An agreement was signed by the City of Kenai to enter the design phase of the Kenai Bluff Erosion Project, with design work now set to begin later in 2020. According to Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander, the project, a long sought-after solution to the disappearing chunks of land hovering over Kenai beaches, is making major progress.
Ostrander told KSRM News on Wednesday that events of the past week have been encouraging, and show a clear path towards putting this project on track for actual construction: “I signed the PED agreement, which is the agreement with the Corps of Engineers that allows the design of the project to commence. On Monday, the district commander for the Alaska District of the Corps of Engineers signed, on their behalf. So, as of Monday, the PED agreement is fully executed. That allows the design of the project to begin. Prior to that, a feasibility report was done by the Corps which looked at five different scenarios – five different options for the Bluff Erosion Project. It determined the number one approach to constructing the stabilization project.”
With this progress, Ostrander discussed what this means for the timetable of the project: “The design is intended to take the proffered option through the design phase of the project. So, the design is intended to take about one year, starting this week. So, it should be completed some time next year, and it will be taking that preferred alternative, which is essentially a riprap structure that’s placed at the tow of the bluff. Once the design is completed, then we will be looking for federal funding to actually begin construction of the project, which would be the last and final phase of the project.”
He also addressed the financial considerations behind how construction can begin: “The construction portion of it, and actually the design portion of it as well, is paid for 65% with federal funds and 35% with non-federal. In this case, that’s City of Kenai funds. So, for the design to begin, it’s going to require that the federal government commit to their 65% and the Corps of Engineers will allocate those funds to the Kenai Bluff Stabilization Project. Once they have allocated the funds, then the city needs to secure our 35%, and then construction can begin.”
Finally, the City Manager says this project spells good things for Old Town Kenai, for the first time in a long time: “One of the primary drivers of this project has always been the fact that capital investment in Old Town has really been non-existent for at least the past couple of decades. Private businesses and private individuals have been unwilling to invest any capital in an area of the city that’s eroding at three-feet per-year. By stabilizing this bluff and providing an assurance to those folks that the bluff will not continue to erode, that it will be stabilized, it will spur private development in that portion of the city that we haven’t seen, again, in several decades. So, this is critically important to capital investment in, what I think, is probably the premiere location in the City of Kenai.”