From water main improvements to fish cleaning tables, the 2016 major capital improvement projects in Homer are meant to support a wide range of industries and users.
The projects extend from the end of Spit right into the heart of downtown Homer. While some of the results are easy to see, like the Waddell Way – now Grubstake – expansion, others are a bit harder to find unless you’re looking for them.
Starting further afield, out on the Spit, the projects that were finished last year were meant to benefit industrial users, tourists, and locals alike.
Two of the main changes centered around the deepwater dock. The uplands improvements were funded by a state legislative grant.
“We were about to complete a feasibility study as to what the deepwater dock ought to be. We’d all kind of hoped that we’d have some container off-loading, a big crane, and a large expansion, but the economics just don’t make sense at this point," said Carey Meyer, director of the Homer public works department. "So, the money we did have, about $1 million, went towards that lay-down storage area, a cargo area, in support of the deepwater dock.”
The project included construction of a paved access road, demolition of the old wall around the chip pad, new fencing, lighting, and added security cameras, Meyer said.
In addition, there was a smaller project, coming in at about $120,000 funded by the cruise ship passenger head tax grant. It added cleats on the dock to help ship berthing and replaced the mooring buoy at the entrance to the small boat harbor.
Nearer to town, there’s a new Spit campground fee station, which cost about $5,000 out of the general fund plus labor.
“The one that used to be out a little bit further has continuously been damaged by erosion," said Meyer. "We finally said, ‘It’s time to get out of there.’ So public works equipment operators found a trailer. We built a cute little fee collection building, [and put] solar panels on top to provide just the amount of electricity we need to run our calculators.”
Over by the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon, there’s an upgraded fish cleaning area which includes a larger station that’s covered to prevent birds from interfering with people cleaning their catch. Those are improvements Meyer said locals especially wanted after similar changes went into place around the small boat harbor.
This spring, the harbor plans to install more tables, connect the site to water, and hang netting between the columns. The carcass trailer will also be moved into the enclosure. That whole project, which was funded by an Alaska Department of Fish and Game grant, totaled about $60,000.
In town, there was a $900,000 project funded by an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Environmental Protection Agency grant along with the Homer Accelerated Water and Sewer Program to improve the Shellfish Avenue and South Slope Drive water main.
The main benefit to that project was the added redundancy, Meyer said.
“As an example, the hospital could get water last year only from a water line that came down the bluff to them directly. The city has two of those. [There’s] another one coming down East Hill," explained Meyer. "So, by making that connection, if the west trunk ever failed, we can now serve the hospital and much of the residential area to the west of that with the other transmission main.”
There was also about $1 million in water and sewer main improvements along Kachemak Drive funded by the same grant programs.
Grinding and paving and other road rehabilitation work totaling about $425,000 was completed along East Bunnell, Beluga Place, Early Spring St., Clover Lane and Place, Hillview Place, Mullikin St., Kachemak Way, and Mark White Ave., funded by the Homer Accelerated Road and Trail Program.
Finally, crews installed a new 50,000-watt generator at the Homer Public Library, which was funded by a State Department of Homeland Security grant.
“The reason for that is during a disaster, which nobody likes to think about but we need to be prepared for, the library’s a significant public facility," said Meyer. "It could become a shelter.”
While these were the major projects completed in 2016, there are others around town that will continue to have work done in the years to come.
Especially during this time of statewide belt-tightening and small budgets, cities like Homer will likely continue to rely on grants to fund much of this work, Meyer said.