Little impact expected from Corps closure

WASILLA — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has shut its Mat-Su office, but local contractors and public officials don’t seem to mind.

At the city of Wasilla, Public Works Director Archie Giddings said city projects usually bring in consultants who, in turn, work with the Corps. The city, therefore, has very few dealings with the Corps at its Wasilla office. Smaller operations might have found the office useful, he suggested.

But a handful of contractors reached late Friday didn’t seem to have much of an opinion and the Mat-Su Home Builders Association reported no upset members.

Over at Howdie Inc., owner Todd Nugent said that whenever he has to work with the Corps on wetlands issues he’s dealt exclusively with the Anchorage and Seattle offices.

“I’ve never really dealt with the Corps’ local office in my career,” Nugent said.

The Corps is where contractors and construction professionals have to go if they want to do anything with wetlands — like build a road through them or fill them in for any reason — or build structures in navigable waters. The Mat-Su office was opened in 2008. The closure was announced Monday and was effective Wednesday.

Corps Spokeswoman Pat Richardson said the short notice wasn’t intentional. Some Corps employees were on vacation last week. They’d meant to get the word out sooner. Her hope is people with regular Corps business had heard the news already when stopping by the office and talking to employees.

“If you hadn’t been into the office and talked to us recently you wouldn’t know,” she said.

As for the reason for the closure, she said it was a funding issue. The Corps has lately been opening field offices to try to make itself more accessible, but that program probably grew too fast too soon. This year, she said, the Corps realized it would either have to lay off employees or shut down the field office. So the Corps chose the latter.

“We will continue to serve the Mat-Su Valley through our Anchorage office and we have that toll free number,” she said. That would be 1-800-478-2712.

A lot of this kind of work can be accomplished nowadays over the phone or via e-mail, she said. The field office was an attempt to add a personal touch to the process. The office was a full-service shop with three employees offering everything a person would need to get from the Anchorage office.

The Corps said that anyone who needs to deal with its Regulatory Division can still do so at the office in Anchorage, 1600 A Street, Suite 110, or the main office on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

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