Petersburg’s Borough Assembly has accepted an $8.8 million federal grant for a haul-out project at Scow Bay, located a few miles south of town. The borough is one step closer to making the more than $14.3 million improvement project a reality.
Scow Bay doesn’t have a bona fide vessel haul-out, but it does have an old concrete ramp originally built for seaplanes. The Borough is pursuing a project to improve the facility — including constructing a new, deeper ramp, washdown pad, and extending the existing breakwater.
The $8.8 million “Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development” or BUILD grant comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration and was originally promised in January 2025.
The project is fully funded, with the remaining costs covered by millions of dollars in other secured funds from the Denali Commission, state loans, the Borough’s fisheries disaster funds and its economic development fund.
In order to move forward with the construction, the borough is terminating four leases with three businesses leasing borough land in the area. The leases end on Sept. 30, with 60 additional days to remove everything from the property.
Some business owners have testified that losing their leases will lead to financial hardship. 13 Marine co-owner Scott Pullar testified at an Aug. 17 meeting, asking the assembly for more time.
“We’ve got some pretty big jobs coming up that require the building. It’s a fair amount of money,” Pullar said. “I don’t know if I need to talk to those numbers on here, but it’s a big loss to us.”
Another business owner leasing a Scow Bay property, John Murgas, testified in April that he would also take a financial hit by losing his lease.
Community Development Director Liz Cabrera said at an assembly meeting on Aug. 17 that any delays in beginning construction would lead to higher costs in the future.
“Every month we delay, the cost goes up,” Cabrera said. “We’ve been waiting for two years for the federal government to release the funds, and in that time, every time I get a cost estimate, it’s several hundred thousand dollars more.”
In 2025, the estimated cost of the project was $11.4 million. That same project is now anticipated to cost $14.3 million.
Cabrera said the project will go out to bid by the end of September, with a contract awarded in November. The borough hopes to have the area ready for the contractor to begin in December.
