Residents in Homer are talking about the plans for large vessel expansion at the harbor called the Homer Harbor Large Vessel Expansion Project. The need for a large vessel harbor initially started in 2004 in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Alaska Department of Transportation to look at the feasibility and scope of the proposed project. South Kenai Peninsula Rep. Sarah Vance said that progress is being made so that $750,000 in funding for the port expansion study will be included in the Capital Budget.
Vance told KSRM’s “Sound Off” that this project is about more than just Homer:
“It’s a connecting point for a lot of communities in our Borough and this area. Our fishermen fish all over Alaska, but we are cram jam packed there and have been for quite some time. There’s, I believe, 416 boats on the waiting list and by expanding the deep-water port it will allow for the larger vessels like the famous Time Bandit, those size vessels are stacked up three and four deep in our small boat harbor and, by expanding that will allow for more larger vessels. It would allow for the Coast Guard to have a home port and us to be able to do a lot more work where vessels can stay home and do their dry dock instead of having to go all the way to Seattle. When the boats go to Seattle for their work, they spend about $250,000 each. This would definitely be an economic boost to our entire region and the marine industry.”
Rep. Vance said that she is working with the Dunleavy Administration to include funding for construction in the General Obligation bond package that would go before voters in the next statewide general election for approval. Vance said that next is a $30 million start of construction that would go in the General Obligation bond that would go before the people, which she says is moving through the Senate. If the GO bond does not get approved by the voters, the project would be capital project ask for the future.
Click here for more information on the project.