Homer Tribune » Business

Business Brief – Dec. 29

Tribune Moderator — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:25:51 +0000

Senior housing units open
Homer Senior Citizens Inc., celebrated the opening of four new housing units at Swatzell Terrace Tuesday afternoon, adding to the organization’s ability to offer housing to seniors to Homer.
The units are already rented, with move-in dates set for Jan. 1. Fred Lau, the former administrator at the center, was able to obtain the funding for the project from the Alaska Housing Finance Corp. and construction began in May.
Homer Seniors now has Kachemak Bay, Pioneer Vista, Bartlett Terrace and Swatzell Terrace, which provide a total of 45 units for seniors. Another 40 units are encompassed at Friendship Terrace Assisted Living Residence.
A long waiting list of 60 seniors wanting housing remains, said the current administrator, Sue Samet.

Nancy’s Snack Shack features Old World nuts

Newsroom — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:57:42 +0000

Three summers ago, Nancy Niezgocki and her husband were vacationing in Homer from Detroit, Mich. Nancy operates Old World Nuts in Detroit, and couldn’t help but notice a cozy building under construction on the Homer Spit.
“I looked at it and thought, ‘that would be perfect for a small business on the Spit,’” she said. “We had just fallen in love with Homer.”
On impulse, she purchased the building, located in the front of the cluster of shops around Spit Sisters Bakery.
Two years went by before Niezgocki was able to do anything with her business. Then, this summer, her idea turned around and with partner Sue Haidys, she opened Nancy’s Snack Shack.
The business specializes in nuts cooked in the Old World recipe. They don’t add anything different from what ancients in Germany likely used to candy pecans, walnuts, cashews and peanuts: a little sugar, vanilla and cinnamon spun in a low-tech copper kettle. The shack also features nachos, hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, candy, cookies and beverages. Niezgocki said they would also like to eventually offer box lunches for fishermen.

Businesses take to the Homer Spit

Newsroom — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 17:55:35 +0000

Crooked Hook Pub opens with three new pros

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Homer Tribune/Naomi Klouda - Zach Carlton, Ed Murphy and Chris Lukick are new in Homer but experienced pros in the cuisine scene of the Lower 48. The three work at the newly opened Crooked Hook Pub on the Homer Spit, with Lukick also the head chef at the Homestead.

In a chance conversation on a Paul Banks school field trip, Rick Cline, owner of the Homestead Restaurant, came upon an offer he just couldn’t refuse.
El Pescador owners Jose and Carmen Ramos mentioned to Cline that they were hoping to lease out their restaurant on the Homer Spit this summer. And Cline had just the chef in mind to make it work.
The Crooked Hook Pub opened on the Spit last week, featuring the work of three new pros from Orlando, Fla.
Rick, along with his wife Sharlene, had recently recruited a renowned chef, Chris Lukick, off Craigslist. Lukick comes from an impressive background: he’s a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and exhibited his skills on the cable television cooking challenge, “Top Chef.” He also worked under famed chefs Rick Moonen, Marcus Samuelson of New York, (owner of “Aquivit”) and Susanna Foo of Philadelphia.
“I came home from work, and they were saying, ‘how would you like to own another restaurant?’” Sharlene said.
Lukick suggested the idea might be manageable on short notice with the help of his two colleagues in Orlando. Both were out-of-work due to a tourism recession that isn’t likely to get much better in light of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Lukick, while working as the executive chef at five Orlando restaurants, directed Ed Murphy and Zach Carlson. He highly recommended Murphy as a manager/bartender, and Carlson as a talented sous chef. Murphy’s credentials included being named to the “Top 20 Coolest People in Orlando” by Orlando Magazine.
At the Crooked Hook, Murphy manages the front and back of the house, Carlson is the head chef and Lukick is the executive chef. Lukick also chefs at Homestead.
The new menu, featuring hearty hand-packed hamburgers, Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches of sliced rib eye and a halibut reuben, promise to warm stomachs after a brisk day fishing. The shepherd’s pie is a concoction from ground rib eye steak, carrots, roasted onions and peppers topped in mashed potatoes au gratin. Homer-brewed beer, Ring of Fire mead, speciality desserts and a kid’s menu are also featured.
“We were aiming for a broader audience and wanted to provide something not available on the Homer Spit,” Sharlene explained. “We realized fish and chips and the other dishes were what would be on a pub menu.”

Take a slow boat to Halibut Cove

Newsroom — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:52:42 +0000

• Artists seek to reach visitors with hospitality
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Marian Beck, the owner of the Danny J and Kachemak Bay Ferries, shows her new kiosk on the Homer Spit boardwalk. Made from Halibut Cove timbers, it is a start in welcoming visitors to the cove where Beck and other artists share their works.

Imagine a time in the not-too-distant past when “tourism” meant little more than Alaska hospitality. That’s when a tourist was simply invited inside a person’s cabin and offered a cup of tea or taste of smoked salmon.
And once you step in for that cup of tea, expect the stories to last a spell, because few aspects of Alaska life make for a quick yarn.
Marian Beck, operator of the historic Danny J and Kachemak Bay Ferry Service, wants to harken back to that thought in her new kiosk. The kiosk, recently installed on the Homer Spit in a space between the Better Sweater and Bald Mountain Air, was constructed in one of those “only-in-Alaska” stories.
The 8-by-16-foot building was assembled in Homer at Northern Enterprises Boatyard from Cove timbers cut a few decades ago. That meant hauling heavy timbers over on the Danny J — Beck’s World War II vintage boat — to start with. Then hoisting the building into a boat sling to place it on a flatbed truck.
By flatbed trailer, the building was then hauled to the Spit where it was squeezed into its spot using a fish dock forklift. Just an inch or two off on sizing would have meant going back to the boatyard and to build the thing all over again.
Yet, the building itself is no shack. It was, after all, designed by Artist Beck, a lifelong resident of the cove and daughter of Clem and Diana Tillion. Inside and out, sunrise orange, soft greens and yellow beach flower-colors are meant as metaphors for Halibut Cove.
“It was quite the process, but it did work out well, I think,” Beck said Thursday, stepping back on the boardwalk to inspect her work.
She spoke of how the timbers came from the Saltry, cut back when it was built in the 1980s.
“We brought in these rocks from the beach at Halibut Cove,” she explained, indicating six-inch round flat black stones to either side of the kiosk entryway. “The idea is to bring the Cove here as a beginning way to tell about our lives.”
A screen covered in an ancient porthole from the F/V Albert opens a window into the exhibits of 17 cove artists. Most of them depict an aspect of their sea-misty shore homes built on pilings reflected in tranquil waters: Beck, Annette Bellamy, Ted Bell, Sydney Bishop, Kathryn Carovano, Janet Carroll, Jay Greene, Ashley Maury, Toni Maury, Kay McNevin, Nancy Munro, Deborah Spencer, Dustin Thurman, Jan Thurston, Diana Tillion and Tracey Tillion.
Beck wants her hospitality to begin with the kiosk, in some ways to let visitors know what to expect from their visit to Halibut Cove. Aboard the Danny J, visitors tour Gull Island rookeries with a guide aboard to answer questions and offer a brief history of other natural aspects of the area. They arrive in the Cove in time for lunch at the Saltry and a community stay that lasts long enough to hear some artists’ stories.
The Kachemak Bay Ferry begins operations on Memorial Day Weekend, but will be closed June 1 for the memorial service of Diana Tillion. Beck said the Danny J will be available for friends and family to go across to the service, but business will be shut down for the one day.

Restorative yoga: not your usual body twist

Newsroom — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:10:42 +0000

• Alaska’s only certified yoga instructor explains techniques for relaxing, renewing

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda - Ramona Pearce demonstrates how she uses common, everyday items to assist her with restorative yoga techniques. Pearce is the only certified “Relax and Renew” yoga instructor in Alaska.

To create a pose for “Instant Maui” — a restorative yoga technique — Ramona Pearce places a rolled blanket under her student’s knees.
Resting on a yoga mat covered in a wool blanket, the student reclines at a 90-degree angle on wedges likewise covered. Elbows are aloft to either side of the body, resting on padding. Pearce then sets a scented pillow over the eyes to shut out light.
“We use a lot of props in restorative yoga,” the long-time instructor explained. “It’s a restful, relaxing yoga supported with props that allows you to rest your body and let it ‘open’ itself.”
Instant Maui, indeed — the position takes all the weight off.
Gravity is history.
Though Pearce has practiced and taught her “gentle” or “renewing” yoga for years in Homer, her recent certification makes her the only “Relax and Renew” yoga instructor in Alaska. Pearce trained under San Diego’s Judith Lasater, who invented the yoga techniques and came up with the philosophy of how it can be applied for physical, mental and spiritual health. Lasater is the author of six books, including “Living Your Yoga,” and “Yoga Body,” as well as “Relax and Renew,” which outlines the yoga techniques used by Pearce.
“This is different from Hatha Yoga, in that there are no standing poses,” Pearce explained. “It’s all supported by blankets, blocks, floor — and sometimes using the wall as well.” Students go through four or five poses per class, with each class lasting about an hour.
Pearce said restorative yoga teaches people to be still.
“So often, we don’t give ourselves permission to be still. Even lying there, in your head you might still be saying, ‘I should do this, I should be doing that.’ It takes practice to rest, to let the mind grow still – it is the opposite of an active life,” she said. “In the West, we think we are supposed to always be productive. That is not necessarily always healthy.”
An accountant for much of her career life, Pearce has taught yoga for 12 years, beginning in the Los Angeles area. While her life as an accountant led her to be more a “Type A” personality, she changed her life through yoga.
“Now I don’t know what type you would say I am. I’ve been told I have a calming presence,” Pearce said. “I like quiet. I like simple; no drama, no craziness.”
After moving to Homer five years ago, Pearce has taught classes weekly at both Anahata and the Bay Club. For two years in a row, she was hired by Holland America to conduct yoga classes aboard cruise ships on trips lasting three and a half months. In addition to seeing the world, she was paid to give instruction.
“It was wonderful,” she said. “I held classes for the passengers, many of them women who had lost their husbands or were at another point in their lives.”
For those who find it hard to do the exercises on the floor, Pearce developed chair positions. As an instructor, she observes each person’s body for clues to what is happening. She sees where they can achieve more flexibility, and helps them make adjustments.
Pierce has had experience on both ends of the spectrum. A broken leg on the Homer Spit trail sent her life into a transition. After undergoing hip replacement surgery, she was out of commission for three months.

HOMER TRIBUNE/Naomi Klouda

Though Pearce couldn’t practice the restorative yoga for several weeks, when she could get back into it, she found the exercises helped her recover more quickly. A position with her legs elevated on the wall and hips higher than the heart became a favored pose.
“It helps with aging. Having hips higher than the heart gives your organs a break. Gravity is reversed,” she said. “There are positions that help with blood pressure, PMS, menopause, menstrual cramps.”
Those who work on their feet all day can also find remedy in the poses created especially to reverse the impacts of such work on the body. And Pearce said people who suffer from diabetes or multiple sclerosis also gain new body relief from the positions.
Each class typically begins with instructing students in poses by positioning them with blankets and blocks.
“I do hands-on adjusting to make sure they are comfortable, then gauge them for modifications,” she said.
For 10-15 minutes at a time, they relax in each pose.
From the “Instant Maui,” Pearce moves her students into the “two-blanket twist,” and then onto the “child’s pose.” Other poses can be especially helpful for pregnant or post-natal mothers, as well as the elderly. While in place, students are taught breathing exercises, beginning with a long exhale, and followed by measured breaths.
Yoga was developed to teach people how to “open” their bodies so they can sit in meditation for long periods of time. It can also move psychological things from the “back of the body to the front,” which has made people cry or express other emotions, such as anger, she said.
“They say we push stuff to the back of our bodies that we don’t want to look at. But it’s still something you have to deal with. This helps release that,” Pearce said, adding that it’s not always the heaviness that comes out. “I had a group of ladies the other night who giggled, positioned against the wall. It was really fun.”

In the business of moving people around, taxis haul

Newsroom — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:41:57 +0000

• Taxi companies enjoy thriving market in Homer

by Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
After 20 years as a Homer taxi driver, Nick Bairamis took on a semi-retired lifestyle this summer. He sold his taxi business, but kept a cab and still works Homer’s streets five nights a week.
Josh Cooper purchased Kostas Taxi – along with four cabs – and currently employs 10 full-time drivers for seven-day-a-week, 24-hour service.
“I had the oldest cab company and I am the oldest cab driver in town,” Bairamis said in his trademark heavy Greek accent.

Nick Bairamis

He explained that full retirement is complicated, because it would involve a break from Homer.
“We’re building a house in Greece, so I’ll go there, but I’ll be here a lot, too,” he said. “Homer is more my home. I have more friends here than in my hometown (of Vathy). I keep my one cab. I drive it five or six nights a week.”
There’s apparently enough business in Homer to not only keep Bairamis from retirement, but also keep five taxi companies plenty busy.

Chris Fischer

Kachemak Cab operates four cabs and also employs about 10 people. Chux Taxi owner Shane John took on a new partner, co-owner Daryn Holmes, and plans on buying a third car. Newcomer Brandon Lovelace, spotting a need for another taxi out on the road while he worked for Kostas, started up a cab company of his own.
The advantage here for taxi companies is that there is no public transportation, so all state vouchers for rides are handled by the taxi companies. They also function as the town’s delivery service, dropping off flowers, bringing groceries for shut-ins and delivering food from restaurants.
And they’re also in the business of moving people around.

Mark Cooper, son John and brother-in-law, Nick Bairamis

It was Baraimis who first started the free “New Years Eve service” in 2000. The program offered free rides home for all bar patrons who may have imbibed a bit too much on the holiday. Baraimis said not one DWI arrest has resulted on New Year’s Eve in the past five years.
Josh Cooper, 29, plans to keep the tradition going by once again offering free rides on New Year’s. Cooper is from an old Homer family (Baraimis married his aunt, Toy). His grandfather, John Cooper, operated the Kachemak Bowling Alley for much of its 50-year history, while his father, Mark Cooper, is the current operator of Kachemak Bowl. Being part of Homer’s history is something the younger Cooper is proud of as he and his wife welcome their first child in a few months. The current bowling alley was built where John and Phyllis Cooper had their first Homer home. Previously, the bowling alley, started in 1959 in Old Town, was a four-laner situated next to Duggan’s. A parking lot now sits where the building once stood.
Josh Cooper also found another niche for Homer transportation. The long, white limo parked in front of his dad’s bowling alley has been up for rent since last summer.
“I do the proms and the weddings, but mostly it’s been kids’ parties,” he said regarding the limousine. “The limo is really hot for that.”
This ability to branch out and fill niches means some businesses will find success – even in a toiling economy.
“People will always need rides,” Cooper explained.
Once he heard his uncle talk of retiring, Cooper said he talked him into letting him buy the business.
“It’s a busy business that he kept going for a long time,” he said. “I hated to see him shut it down.”
Another longtime taxi business operating in Homer is Kachemak Cab, owned by Chris Fischer.
Fischer owns four cabs, and first bought the business eight years ago from Richard Everett. He employs about nine people and also offers service seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
And while Homer doesn’t have tight regulations on cabs, Fischer says the free-market system has worked well on its own.
“In Anchorage, they regulate all of it. They limit the number of taxis that can be on the street and they only let out so many permits,” he said. “They don’t do that here. The free market is operating the way it’s supposed to. When I started here nine years ago, the charge was $1.50 per mile with a $3 minimum. Now it’s $2.50 per mile and a $5 minimum. That’s not much of a price increase.”
Fischer believes that the learning curve – when it comes to staying in business in Homer – involves people-sensitivity more than anything else. “A lot of the job is getting to know the people you pick up,” he explained. “They want the regularity. That’s a lot different from what you would find in a city.”
Fischer said several of the people he picks up on a regular basis today, were ones he started picking up eight years ago.

Brandon Lovelace

Still, there was plenty of room for newcomers to break into the business. Brandon Lovelace moved to Alaska in August 2008 to be with his mother, Gail Dixon. He had driven cab in Denver, then here in Homer for Kostas.
“I noticed some calls weren’t being handled quickly, that there was a need for one more car out there,” Lovelace said.
He said he thought of starting up a cab business in Denver, but found there was too much red tape.
“If there are something like 15 cabs and only 15 permits, then you can’t get a foot in the door,” Lovelace said. “The public has to say there is a need for more.”
In order to start up a business during a time of economic disadvantages, Lovelace said he’s keeping his overhead low for now.
“I know how to be practical,” he said. “That’s what it takes.”
Lovelace is starting off with one cab, and is currently offering free Monday rides to customers to get more familiar with the community.

Shane John and Daryn Holmes of Chux Cab

New shipping trade route opens with Williams Port

Newsroom — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:53:56 +0000

• Barge shipments from Homer to Iliamna-area villages first step in regional trade

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Photo provided

Following fuel prices last year that rose to $9.25 per gallon in several remote villages across the Inlet, an arrangement between a small Native corporation and Homer Enterprises allowed this year’s gasoline and heating fuel prices to level off at a more manageable rate.
The villages of Iliamna, Newhalen, Kokhanok, Pedro Bay and Nondalton paid less this winter for fuel, with an adjusted cost of $6.75 for gasoline and $6.50 a gallon for No. 2 fuel in Kokhanak and various prices in the other villages that gave a better break over the previous winter’s costs.
“What made our prices higher the last three years was that we had to fly in the fuel after the (Crowley) shipping company quit coming here,” said Kokhanok Village Administrator Nathan Hill. “And now the price of fuel has dropped statewide, in conjunction. Another big factor was that we could only buy 2,000 gallons at a time.”
Kokhanok loaded up with 50,000 gallons of diesel and 5,000 gallons of gas in two shipments this summer and fall from the Iliamna Development Corp.
Each of the other four villages on the rim of the 70-mile Iliamna Lake also received the barged fuel and are set for the winter after the IDC was able to deliver 22 barge loads of freight and fuel this summer-fall.
As scientists complete environmental studies during pre-feasibility work at the Pebble Project, one of the plans discussed was using Homer as a possible staging area for receiving construction and other supplies for the proposed mine. Small enterprises such as IDC’s barge investment are working out some of the kinks ahead of time, though that wasn’t the initial goal.
IDC, the for-profit village corporation headed by Lisa Reimers, has expanded to provide economic opportunities for the region through its jobs program. In addition to construction contracts, it handles most of the hiring for the Pebble Project, which has now employed some 120 people for most of the past four seasons. Now, thanks to a $1.72 million loan for the barge, tank farm and equipment, IDC purchased the Polar Bear Barge, hoping to make freight and fuel less costly. Transportation comprises road travel and barging on waterways.
“Homer provides the closest link we have to the road system and to bulk fuel. It’s the most obvious spot there is,” said Steve Reimers, project manager for the Iliamna Development Corp. “The less transportation you do with fuel, the less expensive it is. Homer is the closest spot.”
The 150-foot Polar Bear Barge has critical timing requirements set by mother nature. The barge must leave after high tide from Homer, and be there in front of the port by the next high tide at Williams Port.
That’s a 24-hour turnaround time, with tides running 12 hours apart.
Crowley Transportation used to take a barge through the Kvichak River, but apparently found it wasn’t cost effective.
“It was unsafe and it was expensive. I don’t blame Crowley for abandoning it,” Reimers said. “We chose another route to get away from the headache.”
This route uses a combination of the 17-mile road from Williams Port to the villages, and a barge.
Several issues remain to be sorted out to simplify the prospect, such as developing port support services at Williams Port.
“It takes a project, no matter what it is, to get an economy out there,” Reimers said. “It takes a big contract and economy to sustain the plan. Otherwise, the business plan fails fast.”
Volume is the key.
Shipping fuel into the area entails small volume, but once Pebble was added into the picture, “suddenly the volume is different,” Reimers explained. “There’s no mine, but it allows us to haul lumber, propane, fuel – anything that makes a living out there cheaper and easier is what we are trying to do.”
This brings a purchasing-power that small villages – each with a population hovering at 100 or less – never had before, he said.
The barge handles helicopter fuel for the Pebble Project and ships in some equipment. Reimers said the villages are IDC’s biggest customers, though it took a Pebble contract “to make the business plan work,” he said.
Reimers estimates the fuel purchases in Homer around $650,000 for this first season, hauling 22 barge loads. Since the pick-up point is Homer, other commerce is taking place as well, such as orders placed at Spenard Builders Supply here for lumber to be sent to the villages.
“I agree that Homer has become the staging area,” Reimers said. “We’re looking at the lay of the land, we’re flying people back and forth. And we buy a lot of hotel rooms.”
The Homer Port and Harbor also benefits in dockage wharfage fees, said Harbor Master Bryan Hawkins.

A little more ‘Homer’-land security for KRD

Newsroom — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:24:16 +0000

• Kachemak Research Development lands defense contracts around the world

By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune
With perimeter security technology and defense system integration already in place around the globe, and military endorsements calling its underground vehicle inspection system the “most sophisticated, cutting-edge gating system we’ve ever seen,” Homer-based Kachemak Research Development, Inc. is beginning to turn a few heads in homeland security circles.
Under federal contract, KRD developed AutoScan™ several years ago to help soldiers and security personnel inspect vehicles for explosives and contraband. The corporation, owned and operated by President and CEO Colleen A. Riley, has seen remarkable interest in the high-tech security device. They currently market the system to public and private security interests to aid in terrorism prevention.
Many military bases and other facilities around the world routinely inspect vehicle undercarriages as an antiterrorism measure. However, most of these do so manually with mirrors and inspection pits, putting soldiers and security officers at risk.
What makes AutoScan™ attractive is that it can be placed in the roadway of an inspection point and capture images of vehicles’ undercarriages as they drive over it. Once captured, the images can be viewed from a safe distance on a computer monitor.
“The units both contain cameras, and when vehicles drive over them at a specific speed, the device scans the bottom of the vehicle,” KRD Technical Writer Joshua Riley explained. “The image is then sent up to the computers, where security personnel can look for anything out of the ordinary. It’s much better than just the manual inspection, because it’s very accurate and allows them to see everything.”
Riley said the program started at Utah State University, where the company worked in robotics.
KRD currently has offices in Homer, Utah and Florida, and continues to seek to bring jobs and technology to the Last Frontier through contracts with the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force.
“We manufacture the units locally, and use a local welder,” Riley said. “We try hard to bring and build as much stuff up here as possible to strengthen the local economy.”
In late July, Alaska Congressman Don Young secured $6 million for Alaska projects of interest in H.R. 3326, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, Fiscal Year 2010. Included in the proposed appropriations was $3 million allotted to the Under-Vehicle Inspection System, KRD, Inc. in Homer.
“We are not seeing any of that funding yet, and are a long way from counting on it for anything,” said Colleen Riley. “It still has plenty of hurdles to clear through the House before we see any of it, and it likely won’t end up being that much.”
Still, Rep. Young touted KRD’s system as one of incredible importance to ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The two projects I was able to secure funding for are incredibly important projects and I’m proud of them,” Young explained. “I visited with KRD, Inc. last year, and viewed their Under-Vehicle Inspection System first-hand and can tell you that the advanced technology they have developed is of the greatest importance for the times we are living in.”
While her company awaits the outcome of federal funding decisions, Riley said she will continue to establish contracts and services with various security and military operations.
“It’s pretty cool to know that our products are all over the world now,” said Colleen A. Riley, KRD President and CEO. “We have systems set up everywhere from Central Asia to Turkmenistan, to Air Force bases, West Point and the New York National Guard.”
For further information about KRD, its products and services, visit the Web site at www.krdonline.com or call 226-2400.

Maritime Helicopters wins ‘Business of the Year’ award

Newsroom — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:57:11 +0000

• Statewide honor recognizes 36 years of service

By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

Photo provided by Homer Chamber of Commerce - Julie Woodworth and Audrey Rearden nominated Don and Mary Ann Fell for the Bill Bivin's Award, noting the company has not only produced an excellent business for 36 years, but also gives extensively behind the scenes in Homer, and keeps a staff of loyal employees.

Maritime Helicopters of Homer took top business honors last week as they were presented with the Bill Bivin Award for Excellence at the State Chamber of Commerce Convention.
The Bill Bivin award was established in 1993 to pay tribute to businesses that exemplify leadership, ethics and organization. Businesses are recognized for consistent community involvement, an excellent business reputation and established leadership in their fields.
Owner Don Fell said he was surprised and pleased by the award.
“I had no idea what the competition was about,” he said.
Fell founded the company 36 years ago with one helicopter.
Today, he operates the business with seven. And, though he is based out of Homer, Maritime works statewide, handling contracts that include the Alaska Volcano Observatory and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Work on polar bear studies has kept Maritime making frequent trips to the North Slope.
Nominated by Julie Woodworth at Wells Fargo Bank, Maritime Helicopters represents the first time the award has been given in Homer. Past winners include Rusts Flying Service of Anchorage, Alaska Riverways of Fairbanks, Mack’s Sports Shop in Kodiak and Rosie’s Bar and Grill in Pelican.
Maritime Helicopters has been in business since 1973, offering transport services and support to the marine, petroleum and construction industries. It owns and operates its own vessel – the 86-foot “Maritime Maid,” – which is equipped for helicopter operations.  The vessel and helicopters have operated from Homer throughout the Arctic, Western Aleutians and Southeast Alaska.  The company also operates six-passenger Bell 407, Bell Long Ranger and four-passenger Bell JetRanger helicopters from its hangars in Homer and Kodiak.

Sprucing up the Spit through improved parking

Newsroom — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:04:51 +0000

• Comprehensive plan seeks to maintain Homer Spit’s ‘unique character’ while considering future growth

By Sean Pearson
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - Pat Coleman goes over Spit findings and ideas at Thursday’s planning meeting at Land’s End.

The way Pat Coleman sees it, Homer has the cheapest parking in the world.
“Seriously, where else can you park free seven days a week?” he asked.
Coleman is senior planner with USKH Inc. – the Alaska-based planning and design firm the City contracted to assist in preparing a future development plan for the Homer Spit.
“Free parking on the Spit is a wonderful gesture, but its time has come,” Coleman said Monday. “You have to recognize the demand for parking and act accordingly.”
As part of the Homer Spit Comprehensive Plan, a second community planning workshop was held Thursday to provide an opportunity for community members to learn more about the project and provide input.
Following an informal open-house session in the afternoon that offered an opportunity to meet with USKH designers, view options and share ideas, Coleman gave a presentation and facilitated an evening public planning workshop.
“We laid out some large copies of aerial photos of the Spit on tables around the room,” Coleman explained. “Some had different concepts and ideas penciled in place, and we asked people to add their thoughts using the Post-It notes and pens we provided.”
According to Coleman, many participants said they liked being able to jot down their comments.
“I think it helped them feel like a part of the process,” he said. “The plans were something they could use as actual working documents.”

HOMER TRIBUNE/Sean Pearson - USKH Inc. used blueprints and aerial photos as working documents for those attending the meeting.

One issue Coleman said USKH heard a good deal of concern about was the parking on the Spit.
“Actually, parking issues are really a good problem to have,” Coleman said. “It means you are popular and have steady business. Parking is only really a bad problem if your lot is empty.”
Coleman and his crew set about studying the parking issue on the Homer Spit with clickers in hand on a sunny Friday.
“It was considered a busy, typical day on the Homer Spit, and we just started counting cars” he said. “We found that the paid parking near the boat ramps – the only of its kind on the Spit – is the least used.”
The study also indicated that parking on the Spit was up to 92 percent occupied in retail and ramp areas, and that gravel parking surfaces created numerous parking inefficiencies.
“We identified some parking management issues and looked at everything from relocating the Spit road, to an over-slope retail and boardwalk concept,” Coleman said. “I’ll be coming back down to Homer on Nov. 4 to present the framework plan to the Homer Planning Commission.”
The plan will be completed in the spring of 2010 and will address future land use, parking, pedestrian issues and conservation. It will also serve to guide future community decision-making on the Spit for years to come.
Coleman said he would still like to hear input from those who have issues, concerns or ideas regarding the use of the Homer Spit. His contact information, along with more information, is available at www.homerspitfutureplan.com.

Community ideas:
• Allow no more residential developments
• Mix/balance maritime industry with tourism
• Provide viewing areas for mammal and bird watching.
• Extend biking trail to the end of the Spit
• Offer kayak launch areas
• Improve access and condition of existing parks and open spaces
• Establish more parking

Parking Inventory and Count
• Counted Friday, July 10, 2009
• Approx. 1,343 spaces inventoried/counted every hour, all day.
• 1,023 vehicles occupied spaces at peak hours (2 p.m.)
• Up to 92 percent occupied in retail and ramp areas.
• 330 cars parked all day in various locations.

Parking management ideas
• Permit parking for slip rentals and employees
• Permit parking for long-term
• 4-hour free parking in key retail locations
• Separate long-term from short-term parking
• Compress existing boat trailer parking area
• Consider layout changes
• Create specific driveways to improve safety and efficiency
• Manage parking, adjusting policy to meet needs and demand