Sitnews -Stories in the News - Ketchikan, Alaska

June's Gravina Access Public Comments Now Available Online
Reasonable Alternatives: Public Comments on Gravina Access Project Summarized
by Dick Kauffman

August 25, 2002
Sunday - 3:05 pm

In early July the Gravina Access Project Team announced that the results of the formal public comment period on reasonable alternatives were now available.

This announcement was made in a July 2002 Gravina Access Project Newsletter which was distributed throughout the community of Ketchikan on July 6th as an insert in the Ketchikan

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View of Tongass Narrows - Gravina Island is on the left,
Revilla Island is on the right...
Photo courtesy of Gravina-Access Project
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Daily News. On the front page of the Gravina Access Project Newsletter - which was presented by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities - it was stated that individuals could locate the 'June 2002 Public Comments Summary Document' on the Gravina-Access Project web site. However this document was not available on the Gravina-Access web site on the date of the announcement.

On July 12, 2002, this Sitnews' writer & editor wrote to Mark Dalton, Project Manager HDR Alaska, requesting a copy of the Public Comments Document noting the document was not available on the Gravina-Access Project web site as stated in the July 2002 Newsletter which was distributed on July 6th. After receiving no reply to this information request, on July 24th, the Sitnews' editor wrote to Roger Healy, Project Manager of the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) requesting the document.

A response to the request for the 'June 2002 Public Comments Document' was received by Sitnews on August 21, 2002, from Leslie Robbins of HDR Alaska, Inc. A copy of the Public Comments Document was provided to Sitnews on August 22nd.

As of August 25, 2002, the 'June 2002 Public Comments Summary Document' is still unavailable on the Gravina-Access Project web site for public download. However, Robbins indicated in her August 21st message that this error will be corrected and the public information will be posted on the Gravina Access web site.

A copy of the 'June 2002 Public Comments Summary Document' received from HDR Alaska, Inc., is however now available for download from the Sitnews web site for access by the public.

The formal public comment period on reasonable alternatives ended in March with over-whelming participation according to the Gravina-Access July 2002 Newsletter. More than 150 comments were received by fax, mail, and email through mid-April. The public comment period ended March 15, 2002. According to the DOT&PF, comments poured in to the project team and were accepted long after the March deadline.

Community members also turned out for the two public open house meetings held in Ketchikan in February, with more than 150 people signing in.

Download from Sitnews:

June 2002 Public Comments Document - Reasonable Alternatives Summary
(27 pages, size 700 K)

Download from the Gravina-Access Project Web Site:

March 2002 Public Comments Document - Reasonable Alternatives Summary
This document summarizes the comments received on the reasonable alternatives since DOT&PF's announcement (January 7, 2002) of the state's recommended alternative for access to Gravina Island the Pennock Island (F3) alternative.

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