If the project fails to move forward, it could jeopardize federal support for more permanent flood mitigation, said City Manager Katie Koester.
Assembly member Neil Steininger asks questions about HESCO flood-fighting barriers at a meeting on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. But there’s been a lot of pushback about who should pay for the project, which has an estimated budget of $7.83 million.
If the city’s plan fails to gain enough public support, it’s possible that nothing will be done to curb flooding before next summer’s glacial outburst. The floods have been an annual occurrence for more than a decade, after the rapid retreat of the Mendenhall Glacier due to human-caused climate change created a glacial lake known as Suicide Basin. Each year, it fills with rain and meltwater before bursting downstream into the Mendenhall Lake and River.
That means 466 properties — six of which are owned by the city — would split the costs, with a nearly $8,000-per-household payment. A select few might have to pay even more — $50,000 — to armor their riverbank before barriers are installed. Many riverfront homeowners have already made major personal investments to armor the bank.
“If you asked me what the pulse is — are you hearing mostly ‘we don’t want this’? Mostly ‘we do want this’? It is pretty hard to tell,” Hughes-Skandijs said. “But if people don’t want this, I don’t want you to have this. So I have no interest in forcing this on you.” The city has repeatedly emphasized this plan is meant to be a temporary solution — a way to buy time for more permanent flood prevention proposals like draining Suicide Basin or constructing a levee around Mendenhall Lake. Representatives from the Corps’ Alaska branch have said that those options would be impossible to pull off before next summer.
Local Government Alicia Hughes-Skandijs Flood Fighting Plan HESCO Barriers Instagram Juneau Assembly Katie Koester Maureen Hall Sandra Edwardson U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers
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