Residents at the Kenai Bluff Erosion meeting last night heard little new information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Administrators recapped the project’s history to date and answered questions about why it’s taken more than a decade to start the feasibility study.
Project Manager David Martinson said a 2010 technical study was completed, which recommended sloping the bluffs and adding a rock “rip rap” base to break waves. But at that point the Army Corps didn’t believe the project fit within their duties. That changed with a recent Section 116 approval… the first of its kind.
Martinson: “The reason why it didn’t before was the assumption and the appearance was [the problem] was groundwater. Then as we’ve done the technical report, that’s when we discovered there’s more of a coastal issue with this, as far as what the problem is. The other element was the evaluation process that the government says, ‘Should we get involved with this or not? Is it feasible or not?'”
This feasibility study will be the document the federal government uses to weigh the pros and cons of agreeing to finance the project. If approved, the City of Kenai will be responsible for 35% of the project’s $43 million cost; a sum of $15 million.
The Army Corps spent the last two days in Kenai going back to the drawing board, investigating all possible alternatives, with the 2010 recommendation just one of the options they’ll consider.
Martinson said a possible construction timeline is still years away. The only thing which has kept this project moving forward is…
Martinson: “The City’s tenacity, going in and just sayin, ‘Help us, help us!'”
Mayor Pat Porter only had one comment…
Mayor Porter: “Get it done and help us get the money, because we have our share. Let’s be an example to the rest of the nation.”