Design of a rebuilt Lutak Dock narrowed to two options on Wednesday, but a decision on which to pursue may await discovery of how much funding is available, engineering firm R&M Consultants and borough officials said at a public meeting at the Chilkat Center.

“I think the conversation is going to come down to money for you guys,” said R&M’s John Daley. “I recommend you consider your funding alternatives. If you’re going to build it in-house with local funds, that’s going to push you in one direction. If you do get grants, why not go with what’s available?”

Community members as well as members of the borough’s Ports and Harbor Advisory Committee and Planning Commission focused on two options at the meeting: a $32 million design that encapsulates the existing structure with new, metal walls, and a $21 million option that replaces the structure with a rock slope, a ramp and mooring dolphins.

R & M is recommending the more expensive of the two designs, noting it’s less expensive than a $60 million option of rebuilding the existing structure and preserves space on the dock. Daley said Haines Borough staff also have endorsed the $32 million design.

Built in the 1950s by the federal government for a now-defunct military tank farm and pipeline, the earthen dock is primarily used by freight company Alaska Marine Lines and fuel distributor Delta Western. Corrosion has left the borough-owned structure with “major and severe damage with the possibility of localized failure,” Daley said.

Several people at the meeting expressed interest in the less expensive option. However, that removes an estimated 1.7 acres off the structure’s 3.9-acre working surface, eliminating space currently used by AML to stage trailers that carry container vans arriving on barges.

Daley said either of the two designs could accommodate AML and Delta Western, but the smaller dock surface might preclude some future uses of the dock. The structure already is about half the size needed to serve as an ore-shipping facility for mines, and cutting the surface area in half might eliminate some other future uses, he said.

Michael Ganey, local manager for AML, said after the meeting that the smaller design would force the company to stage its trailers off site, adding time to unloading. “It’s going to add a lot of time and it’s also going to be an issue with (fuel) truck traffic going through there” when Delta Western also is filling trucks at the dock, he said. “Losing that much space wouldn’t be fun.”

A possible hitch with the more expensive, encapsulation design is difficulty driving sheet piles around the edges of eroding, rock-filled “cells” that comprise the existing structure.

“It just looks like a lot of change orders waiting to happen,” said Rob Miller, a retired state DOT engineer who serves on the planning commission. Miller said the nature of the fill contained in the cells is unknown and may include boulders and hazardous materials.

“Let’s face it. You’re going to have to dig. You’re not going to drive a sheet pile through that stuff. I’m wondering how much cushion is in your numbers,” Miller said.

Daley responded that the project recognizes difficulty squeezing between the cells as a potential risk. The $32 million includes a 25 percent project contingency, as well as funds for some excavation and for removal of “closure arcs’ that might otherwise block installation of new walls, he said. “I’m not going to tell you that it’s easy or that there isn’t any risk, because there is.”

Planning commissioner Rob Goldberg said price would be “the main factor” for the community. “Looking at the preferred alternative, it’s great to have the acreage there and the multi-purpose dock. We’d like to keep that, I think, but the cost – unless we can get federal funding – is going to be prohibitive.” Goldberg suggested the borough look into acquiring pilings purchased by the state for use on the now-delayed Juneau Road project.

Other concerns included maintenance costs and the fate of the two rotting cells on the dock’s face, abutting a state-owned section of the dock used by the ferry system. Daley said modern cathodic protection would maintain the encapsulated dock much better than earlier efforts preserved the original structure, he said.

Interim Public Facilities Director Shawn Bell said the borough wants to ensure Delta Western and Alaska Marine Lines are still able to operate “even if it’s not ideal.” Each option has its benefits and shortfalls, he said. Wednesday’s meeting was the third one here on dock options.

The borough’s Ports and Harbor Advisory Committee was scheduled to take up the issue of dock design options at its meeting Thursday.

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