BSNC proposes crew camp on 6th Avenue
By Diana Haecker |
Finding regional employees to work in Nome is one thing. Housing them is a whole different story. In order to meet the challenge, local businesses and organizations – like Norton Sound Health Corporation currently building several housing complexes – are creating their own solutions.
In a meeting last week at Old St. Joe’s, Bering Straits Native Corporation’s Vice President of Nome Operations Larry Pederson presented a plan to use BSNC’s Alaska Gold Co. property near Steadman and 6th Avenue for a temporary man camp to house workers.
Needing truck drivers, mechanics and other personnel to work at BSNC operations, the regional Native corporation is getting ready for years of delivering rock for the seawall project at Utqiagvik and all sorts of jobs connected to the upcoming Port of Nome expansion project. “The problem that we’ve run into, like everyone else, has been housing,” Pederson said.
Before going to the Nome Planning Commission and asking for a conditional use permit, BSNC wanted to bring the plan in front of the community. “Our intent here is to get your input so we can take some notes, get your thoughts, comments, concerns addressed ahead of time and maybe try to get them into the conditional use permit application before we submit it to the planning commission,” Pederson said.
The facility is a 15-room modular unit that currently sits at Lester Bench and is used by BSNC and Kiewit workers. The plan is, once the conditional use permit is approved, to move it over to 6th and Steadman, Pederson said.
The area off Steadman and 6th is zoned general use and allows for crew camps only under conditional use permits. Under the City of Nome code, crew camps can be conditionally allowed if the use is tied to a specific and identified project; if the term of the permit is limited to a maximum of five years and if a detailed schedule for deconstruction and removal is provided with the permit application, and updated on or before each anniversary date of the issuance of the conditional use permit.
Pederson estimated that the life of the crew camp would span seven to 10 years.
The proposed location of the crew camp is indicated in red.
The necessity
“Our trucking activity is going to increase with the award of the port of Nome contract to Kiewit,” Pederson said. Already truck traffic has increased between Cape Nome and Nome as Kiewit is blasting rock off Cape Nome and selling it to Brice Construction for the Utqiagvik seawall project which will be going on for about five years, Pederson said.
Once the Nome port expansion project begins next spring, Pederson expects that truck traffic from Cape Nome to town will double, necessitating the hire of at least 10 or 12 more truck drivers and mechanics. In addition, there will be workers coming to Nome to tackle the Steadman Road and Port Road rehabilitations, further putting pressure on the housing market. “Housing is just going to get worse,” Pederson said.
PRESENTER— Bering Straits Native Corporation Vice President of Nome Operations Larry Pederson presented BSNC’s plans to create a crew camp at 6th Avenue, on Sept. 17, at Old St. Joe’s.
Photo by Diana Haecker
The building
The 15-room building is currently in use at Lester Bench, and is self-sustaining with water tanks and a septic system. When it will be moved to what Pederson hopes to be the permanent location at 6th Avenue, the plan is to connect it to power, water and sewer. This would improve the infrastructure for future housing developments.
The building has a full dining area, a full commercial kitchen and the maximum occupancy is 27 persons. Some of the rooms, have double beds and if necessary, the building could house two people to a room. But Pederson said that the intent is to keep individual rooms, one person in each room. Although it is designed as a man camp, not conducive for family housing, Pederson said, BSNC would be using it as staff housing, even long-term staff housing.
Across the street from the property that is already filled in, is another gravel pad owned by Alaska Gold – also filled in – which Pederson said is zoned commercial and would be used by Kiewit for their own needs.
CAMP— The modular 15-room facility that BSNC wants to move to their property on 6th Avenue, is in use and currently located at Lester Bench. Photo by Diana Haecker
Stigma of man camps
Pederson also addressed the elephant in the room. “I know people sometimes are concerned about facilities like this, and I know the city has had concerns about having a facility like this in the middle of town,” he said. The city council last year voted down a proposal to put the contractor work force hired to expand the Port of Nome in that very location.
Part of the port project is the commitment of the city to provide space for a crew camp. Last year, the city put out requests for proposals on sites that could serve as crew camp locations. The lot that BSNC is now proposing to put their man camp on was one of the sites and the council rejected the idea to have a crew camp in town, choosing Satellite Field over the 6th Avenue location.
Pederson argued that the visibility in the middle of town, the lighting and the amount of foot traffic would serve as deterrence. “There’s a lot of foot traffic, our workers and equipment and the people who are driving by this site all day, every day, we have lit up over there with lighting on the outside of our facilities. So, the visibility, I think, kind of helps to deter some of the potential issues that these types of facilities may bring,” he said.
Pederson said if the permits are approved, they hope to move the building in the spring and have it fully hooked up to power, water and sewer by June or July 2026.