Historically, harbor use has centered around the west side of the Homer Spit, with the old Harbormaster’s Office in the middle of activity by Ramp 2. The new office is on Freight Dock Road next to the Seldovia Bay Ferry ramp.

“The thing I’m most excited about is it’s beginning the overslope development and opening up more of the land for parking,” said Catherine Ulmer, chairperson of the Port and Harbor Advisory Commission, referring to the east side.

Future development of the harbor would add another boat basin to the northeast. Ulmer pointed out the new building site would give the Harbormaster’s Office a view of the new and old harbor basins.

While the new site affects walk-up customers from the west side, Hawkins said a lot of business has been drive-up — or boat up. With a pull-in lane by the road to accommodate trucks and boat trailers, and with less congestion, parking will be easier at the new Harbormaster’s Office.

Budget realities meant changing an original, two-story design to a one-story, 4,800-square-foot building. However, the building is engineered to take a second story, and includes an elevator well that’s now a storage room. 

“I think they did a good job of scaling it back and making it affordable,” Ulmer said.

A simple wood-frame building, a curved wall on the harbor side evokes a nautical feel. With the outdoor deck, it looks like the bridge of a ship — or the starship Enterprise, Hawkins said. One employee said all it needed was the “NCC 1701” serial number of the spaceship from the Star Trek TV and movie series painted on the side. That nautical theme continues in the rough-wood design of the flooring and its art.

“It’s practical. It fits the character of Homer,” Ulmer said.

“It was the right project at the right time to bring us into the 21^st century and able to do business on a professional level,” said Kate Mitchell, president of the Homer Marine Trades Association

An outside arctic entryway will be open 24 hours a day, with racks for harbor information. A back door also offers an entrance for employees, but with a locking gate, can close off the hallway so the public and groups like the Port and Harbor Advisory Commission of the Homer Marine Trades Association can use a conference room outside of regular office hours. Harbor officials also can meet with customers there. Fold up conference tables can be pushed back to make space for safety training.

Just having a comfortable place to do business is an economic benefit, Mitchell said.

“You’ve got a major business group interested in your facility and you want to meet and they’re proposing multimillion dollar investments?” Mitchell said. “Having a good, clean decent place to have a meeting is probably a good thing.”

A broad public counter offers plenty of space for mariners to do business, with work areas for administrative assistants behind the counter. The harbormaster and deputy harbormaster both have private offices, and harbormasters have individual work stations. A break area on the northeast side leads to a locker room and bathrooms and, at the end of the hall, a garage and indoor work area. 

The new Harbormaster’s Office also represents a first for the city of Homer: the first public building designed and not retrofitted for natural gas heating.

Hawkins and Steiner’s North Star Construction will meet this week to review construction progress and what remains to be done. Steiner’s has until May 25 to finish the building, but is far enough ahead that harbor office staff could move in about April 25. Hawkins said the city plans a grand opening for the Memorial Day weekend.

“It’s a great time for us, this building process,” Hawkins said. “Folks are going to come back this spring and be blown away.”

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.