By WIN GRUENING
During meetings in Juneau last week, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) officials said it will likely take a decade or more to research and implement a long-term solution to Mendenhall River flooding.
This was not what Juneau homeowners wanted to hear.
When asked why it takes so long to conduct the modeling and studies required, officials pointed to bureaucracy as the problem. “There’s a lot of agencies involved. There’s the reality of the process of government and democracy, how fast it moves.”
USACE, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, NOAA, the National Weather Service, and the EPA were examples of agencies that must weigh in.
USACE officials noted that Juneau’s flood mitigation project is only one of many they are working on, and their resources are limited by their budget and staffing.
That’s not to suggest that nothing is happening. The meetings last week focused on short-term mitigation measures that city officials are considering.
USACE has offered to provide four miles of HESCO barriers for free that would be used to block potential flooding along the Mendenhall River. Last month the Assembly approved spending $2 million toward the cost of installing the first phase of the project, now estimated at $7.8 million (including periodic maintenance and removal).
It’s possible the cost could be lower depending on available government programs or grants.
The exact design and placement of the barriers is undetermined and dependent on preliminary modeling/maps that should be available prior to the proposed HESCO barrier installation next March. These studies are important since some fear that partial safeguards could result in moving flood water to a different area of the river where there is less protection.
Most barriers would be placed on private riverfront properties, possibly for as long as ten years. Concerns and objections have been voiced, not the least of which is who bears the cost. The Assembly has introduced an ordinance proposing to split the entire cost 50-50 between the city and affected homeowners through an established Local Improvement District. About 466 homeowners, identified by flood inundation maps as being at risk in the event of a 16-foot flood event, would pay about $8,000 each as part of the proposed LID.
Community feedback will determine whether the LID is approved but the process will delay a final decision until next March.
Regardless of the placement, repayment structure, and final approval of the HESCO barrier project, affected homeowners are looking at the prospect of waiting 10 years or longer for a permanent resolution. They will find it extremely difficult to improve or sell their home while living under the threat of a catastrophic flood.
One citizen group that was formed in response to this emergency, Juneau Flood Solution Advocates, now includes several hundred members. They are actively working to “unite the flood-affected community of Mendenhall Valley in response to the challenges posed by glacial outbursts.”
This group’s primary concern is with the length of time it will take to study, design, and construct a long-term solution. City leaders have proceeded slowly and taken the position they must accept USACE recommendations. This seems overly cautious given that the assessed value of residential structures at risk approaches $1.5 billion.
Why accept at face value that a long-term general investigative study will cost $6 million and take five years or more to complete?
Why investigate solutions such as tunneling through mountains or bombing glaciers that are risky and unlikely to work?
Selecting one or two solutions (a Mendenhall Lake levee and diversion channels, for example) which have been proven successful elsewhere could cut study time and cost dramatically.
Yet, the Juneau officials have committed $3 million in matching funds for this $6 million study that is now stuck in limbo because funding to complete it hasn’t been secured.
Where is the sense of urgency? Can city officials not forcefully advocate for a legislative solution to bypass the bureaucratic foot-dragging inherent in projects like this? Perhaps the Assembly could consider drafting a resolution to our Congressional delegation to begin negotiations for an alternative approach that cuts cost and time.
Juneau homeowners cannot afford to remain solely at the mercy of government agency red tape and timetables.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
“Help Us O Government!”, cried the Conservatives and Libertarians, the minute their real estate interests were under threat. Apparently Government is big and bad, except for the department they need to bail them out.
Ya know you just have to go negative, don’t ya, WT? It’s government that is in the way, so big it can’t solve the basic problems government was meant to solve, such as life and safety. This should have been fixed a year ago, but no, government in this day and age is unable to move, it is so bloated. So now we can just watch Juneau wash away. Too bad we just can drop a bomb on that area that dams up and call it “good enough for government work,” but people like you would scream murder about how we’d be killing the poor little rocks in that area of the glacier. You beclown yourself, Whidbey.
You know, maybe I shouldn’t go negative, but sometimes it’s hard not to. If you want to talk about negativity, though, just read through the comments section on this website on a daily basis. What you will see is endless criticism of government by those who don’t want to pay for it, who aren’t a part of it, and who don’t contribute in any way to try to make it better. When I read through stories and opinions on this website, there is an endless stream of people who do nothing but criticize the actions of their government. Nothing will satisfy them. No action is good enough. Every action is bad. Corruption is everywhere. Laziness is endemic. You know, I really get tired of hearing that. If you think about it, government is comprised of people just like us – probably some are your neighbors – going to work every day and trying to do a good job. How would you feel if your efforts at work were subject to a withering stream of criticism regardless of how good or effective they actually were? So I stand in defense of government. No, it is not perfect. Yes, it can be improved. But it still improves your life in ways that you do not even realize. Yet it receives nothing but derision. It’s the hypocrisy that grates, actually. It’s the hypocrisy.
When the government won’t get out of the way of simple flood control you know you got problems. I didn’t hear anyone ask the government for anything but a permit to do something whidbey.
Actually, the vast majority of residents of Juneau vote neither conservative nor libertarian. If you actually lived here you would know that.
You are correct about that, but my comments were not directed at them. They were directed at the people who read and comment in MRAK, who mostly are Conservative and Libertarian.
So, your point is if I read this article, and I am conservative I am a hypocrite because a left leaning community wants government action. What if I didn’t read this article?
Last time I checked the conservatives and libertarians pay taxes for those relief agencies the same as leftists do; perhaps even more so since the more one makes the more one pays. Your point seems quite pointless.
As in avalanche control, would monitoring the holding areas that accumulate the flood waters and “blasting” the ice dam – much like shelling the snow-retaining slopes – mitigate the worst consequences in the short term?
I once considered building a home on riverfront property, but thank goodness, common sense prevailed. The risks outweighed the aesthetic benefits.
Where was the stick in the mud bureaucracy when the permits were pulled for developing subdivisions and condos in a flood zone?
Placing rip rap and concrete to direct water is definitely high tech. Let’s study it until all the money is gone to actually solve the problem then we can study it again. Meanwhile people’s homes are floating out to sea. In the mat su years ago the bureaucracy was so bad we actually let homes that could have been saved fall in the river and float away. And the environmental nit wits were ok with this destruction.
I think all our elected officials live downtown so they’re not affected. FEMA does offer flood insurance but you still live under the threat of flooding. Probably not catastrophic flooding but deep enough to fill your house with silt and mud. Juneau would rather spend funds on whale statues, old gondolas, and million dollar electric buses that don’t work.
Juneau gets what they voted for. I hope they have local taxes to pay for that and they’re not taking it out of state funds.
Better yet do nothing you liberals. It’s just a little water. It won’t hurt nobody.
Juneau have voter apathy and with many positions there is no Republican running. Of course with mail in voting and the secret tabulation building on the outskirts of town, not much chance of winning.
Only Washington D.C. has more Government bureaucrats than Alaska, so much red tape and litigation that nothing happens at a competitive pace maybe this is why in part Alaska is at the bottom of the Fraser Institute Ranking of places to produce oil and gas in North America.
We have everything going for us but can’t complete anything. Thanks to bureaucrats.
Well, we bail out the stupid people who build on the shoreline in hurricane alleys. We might as well bail out the idiots who build in a flood plain,,, again and again. Who’s stupid?
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