spend their first year rotating between coursework and applying their learnings at a Trident Seafoods facility. Trident Seafoods provided mentors in addition to funding t ra i n e e s ’ e d u c a t i o n , b o o k s , t o o l s , travel, and hourly wage. During the second year, trainees narrow their focus to a specific skilled trade of their choosing. Time spent in the field pairs students with a mentor who specializes within the trade they’ve selected. In their third and fourth years, the trainees are assigned full time to a Trident Seafoods facility where they continue on-the-job training.
For the company, it’s a modest investment with the potential for huge payoffs. “It’s now or never when it comes to finding innovative solutions that will ensure these roles are filled,” Ozburn says. “The constant challenge for Trident Seafoods, as well as the rest of the industry, is finding workers with the right combination of skills and experience for the work. So, we said, ‘If we can’t find them, we’ll invest in training them ourselves.’”
Go to School
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be 1.5 million new skilled trade jobs by the year 2029, which would be more openings than the projected applicant pool can fill. S t a n l ey B l a c k & D e c k e r, w h o s e inaugural Makers Index study ex a m i n e s s e n t i m e n t a b o u t s k i l l e d trade careers in the United States, reports less than half of young people it surveyed between the ages of 14 to 19 years old say they have ever considered a career in the skilled trades. And only 16 percent of them said they ’re very likely to consider such a career.
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changing f loating landscape which just happens to be where you are also eating, sleeping, cooking, Vocational training in commercial fishing or seafood processing is an alternative to college, yet college students have pathways into the industry as well. For instance, UAS offers a range of courses in marine sciences and fisheries policy and management. Courses are open even to those not enrolled in a degree program, either for credit or as audit only. O n e ex a m p l e i s t h e c o u r s e o n cold water survival, a potentially lifesaving educational opportunity. T h e C e n t e r s f o r D i s e a s e C o n t ro l a n d P rev e n t i o n re p o r t s t h a t o n e third of the 878 commercial fishing fatalities from 2000 to 2019 were due to falls overboard. www.akbizmag.com
On a more theoretical level, fisheries policy and management classes teach w h y re g u l a t i o n s a re p u t i n p l a c e . The policy course leads students through the structure, organization, and processes surrounding fisheries policy, such as management meetings and various federal and state agencies. As part of the class, students attend at least one management meeting: the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council’s International Pacific Halibut Commission, the Alaska Board of Fisheries, or the Federal Subsistence Board. A UAS course on fisheries management techniques includes a lab where students set minnow traps, Alaska Business
and waiting for the king salmon to bite. Southeast Alaska is quite possibly the best place to do any of this.” Cathryn Klusmeier Deckhand F/ V I Gotta
February 2024 | 85
“It’s now or never when it comes to finding innovative solutions that will ensure these roles are filled… The constant challenge for Trident Seafoods, as well as the rest of the industry, is finding workers with the right combination of skills and experience for the work.” John Ozburn Vice President of Human Resources Trident Seafoods
86 | February 2024
Whether at sea, shore side, or inland, refrigeration inspection is a skill that trainee Jesse Smith can apply in any number of industries. Alaska Vocational Technical Center
seine beaches, sample plankton, assess habitats, and collect data in the field. And a fisheries internship places students in a fisheries agency or natural resource-based industry with a fisheries emphasis, supervised by a senior employee.
Longliners Take the Long View
Since 2015, ALFA has been training fishing crews as part of its Young Fishermen Initiative. The program aims to provide young people with an opportunity for safe, well-guided
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entry-level experience to better understand commercial fishing and the lifestyle it provides. Modeled on the US Department of Agriculture’s successful Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development P r o g r a m , t h e Yo u n g F i s h e r m e n ’s Development Act is administered by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant. “Our applicant numbers went down a little this past year due to some uncertainty in the fisheries, but we still had close to eighty applicants in 2023,” says Sattler. “ The trolling season was very uncertain until right b e f o re i t o p e n e d i n e a r l y J u l y, s o many skippers were hesitant about hiring crew, so placement was a little lower as well. I believe we helped train and place ten crew members on either salmon trolling boats or longline vessels.” E a c h y e a r, A L F A b r i n g s y o u n g people to local, state, and national sites to testify about issues relevant to the commercial fishing fleet and coastal communities. ALFA also encourages members t o j o i n t h e Yo u n g F i s h e r m e n ’s Network, which has local chapters throughout Alaska. A post to the ALFA website explains what the experience is like. Cathryn Klusmeier, a deckhand on F/V I Gotta, says, “ When you go trolling for the entire summer it becomes so much more than just catching fish. You are working a job, certainly, but it’s a job without set hours, and the workplace is a constantly changing floating landscape which just happens t o b e w h e re y o u a re a l s o e a t i n g , sleeping, cooking, and waiting for the king salmon to bite. Southeast Alaska is quite possibly the best place to do any of this.” F o r t h e 2 0 2 4 s e a s o n , A L FA w i l l be placing two types of deckhands. The majority of deckhands will be on troll or longline vessels, but there will be a few seine and gillnet opportunities, as well. Deckhands are compensated for their time. ALFA has developed materials, a curriculum, and protocol for experienced skippers who are interested in hiring through the program. Applicants must be 18 years or older to apply. www.akbizmag.com
Advancing Careers
Newer than ALFA’s crew training initiative, Trident Seafoods’ shore side counterpart is small but growing. In 2022, Trident welcomed a class of four to its program. For the fall of 2023, Trident upped the class to ten trainees. While the initial fourteen trainees vary in their professional backgrounds and experience, they are united in their pursuit of bettering their lives, advancing their careers, and helping Trident fulfill its mission of responsibly sharing wild Alaska seafood with the world.
Alaska Business
Focusing on Alaska recruitment by visiting Kodiak, Cordova, Anchorage, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Craig, and Metlakatla, Trident Seafoods also collaborated with community-based organizations in the maritime industry. The Skilled Trades Trainee Program is not limited to Alaska, though, as candidates from any location qualified to work in the United States are eligible to apply. Ozburn says, “We’re 100 percent committed to developing the skilled trades workforce of the future, and this program is the start of that journey.”
February 2024 | 87
49th State Brewing | Wayde Carroll
SMALL BUSINESS
Travelers' Brews 49th State Brewing opens an airport outlet By Amy Newman
R
oughly 5 million passengers flow through Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) each year. For most of them, the airport is little more than a bleary-eyed bookend to their travels—a necessary pit stop that marks the beginning or end of a trip, but otherwise an afterthought. But it doesn’t have to be, according to David McCarthy. “When you’re traveling, you spend a lot of time at bus stops, train stops, and airports,” he says. “You don’t realize at the time, though, that these airports become part of the journey. They become part of the destination.” McCarthy is an avid traveler, and he’s also the founder and president of Northern Hospitality Group, the parent company of 49th State Brewing. Last August, the restaurant chain became part of the journey at ANC when it opened its third location there. The 7,372-square-foot leasehold in the South Terminal’s C Concourse is the airport’s largest, and it brings the brewpub’s award-winning Alaska-made beers, ciders, and craft sodas and its classic, pub-style foods to airport employees and travelers passing through the Air Crossroads of the World. “The airport is one of the major gateways to Alaska,” McCarthy says. “We want people to have a great experience 88 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 89
arriving, and we want them to have a great experience leaving. The airport should not be an afterthought for having quality food.”
Bumpy Takeoff, Smooth Landing
Potted spruce trees near the C Concourse entrance thrust visitors into an Alaska setting before they set foot outside of the airport. 49th State Brewing
Would it be the Anchorage airport without a touch of taxidermy? David McCarthy’s decorative vision fits right in. 49th State Brewing
49th State Brewing merchandise is ready for purchase at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport location. Patricia Morales | Alaska Business
90 | February 2024
4 9 t h S t a t e B rew i n g o p e n e d i t s flagship location in Healy, just north of the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve, in 2010. The idea to open an airport location was on its radar for almost as long. “ W h e n w e w e re l i v i n g i n D e n a l i and started flying out of Fairbanks, we had looked at potentially putting something in the [Fairbanks International] airport,” McCarthy says. The conversation shifted to ANC after the company expanded into Downtown Anchorage in 2016. McCarthy and co-owner Jason Motyka began talks with HMSHost, which operates more than 200 restaurants at airports and travel plazas worldwide, to open 49th State Brewing at ANC, McCarthy says. But he and Motyka decided that the partnership— essentially a licensing agreement that would grant HMSHost the right to use the 49th State Brewing name and logo and control of the restaurant’s operations—wasn’t the right fit. “We did not think that was going to properly represent our brand because of the uniqueness of the restaurant and all the details,” McCarthy explains. “We felt that they might dilute our brand.” Instead, they waited for the airport to issue a request for proposal ( R F P ) f o r re s t a u ra n t c o n c e s s i o n s . That opportunity came sooner than anticipated when, in November 2022, the airport issued an RFP for concession space in its South Te r m i n a l — a 5 , 4 6 1 - s q u a r e - f o o t storefront in the secure zone and 1,911-square-foot pre-security space, sharing a common wall. The RFP required the winning bidder to occupy both leaseholds for a tenyear commitment. The airport’s vision for the space worked to 49th State Brewing’s advantage. “Our primary focus during the RFP process was to get an Alaskathemed restaurant that showcased an established Alaskan brand,” says ANC Leasing Manager Sara Haley, who at the time managed the state-owned Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“We knew it would take an extraordinary, established
www.akibc.org
company to handle such a leasehold. We found the qualities we required in a local company, which is not very common in the airport concession
• Customized import and export market research and market entry services • Cross-border (FDI) investment facilitation • Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) strategies • Global sourcing of manufacturing inputs and equipment • Trade Finance and Logistics Advisory
industry.” Sara Haley Leasing Manager Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
airport ’s concession program and oversaw contract negotiations with 49th State Brewing. “Travelers going through our airport are by and large not just merely visiting Anchorage but are here to experience Alaska and all that entails.” The RFP had a two-and-a-half month window from issue to award date. McCarthy says that would have been an impossible timeframe had they not already been in talks with HMSHost. “We actually had an initial design in place prior to knowing the RFP was going to go out,” McCarthy says. “We could not have successfully pulled off that time frame if we had not already worked on a concept of putting something in the airport.” McCarthy and his wife “were jumping up and down” when he learned that 49th State Brewing had secured the contract. Awards to local www.akbizmag.com
(907) 230-7268 greg@akibc.org www.akibc.org Alaska Business
February 2024 | 91
“We wanted to give people the feeling that they’d stepped out of the airport, which can feel hectic and uncomfortable, and feel like they were in a special place in Alaska.” David McCarthy, President, Northern Hospitality Group
Let’s get together Your space for any occasion
The restaurant in the secure zone is connected to the pre-security storefront only by a one-way chute through a slot in the kitchen wall. 49th State Brewing | Wayde Carroll
b u s i n e s s e s a re a ra r i t y i n a i r p o r t leasing, according to Haley. “The airport understood that a leasehold of this size, almost 8,000 square feet spanning a pre-security and post-security floorplan, was not going to be easy to remodel and manage,” Haley says. “We knew it would take an extraordinary, established company to handle such a leasehold. We found the qualities we required in a local company, which is not very common in the airport concession industry.” The airport wanted the restaurant completed in time for the summer 2023 travel season, giving 49th State Brewing a six-to-eight-week window to remodel the space and get the operation up and running. That time 92 | February 2024
f ra m e , c o m b i n e d w i t h M c C a r t h y ’s design concept, proved too aggressive f o r t h e l o c a l g e n e ra l c o n t ra c t o r s McCarthy approached, so he called in a general contractor and family friend from Colorado to help, as well as local craftsmen to handle the custom décor. “It really is a labor of love, not just for us but all these other Alaskan companies that worked together to help us pull that off,” he says. A i r p o r t s t a f f, f ro m m a i n t e n a n c e crews to the administration, were just as instrumental in 49th State Brewing’s ability to pull the remodel off in the required time frame, McCarthy says. “The airport really did go out of its way to allow us, as a local company, to achieve and overcome what almost
seemed like an insurmountable obstacle at the beginning,” McCarthy says. “They were extremely helpful.” The airport was equally impressed with 49th State Brewing’s ability to remodel the restaurant and open its doors to summer travelers. “The 49th State Brewing team, from the start of design to construction finish to daily operations, have been great to work with,” Haley says. “Their dedication to 49th State Brewing-Ted Stevens is evident, and we are excited to see what they can accomplish in the 2024 summer season.”
Alaska Oasis in Concourse C
Like its Healy and Downtown A n c h o ra g e b rew p u b s , 4 9 t h S t a t e
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Brewing’s airport location wears its love of Alaska on its sleeve. The nods to Alaska in the restaurant’s décor are both obvious and subtle, and its menu puts an Alaska twist on traditional pub fare. Even its adjacent gift shop is a love letter to Alaska, offering the restaurant’s branded merchandise alongside items from local brands such as Heather ’s Choice and the Alaska Chip Company. “ We w a n t e d t o g i v e p e o p l e t h e feeling that they ’d stepped out of the airport, which can feel hectic and uncomfortable, and feel like they were in a special place in Alaska,” McCarthy says. “That was really the feeling I was trying to get across.” The restaurant has the Alaska t o u c h e s ex p e c t e d f ro m t h e 4 9 t h www.akbizmag.com
Events | Concerts | Conferences | Conventions Banquets | Meetings | Trade Shows | Weddings In-house Catering | Equipment Technology Anchorage Convention Centers
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February 2024 | 93
An old railroad ticker serves as the airport restaurant’s drinks menu. Meanwhile, a building near the Alaska Railroad depot is soon to be 49th State Brewing’s newest entertainment space. 49th State Brewing
“The airport is one of the major gateways to Alaska… We want people to have a great experience arriving, and we want them to have a great experience leaving. The airport should not be an afterthought for having quality food.” David McCarthy President Northern Hospitality Group
94 | February 2024
State Brewing brand. Though a local architect worked with the airport on the technical drawings, the entirety of the restaurant’s layout and aesthetics was all McCarthy. “In no way, shape, or form was it cookie cutter,” he says. “We tried to incorporate that same element of what makes our brand special, why we love to live here in Alaska, which is why we call ourselves 49th State.” The restaurant’s aesthetics, both pre- and post-security, pull travelers from the figurative coldness of the airport into a warm, firmly Alaska-themed space. The host podium post-security is built around moose antler sheds, and a large king crab shell is framed on the adjacent wall. A chandelier made from caribou antler sheds hangs above the 70foot copper bar, the longest in the airport; behind it, two airplane propellers flank four wall-mounted televisions. An old railroad ticker above the tap lists some of the twenty brews available. Handholds in the stone pillars, a holdover from when Chili’s Grill & Bar occupied the space, are a nod to mountain climbing, and each of the restaurant’s rope dividers incorporates a different rock climbing or fishing knot. As a nod to traveling families, the C Concourse restaurant also has a corner space with child-size tables and an airplane play structure to keep them occupied. “Parents can sit next to them, have dinner with a craft beverage, and the children can sit at their own table and have their own experience,” McCarthy says. “We’re not exclusive; we’re inclusive.” The C Concourse restaurant offers table service, bar seating, and grab-and-go options. The menu, though less extensive than the Healy and Downtown Anchorage
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locations, is a mix of the restaurant’s signature dishes and items unique to the airport. The restaurant’s popular smoked chicken wings, which pair with the brewery’s smoked beer, and the king crab rangoon, which McCarthy says gives people a taste of Alaska in a more practical package for airport dining, made it to the airport menu, alongside more “classic” airport options. “We designed a lot of things unique to the airport, so it has the flavor of things we’ve come to love in Alaska but in a form that’s a little more convenient for travelers that have little time to dine,” McCarthy says. “A long, Italian flatbread is unique to the airport location. Flatbreads are a little easier to eat, easier to take it to go and bring it on the plane. King crab rangoon gives a taste of Alaskan red king crab but in a form that’s a little quicker to put together. Then we have a chicken club sandwich, hamburgers, and other things that are more of a comfort food that people would get before they’re getting on the plane.” The pre-security restaurant has grab-and-go items and walk-up counter service with picnic-style seating. Potted spruce plants, murals reminiscent of the mountains, and moss walls impart an outdoor, park-like feel. “The idea behind that is it’s more casual,” he says. “We wanted to create an environment where people could go up and grab one of our craft sodas and sit down and wait for friends and family to come in instead of standing near the elevator.” The beer garden menu has a different—and more limited—selection than the post-security restaurant and www.akbizmag.com
In space that used to be a Cinnabon, the state-owned airport hoped to host an Alaska-focused brand, and 49th State Brewing delivered. 49th State Brewing
Alaska Business
February 2024 | 95
Travelers and pre-security visitors to the airport have their choice of local brews. Patricia Morales | Alaska Business
An Exceptional Team
ARCTIC ENCOUNTER SYMPOSIUM “The airport is 2024
one of the major
Designing, constructing, and finishing
gateways to
49th State Brewing Co.’s new location at Ted Stevens Anchorage International
SHAPING great Texperience OMORROW'S arriving, and we Athem RCtoThave IC, TODAY want Alaska… We want
Airport took a community of contractors
people to have a
and artisans. The team needed to meet not only a tight deadline but the high standards of the 49th State Brewing Co. owners.
Join us and participate in the largest a great experience
• Green Mountain Sky Management: general contractor • Maple Leaf Construction: main buildout • Benchmark Architecture: main architect • HZA Engineering: electrical engineering • Vannoy Electric: electric installation • Mr. Mechanical: plumbing • Sweet Home Construction: painting • SignCo.: custom signs • Artic Metal Works: metal design & fabrication • Papoose Milling: local wood milling • Sam Temple: wood finishing • Anchorage Sheet Metal: stainless cabinet & sheet metal work • Among the Jungle: moss walls & wall design
96 | February 2024
Find out more
Arctic Policy and Business Event leaving. The is centered around “fun and handheld” items, including bratwurst and sausages, flatbreads, and the local favorite halibut and chips. McCarthy says plans are in the works to add a full-service bar to the space.
From Planes to Trains
The airport restaurant isn’t Northern Hospitality’s only new venture. In 2019, Alaska Pacific Beverage Company, the Northern Hospitality business line that manufactures its beers and craft sodas, moved into a production facility at The Rail, west of the Alaska Railroad Depot in Ship Creek. Northern Hospitality is currently in the process of building the space out, with the beverage production process as the focal point. “We are building out a lab and a tasting room,” McCarthy says. “It will have event space, restaurant eating space, a limited menu, and a tasting room.” Unlike the restaurant’s Healy, Downtown, and airport locations, the design of the Ship Creek space will be a departure from what diners have come to expect from 49th State Brewing properties. “When it’s completed it’ll have more of a minimalist look, more of a Scandinavian feel,” McCarthy says. “I designed that space to have the focus not necessarily on the actual space because the focus is on the production space itself.” McCarthy says the menu, which is still being finalized, will include pizza cooked in a small oven with a live flame, as well as the popular Bavarian pretzel; he expects it to open in the spring. “I’m excited to see that come to completion because I’m excited to be in that space myself,” he says. Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
in North America.
airport should not be an afterthought FEATURING for •having quality Speakers from 20+ Countries food.” • The Far North Fashion Show •
David McCarthy Cultural Performances
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And More... Northern Hospitality Group
President
April 10-12, 2024 @ Anchorage, Alaska Dena'ina Convention Center and Anchorage Museum
ECONOMIC DE VELOPMENT
The Cost of Homelessness How to address the ongoing effects on businesses By Tracy Barbour
H
omelessness was a businessre l a t e d i s s u e t h a t B r i t t a n i Clancey, the owner of FashionPact, dealt with daily when her resale boutique was located near downtown Anchorage. The thrift shop—which donates a percentage of its sales to local charities—served a variety of customers, including those experiencing homelessness. About half of these customers visited the store without any negative incidents; t h e o t h e r 5 0 p e rc e n t w e re r u d e o r i n t ox i c a t e d , s a y s C l a n c ey, w h o
once had a shopper collapse from a medical emergency. The homelessness situation not only elevated Clancey’s concerns about staff security but also reduced customer foot traffic, as some people did not feel safe shopping in the neighborhood. “I fear that our downtown will become similar to Seattle and San Francisco, and businesses will choose to relocate because they can’t afford the cost of operating downtown,” Clancey says. In fact, FashionPact relocated from t h e a re a l a s t F e b r u a r y — p r i m a r i l y
because the store’s roof collapsed. Now the business operates two shops: one off Dimond Boulevard and another o n 6 8 t h A v e n u e . S o f a r, n e i t h e r location has had any difficulties related to homelessness, Clancey says.
Evolving and More Visible
People experiencing homelessness in Anchorage are particularly visible in the Downtown and Midtown areas. Negative issues associated with these individuals—also described as unhoused, unsheltered, houseless,
“[The number] who are experiencing literal homelessness, those who are unsheltered, in an emergency shelter, or in transitional housing… is around 3,200; and of that 3,200, there are about 800 unsheltered individuals.” Meg Zalatel, Executive Director, Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness
OUR FUTURE IS ABOUT IMPROVING YOURS Over our 100-year history, the American Heart Association has saved and improved countless lives. In our next 100 years, we’re taking it even further by ensuring everyone, everywhere enjoys their healthiest lives.
Watercolor_Concept | Adobe Stock
We are deeply grateful to the individuals, institutions, foundations and corporations who are helping to advance the mission of the American Heart Association into the next century. Thank you Centennial Leaders and Second Century Campaign Supporters for your dedication and generous commitment to transforming the future of health.
Ella Goss, MSN, RN Chief Executive, Providence Alaska 2024 Anchorage Go Red Chairperson
Stephanie Woodard & Jenny Gilbertson Founding Coaches, The PWR House 2024 Fairbanks Go Red Chairpersons
Sarah Skeel Chief Administrative Officer, Providence Alaska 2024 Alaska Heart Run & Walk Chairperson
To join our effort, contact Kristin George, American Heart Association Executive Director, Alaska at Kristin.George@heart.org. 98 | February 2024
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
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February 2024 | 99
While she has empathy for people C o u n c i l P re s i d e n t K r i s S t o e h n e r. S o m e b u s i n e s s e s h a v e l o s t m o re living in the camps, Stoehner believes than $100,000—with one company t h e c i t y n e e d s t o p r i o r i t i z e l a w l o s i n g $ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 t o $ 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 — i n enforcement. “We’re pouring millions of dollars in housing, but t h e l a s t t h re e y e a r s d u e we are not doing anything to these crimes. “ We can for mitigation,” she says. substantiate a million “We have to figure out a way dollars’ worth of theft and that we can work with law vandalism in Midtown from enforcement—and not just April 15 to July 1,” she police officers, but district says. “April 15 was the day attorneys, and judges... the Sullivan Arena shelter We’re in danger of losing opened [to the public after businesses, as they cannot serving as an emergency afford these losses.” shelter] and people started Mike Bridges At FNBA, the impact c o m i n g o v e r t o C u d d y Firs t National Bank of homelessness on its [Family Midtown Park] and Alaska the National Archives site camp. Since customers and employees is “immense that time, I truly believe there has been and ongoing,” according to Property at minimum of another half million M a n a g e r M i k e B r i d g e s . T h e b a n k has a branch and operations center dollars’ worth of theft.”
Sullivan Arena did its duty as a homeless shelter, but it was never intended as a longterm solution for the city and is now available for its original purpose of hosting events. Patricia Morales | Alaska Business
“We’re pouring millions of dollars in housing, but we are not doing anything for mitigation... We’re in danger of losing businesses, as they cannot afford these losses.”
in the Eastchester neighborhood, across the street from the Sullivan Arena, which was pressed into service as a congregate shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the Sullivan Arena shelter closed on May 1, 2023, FNBA reports increased vandalism of windows and ATM lobbies, resulting in temporary closures, limited customer access, and costly emergency repairs. “All of this contributes to increased stress and anxiety for those working at the affected facility, resulting in decreased employee morale,” he says. To address those concerns, Bridges s a y s , “ T h e b a n k h a s a d d e d ex t ra security patrols, cameras, and door security hardware—further increasing o p e ra t i o n a l c o s t s . M o re ov e r, t h e human resource and financial costs of cleaning up unsanitary conditions—
“Homelessness itself is not a crime, but homelessness can definitely lead to crime.” Kyle Mirka, President and CEO, Allen & Petersen Cooking & Appliance Center
Kris Stoehner, President, Midtown Community Council
o r h o u s e - d e p r i v e d — h a v e h a d a experiencing literal homelessness, significant effect on establishments those who are unsheltered, in an l i k e F a s h i o n P a c t . C o n s e q u e n t l y, emergency shelter, or in transitional business owners, community leaders, housing. That number is around 3,200; and various organizations are working and of that 3,200, there are about 800 unsheltered individuals.” together to alleviate the situation. Zaletel says the homelessness There is no exact census of how many Anchorage residents struggle problem is not getting worse; it ’s becoming more visible. with homelessness. She attributes much of the One method is to count visibility to insights and contacts with support refinements gained during services, explains Meg t h e COV I D - 1 9 p a n d e m i c . Zalatel, a member of the “During COVID, we learned Anchorage Assembly and that people need shelter executive director of the 24/7, and we have accepted Anchorage Coalition to that as the model,” she says. End Homelessness (ACEH). “Now we have more tools in “ We h a v e a p p rox i m a t e l y our toolbox to approach it.” 1 1 , 5 0 0 t o u c h e s t o t h e Meg Zaletel Anchorage Coalition to ACEH favors the homelessness prevention End Homelessness “housing first” model, system,” she says. “ These a re u n i q u e i n d i v i d u a l s w h o n e e d which addresses root causes of an e v e r y t h i n g f r o m p r e v e n t i o n t o individual’s homelessness after putting retention services. Of that, there is a a roof over their head. “What we do subset of what we call those who are know is that housing works,” says 100 | February 2024
Zalatel. “When we turned on the guest house services, there was a slight dip in homelessness.”
Impact on Businesses
Homelessness has ripple effects on the surrounding community, from retailers like FashionPact and Allen & Petersen Cooking & Appliance Center to financial institutions like First National Bank Alaska (FNBA). Businesses have safety concerns for employees and customers, says K a t h l e e n M c A rd l e , p re s i d e n t a n d CEO of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. This is especially true if the individual experiencing homelessness is dealing with a mental health disorder or addiction. “ That creates some really unpredictable scenarios,” she says. “I think the human concern is utmost.” Theft and vandalism are also attributed to homelessness, according to Midtown Community
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 101
including trash, drug paraphernalia, a n d o t h e r w a s t e — a re a d d i n g u p . Unfortunately, these issues are not only affecting locations in Anchorage; we are experiencing the same issues at facilities throughout the state.” As a community bank, FNBA is doing its part to ease the problem of homelessness, says James Estes, the bank’s information security officer and security manager. “First National invests in organizations that support our neighbors facing challenging life situations, including food insecurity, homelessness, and limited access to health and social services. Annually, t h e b a n k p rov i d e s a p p rox i m a t e l y $1 million in charitable donations and sponsorships, consisting of cash and in-kind contributions to youth, education, and essential emergency services.” In recent years, the bank’s antipoverty support has included workforce development through the C ov e n a n t H o u s e C ov ey A c a d e m y, the University of Alaska, and specific industry scholarships. Allen & Petersen Cooking & 102 | February 2024
Social Services for Anchorage's homeless population tend to cluster Downtown, so those who use such services are often in the area, which can can discourage customer traffic, according to businesses like FashionPact.
Panhandlers routinely congregate across the street from Allen & Petersen Cooking & Appliance Center, so the owners take an active interest in solving Anchorage's homeless problem.
Carter Damaska | Alaska Business
Joshua Lowman
A p p l i a n c e C e n t e r — w h i c h h a s contributing member of society.” As Mirka sees it, the problem o p e ra t e d i n A n c h o ra g e f o r m o re t h a n f i f t y y e a r s — e n c o u n t e r s t h e is a lack of criminal enforcement. effects of homelessness every single “Homelessness itself is not a crime, day. “We’ve certainly had vandalism, b u t h o m e l e s s n e s s c a n d e f i n i t e l y loitering, and lots of messes to clean lead to crime,” he says. Kenny Petersen, Mirka’s up,” says President and co-owner in the shop, CEO Kyle Mirka. The store has tried to help as a is across the street from member of ACEH and a busy Midtown corner as a community activist. where panhandlers gather. Petersen promotes using a The appliance center “good neighbor ” model to takes a compassionate mitigate homelessness. The approach, says Mirka, who model, based on the Good previously served on a Samaritan story, advocates Midtown Community Council everyone in the community task force to address Kathleen Mc Ardle working together to meet crime and vandalism. “We Anchorage Chamber the comprehensive needs of do not take a ‘not-in-our- of Commerce unhoused individuals. backyard stance’ because His vision is for the city government we recognize that the problem has to and ACEH to create a coordinated be dealt with somewhere,” he says. However, “Perhaps we make it a w a y f o r t h e p u b l i c , b u s i n e s s e s , little bit too easy here in Anchorage faith organizations, and others to to live a lifestyle of non-responsibility,” better utilize resources. “Businesses M i r k a a d d s , w h i l e n o t i n g t h a t could provide jobs and job training, i t ’s h a r d t o l a b e l p e o p l e . “ T h e r e i n c l u d i n g s t i p e n d s ; c h u r c h a n d a r e s o m e p e o p l e w h o h a v e j u s t f a i t h o rg a n i z a t i o n s c o u l d p rov i d e fallen on hard times and can be a r e l a t i o n s h i p s ; a n d c o m m u n i t y Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
“Businesses could provide jobs and job training, including stipends; church and faith organizations could provide relationships; and community councils could adopt an area and take responsibility rather than send people away.” Kenny Petersen, Co-Owner, Allen & Petersen Cooking & Appliance Center
councils could adopt an area and take responsibility rather than send people away,” Petersen says. Petersen’s approach would encompass everything from housing and healthcare to employment and educational needs, maintaining o n g o i n g a s s i s t a n c e t h ro u g h w h a t he calls a benevolence fund. “So you are paying for your neighborhood; it ’s neighbors taking care of neighbors,” he says. www.akbizmag.com
Efforts of Nonprofits
Anchorage organizations are using diverse strategies to address homelessness. For instance, ACEH created its Anchored Home 20232028 plan with various partners. The five-year strategic plan focuses on increasing the supply of and equitable access to affordable housing. ACEH also launched a Built for Zero movement to make homelessness a rare, brief, and one-time event. Alaska Business
Recently, ACEH introduced a Next S t e p p o l i c y, i m p l e m e n t i n g c e r t a i n facets of its Anchored Home plan. Next Step borrows tactics that have worked in Houston, Texas and applies them to Anchorage—with a seasonal twist. The Houston model, re c o g n i z e d a s t h e g o l d s t a n d a rd , involves transitioning people from cold weather shelters into more stable and cost-effective permanent housing. One of ACEH’s major achievements February 2024 | 103
services, and increased funding for the role they feel the Municipality outreach and case management. o f A n c h o ra g e s h o u l d p l a y. F o r T h e A n c h o r a g e C h a m b e r o f instance, Mirka says, “I think this is C o m m e rc e c re a t e d a C o m m u n i t y a very delicate balance because I Care Kit to help businesses navigate am a human being, and I do have crisis situations. “It’s a way to help compassion for individuals. I also with the response in a believe our city goes so far reactive scenario,” McArdle to assist and aid those in explains. “It’s not intended challenging times that we to be the solution, but it may make it easy for the can start a conversation individuals going about with helping business their life. I have heard leadership and employees of people relocating to with how to recognize Anchorage because of and respond to crises.” the free shelters that we The Community Care Kit offer for the winter.” is a digital document that James Estes Petersen feels the Firs t National Bank covers how to help someone Alaska solution requires a who might be experiencing completely new approach. a mental health crisis. “This is a great “But I don’t think it will be through the framework for how to respond or direct nonprofits or government because resources if you, a community member, they are already out of money,” he friend, coworker, or customer have says. “It will take New Connections, the questions about challenging issues, utopian pilot project I have in mind for such as homelessness,” McArdle says. connecting faith communities.” FNBA encourages the Municipality of Anchorage to take “meaningful Meaningful Actions M e m b e r s o f t h e b u s i n e s s a n d i m m e d i a t e a c t i o n” t o p rov i d e community have distinct views about s a f e s h e l t e r f o r t h e u n h o u s e d
FNBA is providing space for an Anchorage Police Department substation at its Eastchester campus. The space gives officers a convenient location to take breaks and catch up on paperwork while being able to quickly respond to neighborhood needs. Joshua Lowman
Alaska Business Announces
“The human resource and financial costs of cleaning up unsanitary conditions—including trash, drug paraphernalia, and other waste—are adding up. Unfortunately, these issues are not only affecting locations in Anchorage; we are experiencing the same issues at facilities throughout the state.” Mike Bridges, Property Manager, First National Bank Alaska
is an award-winning project to convert three hotels to housing, resulting i n m o re t h a n 2 7 0 h o u s i n g u n i t s . A n d i n J u n e 2 0 2 2 , i t t ra n s f o r m e d a fourth hotel into a complex care shelter with eighty-six beds. The Municipality of Anchorage provided funding and other support for the hotel conversions. “I feel like we are working in really great coordination,” Zaletel says. “I think that keeping the course and staying housing-focused 104 | February 2024
and collaborating is what the city should be doing—from prevention to providing permanent housing.” Stoehner feels that Anchorage’s problem with homelessness is more ex t e n s i v e t h a n a l a c k o f h o u s i n g , though, and the city is not addressing the core issue. “I don’t believe in giving free housing to people without some kind of responsibility on the part of the tenant,” she says. Placing people in a hotel room doesn’t solve the
underlying addiction or mental health problems, in her view. The Midtown Community Council is focusing on what it considers the ro o t o f t h e p ro b l e m . I n O c t o b e r, a s t ra t e g i c p l a n n i n g s e s s i o n w i t h business and community leaders dealt mainly with reducing crime and vandalism. Meeting attendees outlined suggestions such as increased state and local funding for detox beds, a navigation center to route people to
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population. “Homeless individuals who are down on their luck or facing difficult circumstances deserve compassion, understanding, and support as they navigate challenging times,” Estes says. At the same time, improving safety and reducing crime are important factors to businesses, Estes says. FNBA is stepping up to provide space for an Anchorage Police Department substation at its Eastchester campus. “The annual lease rate is $10 per year,” he says. “Although no police activity will take place at the Midtown substation, the space will offer officers a convenient location to take a break and catch up on their paperwork while being a b l e t o re s p o n d t o a n y e m e rg i n g neighborhood needs quickly.” A collaborative effort of the business community, local government, nonprofit entities, and other organizations can ultimately lead to positive outcomes; the effects of homelessness are far reaching, and any potential solutions will require the same scale.
2024 Events
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ou can help select the 2024 Best of Alaska Business award winners by voting. Please be sure to visit our website, akbizmag.com, between March 1, 2024 and March 31, 2024 to vote and help select this year’s winners! The team at Alaska Business is also excited to announce the return of our Best of Alaska Business Summer
Party, which will be on July 12, 2024 at 49th State Brewing Co.’s Downtown Anchorage location. Our plans are for an exciting rooftop celebration, weather permitting! This event recognizes the winners of our annual Best of Alaska Business awards as selected by you, our readers! With a live band, fun games, and great food and beverages, it is an event worthy of celebrating. Another signature event for the team at Alaska Business is our annual Top 49ers Luncheon, which will be on September 27, 2024 at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage. The Top 49ers recognizes the top local businesses ranked by gross revenue. The 2024 Top 49ers will be surveyed between July 2, 2024 and July 26, 2024. If you – S P O N S O R E D
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have any questions regarding the survey for the Top 49ers, please get in touch with our editorial team for more information. A couple of final notes: If your business is interested in sponsoring one of these events, please get in touch with our sales team for more information. Ticketing for both events will be open soon.
Charles Bell Vice President of Sales & Marketing 907-230-8213 cbell@akbizmag.com
CO N T E N T –
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February 2024 | 105
SAFETY CORNER
David Hale | Hale and A ssociates
If an OSHA citation is received, it must be formally contested within fifteen days. For MSHA, it is thirty days. While administrative law judges and the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission settle challenges to citations for both administrations, fines differ greatly for the two agencies.
MSHA & OSHA
Comparing two federal workplace safety agencies
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h e f e d e ra l g ov e r n m e n t h a s two administrations under the Department of Labor that oversee workplace safety: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine S a f e t y a n d H e a l t h A d m i n i s t ra t i o n (MSHA). While both agencies share the common goal of worker health and safety, there are some distinct differences that are worth noting. This is especially true if a business has operations regulated by both OSHA and MSHA.
By Sean Dewalt
106 | February 2024
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Alaska Business
February 2024 | 107
Both administrations can shut down operations under certain hazardous conditions… MSHA takes it one step further… workers are paid for the balance of the shift when the mine is shut down.
108 | February 2024
Agency Coordination
In Alaska, federal OSHA has oversight of federal government employees, including those employed by the United States Postal Service; private sector maritime employers such as shipyards, floating seafood processors, and longshoring; offshore oil platforms and production facilities; certain Indian Health Service hospitals and clinics; and all private and federal sector employment within national parks and certain missile defense bases. All other e m p l oy e r s a re c ov e re d by A l a s k a Occupational Safety and Health, a federally approved state plan, which is inherently a broader authority. M S H A d o e s n o t h a v e a p p rov e d state plans and carries out inspections and the mission “to p rev e n t d e a t h , i l l n e s s , a n d i n j u r y from mining and promote safe and healthful workplaces for US miners.” In Alaska, there are six large operating and producing mines, six advanced exploration projects, and two projects in the permitting p h a s e . T h e re a re a l s o d o z e n s o f smaller, active gold mines registered with MSHA in Alaska. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-596) has a mission “to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance.” Although the Federal Coal Mine and Safety Act of 1969 (Public Law 91173) came a year earlier and gave the federal government authority to issue notices of violation and orders of withdrawal, it was not until the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Public Law 91-173) that MSHA was formed. Two years later in 1979, OSHA and MSHA entered an inter-agency memorandum that would clarify authority, enforcement procedures, and agency coordination between the two administrations. Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations c o n t a i n s t h e s t a n d a rd s f o r O S H A , while Title 30 Code of Federal Regulations contains the MSHA re g u l a t i o n s . I n t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , f e d e ra l a g e n c i e s a re re q u i re d t o follow the Administrative Procedures Act for rulemaking, and the ultimate
authority for both agencies, including appropriations funding, comes from the US Congress.
Significant or Serious
This is where the differences begin. If an OSHA citation is received, it must be formally contested within fifteen days. For MSHA, it is thirty days. While administrative law judges and the Occupational Safety and H e a l t h R ev i ew C o m m i s s i o n s e t t l e challenges to citations for both administrations, fines differ greatly for the two agencies. MSHA uses a Penalty Conversion Ta b l e t h a t t a k e s t h e c i t a t i o n a n d issues points for the appropriateness of the penalty to the size of the business, the operator 's history of previous violations, and whether the operator was negligent. It then looks at the gravity of the violation and the demonstrated good faith of the operator in attempting to achieve rapid compliance after notification of a violation. Lastly, MSHA assesses the effect of the penalty on the operator's ability to continue in business. In addition, if a mine demonstrates a pattern of significant and substantial violations, it could be subject to a Pattern of Violations notice. OSHA has a set schedule for penalties based on categories of Serious, Other-than-Serious, Willful or Repeated, and a Failure to Abate. The penalty for a Serious violation starts at $15,625 and can be reduced
It is important to understand which regulatory body governs the safety in your workplace and to always strive for best in class in safety.
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
using Gravity of Violation, which takes the probability of incidents added to potential injury severity and scores the violation from 1 to 10, with 10 being high severity and greater probability of occurrence. There is also potential for reduced penalties depending on the size of a company and history of violations. A Serious Willful penalty reduction also exists, and it, too, is based on the size of the company. Both administrations can shut down operations under certain hazardous conditions, and both have the right to issue civil citations and forward criminal charges to a state’s attorney general or the US D e p a r t m e n t o f J u s t i c e re g a rd i n g safety violations. OSHA states, “Any employer who willfully violates any standard, rule, or order promulgated pursuant to section 6 of this Act, o r o f a n y re g u l a t i o n s p re s c r i b e d pursuant to this Act, and that violation caused death to any employee, shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than six months.” MSHA has Title 30 U.S.C. § 820(d) that provides criminal penalties “for any operator who willfully fails to comply with a mandatory health or safety standard, or who knowingly violates or refuses to comply with an order.” MSHA takes it one step further: if a mine inspector issues a withdrawal order to a mine o p e ra t o r f o r v i o l a t i o n s , f a i l i n g t o abate violations, or posing imminent dangers, workers are paid for the balance of the shift when the mine is shut down. If a miner is withdrawn from the mine or part of the mine and idled because the operator does not comply with any mandatory safety or health standard, the miner is to be paid for lost time at the regular rate for the time they are idled, or for one week, whichever is less.
On the Spot
Another interesting difference is that MSHA will visit each registered mine in that jurisdiction at least twice a year. And it happens. While OSHA has emphasis programs, high hazard targeting, and programmed inspections, some employers may never get an inspection from an OSHA www.akbizmag.com
Compliance Safety and Health Officer. In OSHA’s realm, employers must re p o r t a n y w o r k e r f a t a l i t y w i t h i n eight hours and any amputation, loss of an eye, or hospitalization of a worker within twenty-four hours. In the MSHA arena, there are twelve “accidents” listed in Section 50.2 that must be reported to MSHA within fifteen minutes. These include death of a miner, unplanned ignition or explosion of a blasting agent or an explosive, or a coal or rock outburst that causes withdrawal of miners or which disrupts regular mining activity f o r m o re t h a n o n e h o u r. F i f t e e n minutes is a very short amount of time given the circumstances that would mandate this call. Miners who plan to work at a s u r f a c e m i n e o r a n u n d e r g ro u n d mine must complete twenty-four hours of mandatory training before entering the mine site. Depending on the type of mine, miners will receive a specified set of proctored training by a n M S H A a p p rov e d i n s t r u c t o r. Once completed, the new miner has a second requirement to have an additional eight hours of site-specific h a z a rd t ra i n i n g . E a c h m i n e r m u s t receive a minimum of eight hours of annual refresher training at least once every twelve months. OSHA has required programs for employers such as Hazard Communication, Emergency Action Plans, and Fire Prevention Plans that require training prior to starting work. Under OSHA, job tasks like confined space entries, for example, require a formal hazard assessment of the confined spaces. The agency also requires classification of the confined s p a c e , f o r m a l e m p l oy e e t ra i n i n g , and a written plan prior to working in the confined space.
Strive for Safety
Both MSHA and OSHA have websites that contain a wealth of knowledge to help employers working in Alaska to increase safety and decrease risk in the workplace. Each website also contains a search function that allows users to access previous inspection information, as well as a large volume of free training material and information on local inspection programs and initiatives. Alaska Business
MSHA will visit each registered mine in that jurisdiction at least twice a year… [but] some employers may never get an inspection from an OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officer. While this is a small view of the similarities and differences between these two agencies, many more exist. It is important to understand which regulatory body governs the safety in your workplace and to always strive for best in class in safety. Alaskans are our greatest resource, and each life should be protected every day in the workplace regardless of the profession, job task, or location. Sean Dewalt is a Senior Loss Control Consultant for U m i a l i k I n s u ra n c e C o m p a n y i n Anchorage. Dewalt has been working in safety and risk management in Alaska since 2000. This column is intended to be informational and is not intended to be construed as legal advice. February 2024 | 109
INSIDE ALASKA BUSINESS Trident Seafoods Shoreside processing plants in Kodiak, False Pass, Ketchikan, and Petersburg are up for sale as Trident Seafoods restructures. The company may also retire the South Naknek Diamond NN cannery and support facilities in Chignik. Citing a combination of declining demand, excess supply, and foreign competition squeezing financial margins, Trident Seafoods is also assessing its company-owned vessel business model. Restructuring goes beyond Alaska: the company is also reducing Seattle headquarters staff by about 10 percent. tridentseafoods.com
Three Bears Alaska A landmark storefront in Dutch Harbor is part of the ever-growing Three Bears Alaska supermarket chain. The parent company of Alaska Ship Supply sold its general store and the Captains Bay convenience store in December, bringing the Wasilla-based retailer into the Unalaska market. Three Bears Alaska President and CEO David Weisz says the company has many ideas to enhance service in Unalaska. threebearsalaska.com
Sudzy Salmon The first Sudzy Salmon car wash in the Anchorage Bowl is opening this month. The chain opened about five years ago, running three sites in Eagle River, Palmer, and Wasilla. The new one, along C Street where the Sea Galley restaurant burned down in 2019, is a partnership with Missouri-based Express Carwash, using a conveyor-belt approach that only one other car wash in Anchorage, Pink Elephant, uses. Also anticipated later this year: Tommy’s Express Car Wash is coming to South Anchorage, and CYBER Express Wash has three locations planned. sudzysalmon.com
Alaska Pediatric Specialties Alaska Pediatric Surgery and Alaska Pediatric Oncology rebranded as Alaska Pediatric Specialties 110 | February 2024
to reflect their united mission. The pediatric surgical team maintains clinics in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Wasilla, and other locations. The pediatric oncology team is committed to caring for children with cancer and blood disorders, with access to state-of-the-art treatment equipment through the Children’s Oncology Group network. alaskapeds.com
Alaska Farmers Co-Op A million-dollar investment from the Alaska Division of Agriculture lets the Alaska Farmers Co-Op in Delta Junction start the state’s first Feed Grain Reserve Program. In 2022, when feed for Alaska livestock was in short supply, the division helped farmers offset the costs of imported grain. For a long-term solution, the reserve will buy Alaska-grown grain and store it in the Co-Op’s bins. Scott Mugrage, president of the nonprofit Alaska Farm Bureau, says the reserve will be an easy place for growers to sell their crop.
Costco The old Sam’s Club warehouse store at the Tikahtnu Commons shopping center in East Anchorage returns to life this month as a Costco Business Center. The spin-off of the Washingtonbased retail chain specializes in merchandise useful for business operators, such as restaurant, office, and janitorial supplies and equipment. The company says only about 30 percent of the inventory overlaps with items stocked at its Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau stores, including foods, beverages, and appliances. The Costco Business Center is open to all member shoppers, and delivery is available to commercially zoned businesses in Anchorage. The space became vacant in 2018 when Walmart closed all three Sam’s Club locations in Alaska. costcobusinessdelivery.com
Lumberchaun Axe Throwing The blade-tossing craze spreads to Skagway in time for the next wave of cruise ship tourists. Kassandra Reed and Patrick Barker are launching Lumberchaun Axe Throwing in April after first trying the game at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. They set up ten lanes, each enclosed with chain-link cages, and for $42 per person, groups of up to four (ages 6 and up) can test their hand-eyeaxe coordination. Bookings run seasonally through September. lumberchaun.com
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AK Big Sipper Italian ices. Mac & cheese bombs. Possibilities for new menu items are opening up for AK Big Sipper since the restaurant won a $4,000 prize from the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce. Co-owners Audrey and Don Slats set up shop late last summer, serving wafflewrapped sausage, pickle-flavored fries, and “dirty sodas” mixed with cream and syrup. The prize money lets the restaurant invest in an ice cream machine to serve milkshakes and frozen custard.
Anchorage Chamber of Commerce For excellence in business and community service, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce presented its 2023 Gold Pan Awards to five winners. Alaska Chip Company won for Entrepreneurial Excellence. LifeMed Alaska won for Business Excellence. Alaska Military Youth Academy and Wilderness Adventures for Kids Everywhere won Distinguished Community Service prizes, large and small organization, respectively. The nonprofit honored for going Above and Beyond was Hospice of Anchorage. The 2023 Chairman’s Award went to former Chamber president and CEO Bruce Bustamante, and Volunteer of the Year went to Logan Burt for chairing the Young Professionals Group. anchoragechamber.org
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BUY : SELL : TRADE www.oxfordmetals.com 1.907.561.5237
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ANCHORAGE FAIRBANKS
RIGHT MOVES Alaska Communications
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To replace the late Bill Bishop as President and CEO, the board of Alaska Communications chose Mat thew McConnell, a tech McConnell executive from Colorado. McConnell’s leadership roles include ser ving as CEO of tech company MediaKind, COO and board advisor at self-ser vice commerce provider Cantaloupe, and senior vice president and general manager at Comcast NBCUniversal. McConnell also teaches graduate-level courses in leadership, ethics, and strategy at the Universit y of Denver.
Bering Straits Native Corporation Dan Graham, the interim President and CEO of Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC), has been named as its CEO, while Cindy Towarak Massie takes on the role of President. “This structure provides significant oversight of company management to better prepare for growth while simultaneously focusing on BSNC’s mission to improve the quality of life of our people,” says Board Chair Roy Ashenfelter. Graham earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Villanova University. He is a certified professional engineer Graham and project management professional. He joined BSNC in 2014. Massie has been a member of the BSNC board since 2019 and was previously its chair. She maintains her board position. Massie grew up in
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Unalakleet and graduated from Covenant High School. She attended Seattle Pacific University. Massie cofounded multimedia company Massie Outdoor Channel Holdings and is also a former owner of Winnercom Inc., a production company honored by thirteen Emmy Awards, and Skycam, which developed a cable-suspended camera system for sports coverage.
CIRI Upon the retirement of Sophie Minich, Cook Inlet Region Incorporated (CIR I) split the President and CEO role in t wo, promoting one of it s own while reaching to the edge of space for a new hire. The board tapped Sarah Lukin, previously Chief Strategy Officer, to become the new President. Lukin, originally from Port Lions, Lukin had served on the board of Afognak Native Corporation and was Chief Administration Officer at NANA Regional Corporation before co-founding a fishing lure company, All Rigged, with her father. Lukin earned a bachelor’s degree in history and Alaska Native studies from UAA and a master’s degree in rural development and indigenous organizations management from UAF. The new CEO is Swami Iyer, most recently the president of aerospace systems at Virgin Galactic, operator of an air-launched Iyer suborbital spaceship for tourists. Iyer earned bachelor’s
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and master’s degrees in aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan and went to US Air Force Test Pilot School to earn a master’s degree in flight test engineering. He was the school’s director of operations after flying B-52 bombers in the Air Force.
Chugach Alaska Corporation While Chugach Alaska Corporation searches for a new president, the Alaska Native corporation for the Prince William Sound region selected a new CEO, and other executive team members take on new positions. Incoming CEO Jonathan Dalrymple was most recently vice president of strategy, business development, and program services for VSE Dalr ymple Corporation, a Virginia-based supply chain management company. A US Navy veteran, Dalrymple earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of Georgia and an MBA from SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Italy. To assist the transition, Katherine Carlton was promoted to Vice President of ANCSA and Community Affairs, which encompasses Carlton many of the outgoing president’s former responsibilities. A Chugach Alaska shareholder, Carlton had recently become vice president of operations for Chugach Commercial Holdings (CCH). Carlton earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at UA A, a master’s degree in executive leadership from Alaska Pacific University,
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and she attended the advanced management program at Harvard Business School. Stepping in as Vice President of Operations at CCH is Gwen Welch. Serving as the finance leader of CCH for the last three years, Welch Welch has risen through the ranks of Chugach Alaska over the last twenty years. Welch earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UAA and an MBA degree from Jack Welch Management Institute (founded by the late former CEO of General Electric, no relation).
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Northrim Bank Northrim Bank promoted an executive and two managers and hired four more. Joe Gelione is promoted to Senior Vice President, Commercial Lending Manager. Gelione began his career at Northrim in 2017 Gelione and has more than thirty years of financial industry experience. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration finance from Stockton University. Gelione received the Northrim Bank President’s Award in 2018. Nicole Johnson becomes Assistant Branch Manager at the Fairbanks West Community Branch. Johnson joined Northrim in 2016 Johnson and has more than thirteen years of customer service experience. She volunteers with Junior Achievement of Alaska, Money Camp at UAF Summer Sessions, and local elementary schools. Peng Thao is now Assistant Branch Manager at the Seventh Avenue Branch Thao in Anchorage. Thao has been
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with Northrim for four years. He has more than ten years of customer service and sales experience and holds an Alaska Insurance License. A long-time Alaskan, Thao has volunteered at McKinnell House.
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New to Northrim, Greg Deal comes aboard as Senior Vice President, Regional Market Manager. Deal has thirty-five years Deal of experience in banking statewide. He attended UA A and graduated with honors from Pacific Coast Banking School. Deal is on the boards of United Way of Anchorage, the Foraker Group, Alaska Children’s Trust, and the Alaska Bankers Association. Bill Bailey joined Northrim in October as Vice President, Business Development Officer. Bailey spent the last nine years working in the oil Bailey and gas sector. A life-long Alaskan, he holds a bachelor’s degree from UAF. Bailey is a member of the Alaska Airlines Advisory Board and the Alaska Command Civilian Advisory Board, 11th Air Force. Jessica Freauff started at Northrim in August as Assistant Branch Manager at the Eastside Community Branch in Anchorage. Freauff Freauf f has nine years of experience in the financial industry in Alaska and Oregon. She has held positions in retail banking, operations, client experience, and audit. Freauff volunteers with various pet rescue organizations. Marc Tucker joined Northrim last May as Vice President, Systems and Network Manager. Tucker has twenty years Tucker of information technology
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experience with the US Air Force. He holds a bachelor’s degree in IT management from Trident University International. Tucker volunteers with youth athletics and veteran communities.
Thompson & Co. T hompson & Co. Public Relations ( T&C ) expanded it s team with some s trategic hires. New to T&C is Jared Mazurek as a Multimedia Manager. Mazurek is a seasoned professional with experience in news, Mazurek photojournalism, and film, covering stories around Alaska for seventeen years. His experience contributes to the agency’s ability to create authentic and compelling video content for its clients. Sophie Gross was hired as a Junior Digital Strategist, with a focus on content creation and influencer relations. Gross Gross holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Washington State University and previously worked in Los Angeles, providing content creation assistance to a popular TikToker. Her experience provides a creative perspective to the digital team. Emily Garlock, a new Account Coordinator, brings a unique perspective with her bachelor’s degree in history and cognitive science Garlock from Minerva University in San Francisco. Her experience in copywriting and event coordination, along with her global view and international experience shaped from her degree, complement the varied work of this role.
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Committed to the Alaska Spirit
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Wholesale Licenses
N
ew regulations greeted Alaska’s alcohol industry in 2024. A law enacted in 2022 took effect with the new year, loosening rules for breweries serving their own suds in tasting rooms. The rewrite of Title 4 had to strike a balance between bars, which have spent decades cultivating their clientele, and a brewing industry that’s still growing after being reestablished in the state less than forty years ago, after the Prinz Brau debacle of 1979. As of 2024, instead of closing at 8 p.m., breweries and distilleries can stay open until 9 p.m., and they may hold a limited number of live events each year. Still no chairs, stools, or TV sets allowed; those amenities are exclusive to bars. And serving sizes are limited to samples. The Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, the operational arm of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, enforces those rules. Statewide regulation allows for local control, such that thirty communities choose to ban possession of alcohol altogether. (Only two of those dry communities, Tanacross and Gulkana, are on the road system.) The rest regulate potent potables. As a toast to Amy Newman’s article “Travelers’ Brews” about 49th State Brewing’s newest location, this edition of Alaska Trends looks at data from the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office and distills the interesting facts about alcohol licensing. Cheers!
General wholesale ($2K+ value based fee)
Manufacturer Licenses
ALASKA TRENDS
Brewery manufacturer ($1.25K)
sell alcoholic beverages at wholesale
Limited wholesale brewed beverage and wine ($400 + value based fee) sell beer/wine at wholesale
operate a brewery for the manufacture, packaging, storing, and sale of its brewed beverages
Winery manufacturer ($1K)
operate a winery for the manufacture, packaging, storing, and sale of its wine
Distillery manufacturer ($1.25K)
operate a distillery for the manufacture, packaging, storing, and sale of its distilled spirits
Beverage dispensary license ($2.5K)
sell/serve alcoholic beverages for consumption in one room containing a fixed counter/bar connected to permanent plumbing
Beverage dispensary tourism license($2.5K)
sell/serve alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption; the board may issue a beverage dispensary tourism license if it appears that the issuance will encourage the tourist trade
Destination resort license ($2.5K)
sell alcoholic beverages at noncontiguous locations at a destination resort for consumption on site, in conjunction with the activities provided by the licensee while the cruise ship is in port
Source: Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office
Outdoor recreation lodge license ($2.5K)
Circa the Last Century
Between 1899 & 1918, 50% to 80% of
sell alcoholic beverages to overnight guest of the lodge for consumption on site or in conjunction with outdoor recreation activities provided by the licensee
Licensed Alcohol Manufacturing Facilities
Common carrier dispensary license ($1K-$2K depending on vessel)
sell alcoholic beverages for consumption aboard a boat, plane, or train licensed for passenger travel
Package store license ($1.5K)
Data as of January 16, 2024; the data does not include pending applications.
store & sell alcoholic beverages with federally compliant labels to a person on site
local revenue came from liquor licenses. DISTILLERIES
WINERIES
Municipality of Anchorage (287,100)
20
4
8
Matanuska-Susitna Borough (113,300)
10
2
5
Board shares revenue generated
Fairbanks North Star Borough (95,400)
5
4
3
from alcohol licensing with local
Cities in the Unorganized Borough (75,800)
7
-
-
governments semi-annually. Payments
Kenai Peninsula Borough (60,700)
11
-
5
from FY 2021 were as follows:
City & Borough of Juneau (31,700)
4
3
1
Location
1st Half
2nd Half
Ketchikan Gateway Borough (13,700)
1
1
-
Anchorage
$298,450
$44,300
Kodiak Island Borough (12,700)
2
1
1
Cordova
$5,800
$3,100
City & Borough of Sitka (8,400)
1
-
-
Craig
$7,350
-
Haines Borough (2,100)
1
1
1
Fairbanks
$61,950
$13,850
Haines
-
$11,400
Denali Borough (1,600)
1
-
-
Homer
$25,750
-
Municipality of Skagway (1,100)
2
1
-
Juneau
$42,050
$12,200
65
17
24
Kenai
$11,900
-
North Pole
-
$4,000
Palmer
$12,900
$600
Petersburg
$6,100
$300
Sitka
$11,750
$7,800
Skagway
$6,200
-
Soldotna
$8,300
-
Valdez
$9,600
$1,250
Wasilla
$16,000
$7,600
Wrangell
-
$9,500
were revised, allowing communities to prohibit
Total
$524,100
$115,900
the sale or importation of alcoholic beverages.
Revenue Sharing The Alcoholic Beverage Control
114 | February 2024
TOTAL STATEWIDE
"Bone Dry" Law
Two years before Prohibition (1918), Alaska enacted the "Bone Dry" law by a vote of nearly two to one. The 21st Amendment (1933) repealed the law.
Local Control
In 1979, the alcoholic beverage laws
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
Club license ($1.5K)
allows for club/fraternal organization, patriotic organization, or social organization chartered by a state or national organization for a predetermined period of time to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on site
Theater license ($1.25K)
sell alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption in a designated area of a theater site for 1 hour before the event and during intermissions
Retail Licenses
BREWERIES/ BREWPUBS
Location (Population)
Sporting activity or event license ($1.25K)
sell beer/wine at multiple noncontiguous locations for 1 hour before & after a sporting activity that is not a school activity
Fair license ($1.25K)
sell beer/wine at multiple noncontiguous locations held on fairgrounds for consumption on site; the fair license is limited to 30 events in addition to an annual fair
Golf course license ($1.25K)
sell beer/wine for consumption on the golf course, a driving range, a club house, and other buildings located on the course, and a vending cart to, from, and on the golf course; it does not include the parking lot
Brewery retail license ($1.25K)
store/sell/serve brewed beverages for consumption on and off the premises; daily on site consumption is limited to 36 ounces of the holder’s beer per person, or 18 ounces of the holder’s sake per person; daily off site consumption is limited to 5.167 gallons of the holder’s beer or sake per person
Pub license ($1.25K)
sell beer/wine for consumption on the campus of an accredited college or university. Limit 1 per campus
Distillery retail license ($1.25K)
store/sell/serve distilled spirits for consumption on and off site; daily on site consumption is limited to 3 ounces of the holder’s distilled spirits per person; daily off-site consumption is limited to 3.75 liters of the holder’s distilled spirits per person
Restaurant or eating place license (1.25K)
sell brewed beverages/wine for consumption in a restaurant and allows for people under 21 years on site to consume food & nonacholoic beverages
Seasonal restaurant or eating place tourism license ($1.25K)
sell beeŕ & wine for consumption onsite for six months per calendar year and allows for people under 21 years on site to consume food & nonacholoic beverages
Winery retail license ($1K)
store/sell/serve on the licensed premises wine for consumption on and off site; sell for consumption on site is limited to 18 ounces of the holder’s wine, mead, or cider containing 8.5% or more alcohol by volume, 36 ounces of the holder’s mead or cider containing less than 8.5% alcohol by volume, or the alcoholic equivalent to a person on the licensed premises; sell for off-site consumption is limited to 5.167 gallons of the holder’s wine, mead, or cider
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OFF THE CUFF
Tracy Vanairsdale A
good leader is a good learner, says
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn? Vanairsdale: I would like to learn how to play the guitar.
Tracy Vanairsdale. She combined her
love of ar t with what she learned from her father, a general contractor, and her mother, a public health nurse, to design more than thir ty clinics and hospitals around A laska.
AB: What are you superstitious about? Vanairsdale: If karma is a superstition, I think that has some value. Like, I put some weight in having good karma.
“There was no doubt I was going to be an architect by the time I hit junior high,” she recalls, having played with her dad’s cast-off
AB: What’s your favorite local restaurant? Vanairsdale: Lavelle's [Bistro] in downtown Fairbanks. We were part of the design, and it's lovely, wonderful food.
blueprints. Vanairsdale joined Bettisworth North in 1997, and, following founder Charles she was elevated to president last summer. Born and raised in Fairbanks, Vanairsdale calls herself a “river person,” so sailing the ocean
What charity or cause are you passionate about? Rotary Club of Fairbanks… I really value their focus not only on community needs but the international presence of spreading world peace and public health awareness.
on her husband’s boat out of Valdez takes some adjustment. They both enjoy downhill skiing, though, so they explore slopes all over the world. He’s a structural engineer at another
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work? I take my dog Copper for a walk every night with either my husband, neighbors, or girl friends.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be? I think maybe a fox would be fun to take on walks in the woods.
firm in the same office building. “We work on projects together,” Vanairsdale says. “It’s a natural reliance on each other.” Photos by Monica Whit t
What vacation spot is on your bucket list? Italian Alps or the Andes in Argentina.
AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert? Vanairsdale: ABBA.
“CB” Bettisworth’s long-range succession plan,
What book is currently on your nightstand? Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
Any chance to collaborate is a great day, she says: “What brings me joy in this profession is being able to create beautiful things, to create solutions that are very specific to our clients.”
AB: What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever done? Vanairsdale: I did a summer in Iceland when I was 16 on an exchange program, and I loved it so much that I immediately applied to be a Rotary exchange student for a year.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance? Vanairsdale: When we go on our ski vacations, those are a time for us to treat ourselves with the experience, the travel, the food. We sort of spoil ourselves. AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute? Vanairsdale: My best attribute is that I try to always be curious and listen and learn from others. Collaboration is really important to me. One of my worst attributes is that I'm not a super multitasker; I tend to take on a lot, and then that's a struggle to manage.
Alaska Business: What do you do in your free time? Tracy Vanairsdale: It's just in our nature to be outside as much as we can… I try to be in touch with gardening, harvesting crops, and canning… I make a lot of Swedish traditional foods. 116 | February 2024
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February 2024 | 117
ADVERTISERS INDEX 3-Tier Alaska.......................................... 57 3 tieralaska.com
Design Alaska........................................ 87 designalaska.com
R & M Consultants Inc............................ 65 rmconsul t .com
Airport Equipment Rentals....................119 airpor tequipmentrentals .com
First National Bank Alaska........................ 5 f nbalaska.com
RESPEC.................................................. 45 respec .com
Alaska Dreams Inc............................... 101 alaskadreamsinc .com
Fountainhead Development................... 25 fountainheadhotels .com
Alaska International Business Center................................................... 91 ak ibc .org
Groeneveld-BEKA Lubrication Systems................................................. 47 groene veld - beka.com
Alaska Mergers & Acquisitions, LLC........ 29
JENNMAR............................................... 51 jennmar.com
Alaska Miners Association...................... 81 alaskaminer s .org Alaska Railroad...................................... 29 ak rr.com American Heart Association..............83,99 hear t .org Ampersand............................................ 63 amper sand tech.com Anchorage Convention Centers............. 93 anchorageconventioncenter s .com Anchorage Sand & Gravel...................... 53 anchsand.com Arctic Encounter.................................... 97 arc ticencounter.com Bettisworth North................................. 31 be t tis wor thnor th.com Calista Corporation.................................. 3 calis tacorp.com Coffman Engineers................................ 67
Kinney Engineering, LLC........................ 65 k inne yeng.com Lynden................................................ 120 l y nden.com Material Flow & Conveyor Systems, Inc........................................... 71 ma terial f lo w.com Michael Baker International................... 61 mbakerintl.com Nenana Heating Services, Inc................ 41
nenanaheatingservicesinc.com
Nortech Environmental & Engineering........................................... 55 nor techengr.com Northern Air Cargo........................112,113 nac .aero Oxford Assaying & Refining Inc.............111 ox fordme tals .com Pacific Seafood Processors Association............................................ 87
coffman.com
pspafish.net
Conrad-Houston Insurance Agency....... 13 chialaska.com
Parker, Smith & Feek.............................. 21 ps f inc .com
Construction Machinery Industrial........... 2 cmiak .com
PeopleAK............................................... 15 people A K .com
Cook Inlet Tug & Barge Inc..................... 41 cook inle t tug.com
PND Engineers Inc................................. 35 pndengineer s .com
Samson Tug & Barge............................. 69 samsontug.com Society for Marketing Professional Services Alaska...................................... 59
smpsalaska.org
STANTEC............................................... 59 s tantec .com State of Alaska Department of Health................................................... 11
medicaidrenewals.alaska.gov
Structured Communication Systems...... 23 s tr uc tured.com Summit Consulting Services................... 37 sc salaska.com T. Rowe Price........................................... 7 alaska529 plan.com The Plans Room..................................... 69 theplansroom.com TOTE Maritime Alaska LLC........................ 9 totemari time.com UAF College of Engineering................... 43
uaf.edu
United Way of Anchorage...................... 75 li veuni tedanc .org University of Alaska Office of Public Affairs......................................... 17 alaska.edu Westmark Hotels - HAP Alaska............... 13 wes tmark hotels .com Yukon Equipment Inc............................. 77
yukoneq.com
+ Careers Looking for Employees (or a job)? Reach a wider audience through a network of sites with a single job listing. 118 | February 2024
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