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.<\/p>\n
A draft 19-item list<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n A request seeking at least $30 million for “Glacial Outburst Flood Response, Mitigation & Preparedness” was entirely absent from last year’s list<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n At the top of last year’s list and dropping a spot this year is a second crossing<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n The crossing is in the statewide Transportation Improvement Plan updated last year<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n