The City of Kenai is scheduled to enter into a Project Partnership Agreement with the Department of the Army for the administration and construction of the Kenai Bluff Bank Stabilization Project at a public signing event on September 25, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. at the Kenai Senior Center.
Execution of the partnership agreement will allow the project to be released for bid by qualified construction contractors. Construction will likely occur in 2024 and 2025. The agreement represents decades of work and commitment by Kenai residents, the Kenai Mayor and City Council members and former mayors and City Council members, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan and former Alaska Congressional Delegations, Governor Mike Dunleavy and former governors of Alaska, current and former Kenai Peninsula legislators, and current and former City Managers and City staff.
Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel said, “The signing of this agreement is a significant milestone for Kenai and represents decades of work and commitment by countless members of the Kenai community and our representatives. We welcome the community to attend the signing of the partnership agreement and celebrate this event that puts us closer than ever to seeing the Bluff Stabilization Project come to fruition.”
The project was allocated $37,450,000 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation of 2022, and the City received and appropriated $9.7 million in State of Alaska funding to reach sufficient match funding to support the project, estimated to cost $41,604,000.
Discussion of erosion of the bluff at the mouth of the Kenai River can be found in City Council Meeting Minutes dating back to 1963, and a project to stabilize the Kenai bluff has been recognized as the City’s number one capital priority for over 30 years. The approved project design includes the construction of an estimated 5,000 linear feet of rock revetment consisting of an armored stone berm along the receding north bank of the Kenai River. Construction of this berm will create a condition that allows the bluff to stabilize over time.
A resolution authorizing the City Manager to enter into the partnership agreement is scheduled for the September 20 Kenai City Council meeting.
