The Ports and Harbors Advisory Committee discussed the merits of taking ownership of a 40-year-old breakwater float in Ketchikan that’s scheduled to be replaced.
The Army Corps of Engineers owns the 960 square feet float that harbor master Shawn Bell told the board could have 10 to 15 years of life remaining. Bell said based on discussions with the Army Corps, the float would be free. The cost of transporting and installing the float, which comes in four, 24-feet-wide sections, and buying anchors would cost between $300,000 and $500,000. Bell said the breakwater could be useful for Letnikof Harbor.
“It piques my interest for Letnikof for sure, to be able to have some protection out there,” Bell told the board. “We’re getting a 40-year-old structure and reusing it. There’s a reason they’re replacing it to begin with so it begs the question: Is it worth it for us to mess around with it?”
According to CVN archives from 1992, a weather station measured wind speeds for more than three years as part of a study for the construction of a breakwater at Letnikof. Aside from the cost of the structure, its required size to be protected from the north winds, “one of the most thickest and deepest in the world,” was a factor in city officials’ decision to shelve the plan.
Bell told the board that the Ketchikan harbor master said the breakwater has some corrosion in the steel reinforcements and that the Army Corps in 2016 recommended replacing the breakwater in five to nine years in order to maintain the float’s function. Bell said the Army Corps likely made a conservative estimate on the breakwater’s estimated life span.
“Anything would be better than nothing. I think we could get some life out of it. I don’t know how much. They’re going to play it on the extreme safe side. It’s the Army Corps of Engineers. That’s what they do. I would guess that you’d get at least 10 to 15 years out of it.”
Ketchikan officials and the Army Corps are finalizing the project within a month, Bell said, and if the borough wanted to take ownership of the breakwater, decision makers would have to act fast.
Board member Norman Hughes asked for more specific design specifications and questioned whether the breakwater would hold up to Haines winters. He also said the cost of disposal of the breakwater should be considered.
“Winters are a lot different 300 miles north than they are in Ketchikan,” Hughes said.
Board member Diana Lapham said Bell should pursue discussions with the Army Corps and provide more details to the borough. The rest of the board agreed.
The board also discussed a draft vessel-storage agreement. Members disagreed whether the borough should allow vessel storage in the harbor parking lot, or borough facilities in general.
“I’m still in favor of having any vessel storage out at Letnikof as opposed to downtown,” Bell said. “There’s a need for storage. I don’t see why it couldn’t be accomplished out there.”
Board member Don Turner Jr. said the borough isn’t allowed to use the new parking lot for storage because of its funding source.
“When we built this, it was with sport fish money,” board member Don Turner Junior said. “It was not to be used for commercial storage. I (also) don’t think we should be competing with private enterprise.”
Hughes said the borough shouldn’t close itself off to vessel storage and that when the borough takes ownership of the parking lot, it’s free to use it how it wants.
“I don’t think we should block ourselves off from having potential storage or work areas in the future. I think it’s something we can discuss later. Having a tight group of boats parked on one edge that’s out of the way of snow removal and stuff would be great,” Hughes said.
The board made no official decision on the matter.