Hoonah wants to join large swath of Southeast to create new Alaska borough

JUNEAU — The city of Hoonah wants to legally join an area of land to form what would be the biggest borough in Southeast Alaska, officials said.

Hoonah filed a petition earlier this month for a technical review by the Local Boundary Commission of its proposed Xunaa Borough, The Juneau Empire reported Tuesday.

The community of about 800 residents located 40 miles southwest of Juneau wants to join an area of more than 35,000 square miles.

"We're reasserting our territorial claim to the Icy Strait area," said Hoonah City Administrator Dennis Gray Jr.

The Xunaa Borough would include Icy Strait, Glacier Bay, a portion of the Chatham Strait, parts of Chichagof Island, and Excursion Inlet. The boundaries also include portions of the Haines and Sitka boroughs.

The proposed borough excludes the cities of Gustavus, Tenakee Springs and Pelican. The exclusion is due to unsuccessful attempts to create new boroughs in 1999 and 2007 involving other cities, Gray said.

"With our borough boundary drawn the way it is, they can join at a later date if they want to, or join someone else if they want to," Gray said.

Hoonah is pursuing a borough to capture more revenue for its school district, Gray said.

"We believe based on our forecast it would be about $900,000 extra for the school district," he said, noting that the current budget is about $3.3 million

Haines and Sitka officials said they were aware of the proposal but did not comment in more detail.