Borough seeks river solutions

PALMER — In its continuing effort to use $2.5 million the state Legislature earmarked to help with troublesome rivers, the Mat-Su Borough has issued a request for proposals.

“Because we have this money and we do have the challenges in the (Matanuska) River, we’re going out and asking experts what we should do,” borough manager John Moosey said.

He said the notion of asking experts is straight forward, but it’s easier said than done.

Process-wise that involves seeking requests from proposals from companies that have ideas for how to address erosion and flooding issues.

“I think the whole issue is kind of confounding to everyone when you have $2 million. That’s a lot of money, but before you know it it’s gone,” Moosey said.

The borough didn’t seek the money from the Legislature; it came through unbidden. It was intended to address problems made all-too-apparent when waters rose in every major stream and river in the Valley in fall 2012.

A previous attempt to extend a current service area maintaining dikes in the Circle View area to cover other neighborhoods went down in flames at the borough assembly. Since then, the borough has moved on to other options.

One of the requests for proposals seeks plans for how to restore two flood-mitigation projects along the Matanuska River. One is near the river’s confluence with King’s River, the other near Ye Olde River Road in the Butte.

“In 1985, (the state) constructed five erosion control dikes in the area. Without maintenance, the structures have been eroded away by the river. Since 2010, the rate of erosion in the area has accelerated, threatening houses that have not already been destroyed, demolished/relocated,” the requests for proposals says of the King’s River site.

The Ye Olde River Road site is described thusly:

“In 1985 and 1989, (the state) constructed 2,000 (feet) of revetment from Maud Road to an area downstream of Ye Old River Road. In 1998, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough constructed an extension dike from the Old Glenn Highway at Maud Road to the upstream terminus of the revetment for flood control and access. Without maintenance, both structures have been breached by the river.”

Moosey said a lot is still unclear about even those somewhat specific projects. This is uncharted territory for the borough, which does nearly all of its construction on dry land.

“We’re kind of all over the board on this. It’s not like putting in the sidewalk from here to there,” he said.

Is it cost-effective to fix the dikes? Can the borough’s grant cover the costs? Can the borough even get authority to work in the river? Hopefully, those questions will be answered in the responses returned.

“It could be that if you do it one way, we don’t have authority; if you do it another way, you do have authority,” he said.

Originally, the borough set a Sept. 18 deadline on proposals, but borough purchasing officer Russ Krafft said, that deadline was extended.

“We got push back saying that it’s not enough time to go through and do all the work we need to do,” Krafft said. “We gave them until Nov. 4.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.