Flood protection is debuting at number one on the chart of the Juneau Assembly’s capital projects funding priorities during the Alaska Legislature’s upcoming session, hardly a shock given the air time the issue has gotten at public meetings and other discussions during the past several months.
A draft 19-item list that got preliminary approval from Assembly members meeting as the Finance Committee on Wednesday night gives its second-highest ranking to the proposed second Juneau-Douglas crossing, with Mendenhall Wastewater Facility upgrades ranked third.
The only item getting extensive discussion during Wednesday’s meeting was a proposed Capital Civic Center, which some members felt was ranked too low at 13, but went unchanged in the unanimous vote to send the list to the full Assembly for final approval at its Feb. 3 meeting. Prior to that it will get further review during a Jan. 23 meeting with Juneau’s state legislative delegation and a federal government lobbyist hired by the City and Borough of Juneau.
The rankings, based on the cumulative vote by Assembly members presented with an initial list at their annual retreat in December, also reflect changes in priorities in requests for state funds compared to a year ago.
A request seeking at least $30 million for “Glacial Outburst Flood Response, Mitigation & Preparedness” was entirely absent from last year’s list, for instance, despite a then-record flood from Suicide Basin on Aug 6, 2023, that damaged or destroyed about 40 homes. But flood protection has emerged as the Assembly’s biggest policy priority following an even bigger flood last August that damaged about 300 homes, setting in motion mitigation plans involving the federal government that could take at least a decade to implement and cost well in excess of $100 million.
The draft list adopted Wednesday ranking flood measures at the top simply makes the request for at least $30 million in state funds, along with noting the total cost of the project is “TBD” and the Assembly has to date approved $6.155 million for measures that include co-funding a study of long-term solutions as well as shorter-term mitigation plans.
At the top of last year’s list and dropping a spot this year is a second crossing between Juneau and Douglas Island that has been discussed for decades. However, it finally is at the point where a definitive alternative among several proposed locations is expected to be singled out by this spring for formal review, with a target completion date of construction by 2030.
The crossing is in the statewide Transportation Improvement Plan updated last year, with CBJ now projecting the cost between $300 million and $500 million, although the legislative list approved Wednesday asks for only $2 million to further the preliminary evaluation process.
Utility upgrades are another pressing issue for city leaders who say fees haven’t kept up with rising costs over a period of many years, resulting in a backlog of maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. Voters last October approved a $10 million bond for building upgrades at the Juneau Douglas Wastewater Treatment Plant in Thane, and is looking at steep increases in water and wastewater rates during the next five years. The third-ranked item in this year’s legislative priority list, moved up from fourth last year, seeks $6.3 million for “Mendenhall Wastewater Treat. Plant Compliance: Fats, Oil, and Grease & Grit Removal.”
Ranking next on the list are: 4) Telephone Hill Redevelopment ($2 million requested, second on last year’s list); 5) Pederson Hill Housing Development ($1.5 million, third last year); 6) Bartlett Emergency Department (ED) Renovation/Expansion ($2 million, ninth last year); 7) Aak’w Village District Parking ($38 million, fourth last year); 8) Juneau School District Security and Safety Upgrades ($2 million, 13th last year); 9) Lemon Creek Multimodal Path ($12 million, eighth last year); and 10) Statter Harbor Wave Attenuator ($5 million, 18th last year).
The proposed Capital Civic Center, at 13th on the list, is envisioned as a replacement for the Juneau Arts and Culture Center (and expansion of Centennial Hall). The new center has a total projected cost of up to $75 million, with about $25 million already committed including $8 million from CBJ, $10 million in marine passenger fees from cruise ships and $6.5 million raised by other donors. The list approved Wednesday by the Assembly repeats a request from a year ago (when the project ranked 11th) seeking $10 million in state funds to boost the case for a $35 million request in federal funds from Congress.
Some Assembly members said they wanted to see the center ranked higher on the request list because a show of financial support may be needed to secure the federal funds.
“I was shocked to see how low the Capital Civic Center was on this list,” said Christine Woll, chair of the Finance Committee. “In the past I’ve questioned how much money we have already invested in that project, but I do feel like if we’ve invested as much as we have in that project then we want that project to come to fruition. And I’m not sure it’ll come to fruition without federal dollars.”
Assembly member Wade Bryson, in response, said while his support for the civic center has fluctuated over time, at the moment he doesn’t favor making it a high priority after residents rejected bond measures for a new City Hall building in municipal elections in 2022 and 2023.
“Juneau voters just adamantly, two years in a row, told us we should not be building a new building,” he said. “I didn’t think this might be the most appropriate time to try and build a center.”
Assembly member Paul Kelly briefly proposed moving the center to 11th on the list, matching last year’s ranking, but withdrew the motion after it was noted during further discussion that all items on the list dropped at least one notch with flood protection topping the list.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
