The City Council wants residents to know that harbor parking is a priority as the city looks ahead to Cordova’s next fishing season.
Council members discussed parking while deliberating whether or not to approve the newest bunch of land disposal maps during their regular Feb. 18 meeting. Land disposal maps, municipal-owned parcels the city aims to lease or sell, are recommended by the city planner and Planning and Zoning Commission every year.
The city of Cordova originally planned on opening up the parking lot in the South Fill Development Park to lease or purchase, but later decided that potentially losing the spot could put fishers at risk.
“As someone who has parked multiple vehicles there during fishing season because every other parking lot in the harbor is taken, it just seems like we really need to be careful about what we’re doing,” Council Member Mike Mickelson said. “We already don’t have enough parking as it is for the harbor on both sides.”
Mickelson added that Cordova’s harbor rates are “reasonable” compared to other small fishing communities, emphasizing that the city needs parking to accommodate the people heading out on the water.
Council Member Cathy Sherman agreed, noting that Seward “gave away” much of their downtown parking, which makes their harbor less accessible.
“That’s why they don’t a greatly viable fishery like we do today,” she said. “Their amenities are for tourists, not for fishermen. So if we want to be a working fishing harbor, then our priorities should be the fishing fleet.”
The council, at the request of Mickelson, ended up amending the land disposal maps to mark the South Fill parking lot as unavailable for lease or purchase.
