Borough elected officials will meet Wednesday evening to begin selection of a Lutak Dock concept. 

Moffatt & Nichol, the borough’s contracted advisors on the dock project, will present three potential design concepts at the joint meeting of the borough assembly, planning commission and Ports and Harbors advisory committee.

One of the design concepts is essentially a more limited version of the design done by previous dock contractor Turnagain Marine, Moffatt & Nichol project lead Paul Wallis said last month. 

Like the Turnagain design, the concept would build a new dock face in front of the existing dock, also known as encapsulation. Unlike the Turnagain design, it proposes a structure far smaller than the existing dock, with the rest of the old section demolished and replaced with rock pile, also known as rip-rap. 

The other two concepts would demolish the existing dock and replace it with a new type of structure. One would rebuild a new, flat, dock face, also known as a bulkhead, for barges to tie up to. The other would trade a flat dock face for a loading ramp on a float, allowing barges to unload over rip-rap. 

Borough officials will evaluate the concepts according to criteria approved by the assembly last month. Those criteria generally concern cost, functionality, safety, and risk for environmental contamination. 

According to the borough’s project schedule, the assembly will select its top choice of the three concepts at an April 28 meeting. From there, Moffatt & Nichol engineers will further refine the concept through June. Wallis told the Ports and Harbors Advisory Committee last month that the refinement will include “looking at some dollars and dates and things like that.” 

At the moment, none of the concepts include cost estimates. Wallis has told both the assembly and Ports and Harbors that all the concepts will be feasible within the borough’s total unspent dock funds — roughly $22 million, according to a March 24 memo from borough manager Alekka Fullerton. 

The borough and Moffatt & Nichol representatives stressed that the contractor will stop short of designing the structural details of a new dock. Wallis has said that work on the preferred concept will outline the design parameters, including overall shape and functionality requirements. 

Then, the concept will go out to bid, and another company will be selected to complete the design and construct the dock. 

If all goes according to plan, that design and construction contractor is scheduled to be selected at the end of July. 

Wednesday’s meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Haines Borough Assembly Chambers.