Palmer, Borough keep wary eyes on Matanuska erosion

Frontiersman

MAT-SU — There’s something eating away at Palmer, and city council is hoping to find a sympathetic ear in state government.

Council has adopted an ordinance calling on the state to help address erosion along the Matanuska River. In addition to erosion relief, council outlined a need to protect public facilities and establish a river management authority.

An immediate concern for Palmer is river erosion threatening the city’s wastewater treatment plant, Palmer City Manager Bill Allen said. The plant is near the river and there is potential for erosion, if left unchecked, to damage or even destroy the multimillion-dollar plant.

“We need to develop a plan to protect our infrastructure,” Allen said, adding the treatment plant is not the only issue created by erosion. Private property is also threatened.

Palmer is taking steps to address its disappearing riverbank and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough is in the process of drafting a similar resolution, said Eileen Probasco, acting chief of planning for the Borough.

Erosion creates challenges for the Borough as it plans transportation corridors through the area, Probasco said. Also, the Glenn Highway and other roadways near the river could eventually be compromised if erosion isn’t addressed.

As the bank is swept away or river channels meander in new directions, the future of the Matanuska, and surrounding land, is hard to predict, Probasco said. Along with transportation problems, the Borough Platting Division faces a similar set of problems.

“What our challenge is right now is that we don’t have any studies or maps that identify those areas as potential risks,” Probasco said.

Current problems aside, the Borough also has a long history of dealing with Matanuska River erosion. In 1992, the Borough built four spur dikes in the river to help reduce erosion upriver from the Butte area. The dikes had to be rebuilt in 2005 due to a less-than-satisfactory building materials and technique.

With increasing erosion near the Butte area, the Borough hired Wilder Construction Co. in 2006 to build an additional dike to protect the riverbank and area residents. The 2006 project included 14,000 cubic yards of rock and other material to construct the 400-foot dike at a cost of about $585,000.

Although several dikes are in place to divert water from problem areas, Probasco said they aren’t a long-term solution.

“They seem to be effective to the extent of where they’re at,” she said, adding the diversion often causes problems in other areas.

Also in 2006, the Mat-Su Borough began a process to acquire at-risk residential property along the river. At the time, the areas of concern were located within Sutton and the Circle View subdivision. The federal government provided $594,000 to help with the acquisition process.

Despite past erosion projects, both the Borough and Palmer agree a new planning process is necessary and the state needs to play a part in the solution, Allen said. Overall, the resolutions provide a starting point where city, Borough and state entities can begin a collaborative effort to address erosion along the Matanuska River, he said.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.