Homer planning commission asked to name Spit erosion, public works campus and harbor floats as top capital projects

Homer's planning commission is set Wednesday to tell the city council that protecting the Homer Spit from erosion belongs among the city's top capital priorities for the next six years.

Erosion on the 4.5-mile peninsula threatens state, local and federal infrastructure, according to the city's draft capital improvement plan. The Spit road is part of the National Highway System and serves as a critical evacuation route. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has committed $750,000 toward the work through its Clean Water State Revolving Fund, including $500,000 the city will not have to repay. The record does not give a total cost.

The commission would also recommend replacing critical floats at the Homer Harbor and building a new public works campus.

The city prices full float replacement at $60.2 million. A first phase, $2.2 million for design, engineering and permits, covers 61-year-old sections of Float System 4 — safe moorage for a third of the port's 2,192 annual vessels — and 576 feet of new transient moorage. Homer has secured $1.1 million toward that phase from a Denali Commission grant.

The record does not say where the public works campus would go or what it would cost.

Three projects raised at the commission's Aug. 5 work session did not make the list: a comprehensive drainage management plan, harbor expansion and the first phase of a fire hall expansion. The city has nine priority projects in all, and all but the fire hall are among them.

No one commented on the capital plan Aug. 5. The record holds no views from harbor users, Spit road residents and businesses, or public works employees.

The commission meets at 6:30 pm Wednesday in the Cowles Council Chambers, with public comment capped at three minutes. The draft plan will not be reprinted for the meeting; staff has asked anyone wanting to review the projects to bring the previous packet.