The Homer City Council greenlit a list of goals and priorities for the Homer Harbor Expansion project Monday night — the city’s latest step forward on the multi-million dollar plan. But it will be months before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers picks a design alternative and longer still before it wraps up its feasibility study for the major project.
Homer’s nearly 60-year-old port and harbor need an upgrade, the city says, due to a growing need for moorage for small and large boats. The city attributes that need to growing industries like fishing and tourism, and has been looking into an expansion since 2008.
Back then, the Army Corps of Engineers decided the project wasn’t economically justifiable and didn’t go forward with the project. But since then, the city has argued the need for expansion has increased. And the corps agreed in 2019, deciding the project was justifiable at a price tag of $72.5 to $81 million.
The Corps got started on a new feasibility study this spring, and started holding public meetings last month. On Monday, the Homer City Council adopted a charter document drafted by the city and engineering firm HDR that outlines the city’s vision for the project, to “enhance Homer’s maritime opportunities in a fiscally, environmentally, and socially responsible manner for the benefit of all.” The charter also outlines a list of goals and objectives for the project, ranging from relieving transportation congestion to bringing in green energy and infrastructure.
Those potential social and environmental impacts have been sticking points for some Homer residents and conservation groups, who have raised concerns at meetings and in op-eds about whether infrastructure around the community can handle the fallout of expansion, as well as concerns about rising project costs and ecological impacts. The Army Corps of Engineers will consider potential environmental impacts as part of its project review; Homer Port and Harbor Commissioner Brian Friend said Monday the commission will incorporate additional ecological studies from the Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve to evaluate potential impacts to coastal habitat.
Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers is mulling over a dozen design alternatives for the project, and aims to pick one by the end of the year, according to a June 6 update included in the city manager’s report. The three-year study is costing $3 million, divided between the city, state and federal government. The city says there will be more opportunity for public comment on the project moving forward.
Budget vote postponed
Separately, at Monday’s meeting, the city council did not approve a budget for the next two fiscal years, after Mayor Ken Castner said he was concerned about the city having less unassigned money in its general fund pool as the city allocates more of that money into other pots. Castner said the unassigned fund is expected to head into the red next year, and that the city is planning to spend money from that pool that it doesn’t have.
The council agreed to take a look at potential cuts at work sessions next Monday and the Monday after that, with a final vote to come at its next meeting on June 26.
