Author: kfskadmin

Petersburg residents last week continued the discussion on building a public boat haul out and marine services facility in the community. The Petersburg Economic Development Council, along with the city’s Harbor Board and Planning Commission are discussing scaled-back plans for vessel hauling, cleaning and storage at three sites on the Petersburg waterfront.

The new shelter at Petersburg’s Sandy Beach Park is ready for use. The parks and recreation department finished work on the three-sided, log building this month. The new structure took a year to complete and it’s very similar to the old one it replaced. It’s about 50 by 20 feet inside and uses the original stone floor. There’s a big new fire place and a larger roof supported by a series of massive log trusses. The shelter is one of two new park additions that were funded by the federal Resource Advisory Committee or RAC for Petersburg and Wrangell. The other project is a bridge spanning the stream at the far end of the park. That’s where several local eagle scouts reconstructed a rustic trail leading to City Creek. The bridge incorporates a unique cantilevered design and a red-cedar gazebo with a moss-covered roof. Designer Dieter Klose calls it a troll booth; some have called it a troll bridge. The bridge cost roughly $10,000 and the new log shelter cost about $60,000. All of the money came from federal RAC funds. On a recent, blustery day, Matt Lichtenstein joined Dieter Klose and parks and recreation director Ryan McFarland for a tour of the park’s new features.

The architect for Petersburg’s new library project has finished the schematic design for the building. The cost estimate for the facility has gone up substantially in the past year but library supporters are hopeful they can raise the needed funds without a local bond measure or tax increase. The schematic drawings include more precisely refined floor plans and three-dimensional renderings.

2009 marks the 100th year for the Salvation Army in Petersburg and supporters will celebrate a century of service to the community this weekend.
This is also one of the busiest times of year for the charitable and religious organization, which has been short-staffed in Petersburg due to the illness of local salvation army captain Vicki Jackson.
The Army’s many services for the needy include a food pantry as well as holiday meals and gifts for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The church also offers youth programs, administers distribution of u-s-d-a commodities and provides energy assistance in Petersburg. One of its major, annual fundraising efforts – the kettle campaign – is coming up soon as well. The salvation army was originally founded in England in 1865 by a former Methodist minister named William booth. It grew into an international organization that provides aid to people around the world. Matt Lichtenstein spoke with local salvation army assistant Jess Franklin and Advisory Board member Neva Christiansen about the organization’s services and needs today, as well as its beginnings in Petersburg a century ago:

The competition is over for a federal permit to study a proposed hydro-electric power plant in Thomas Bay near Petersburg. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday awarded a preliminary permit to the city of Angoon for Ruth Lake, a high mountain lake on the mainland near Petersburg. Angoon was one of four applicants for the permit and the commission used the results of a random drawing this summer to choose Angoon over competing applications from Wrangell and Petersburg.