The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is accepting public comment on the Haines Borough’s application for a “408 permit” for the Small Boat Harbor expansion project.

The permit is a new requirement for any structure tying into an existing Army Corps project. The borough learned of the mandatory permit in October, and has since been working to clear the obstacle and move the project forward.

The Port and Harbor Advisory Committee is holding a meeting Thursday, May 5, at 10:30 a.m. to put together its comments.

The permit is required because the project’s sheet-pile wave barrier ties into the rubble mound breakwater and navigational channel the Army Corps built in the harbor decades ago.

The Corps is looking for comments on the project’s potential effects on the federal investments, not some of the other elements of the project that have been causing local controversy, interim borough manager Brad Ryan said.

“It’s none of the comments like, ‘Well, you didn’t do an economic analysis,’ or ‘The parking lot is too big.’ You could be commenting on the wave environment in the harbor or outside the harbor, those kinds of things,” Ryan said.

Once the 408 permit is issued, the borough can pursue an Army Corps 404 permit, Ryan said.

Members of the public can comment by visiting http://www.poa.usace.army.mil and clicking on “Haines Harbor Sec. 408” under “Hot Info.”

Ryan said he is looking at the project to break ground in spring or summer of 2017.

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