At the 90 percent stage in drafting, the general site plan for Shoemaker Bay Harbor's new float system shows how the layout will be configured. Fingers A, B and C will accommodate 21- to 40-foot floats, with small craft stalls following the main float's outside. Larger craft will be able to pull in at the back end of Finger D, made possible by dredging. The net float will be relocated past the grid, further to the harbor's northern end.
Following a clean bill of health from contaminants testing of dredge material at Shoemaker Bay, the harbor restoration project looks to be continuing on schedule.
Department of Transportation and Public Facilities match grant funding in the amount of $5,000,000 was approved for the project in this year's budget, enabling replacement of the harbor's aging float network. The wooden float structure is in a deteriorated state, with one of its five finger piers currently unusable.
Wrangell Harbor Department's plan will be to replace these with a four-finger float of a more modern design. The first three fingers will be able to accommodate vessels currently moored at the harbor, with the fourth will feature larger stalls that can maintain 54- and 60-foot vessels, with dredging of parts of the northern end improving their access.
"Our latest delay to the project has been trying to determine whether the dredging material could be contaminated," explained Public Works director Amber Al-Haddad.
During discussions with members of the Assembly in November, city manager Lisa Von Bargen had informed them the matter of where to place dredged material had been overlooked in prior designs. The city is already conscious of soil contamination due to its recent experience with the state-led cleanup of the former Byford junkyard in 2016. Plans to store 18,500 cubic yards of lead-contaminated soil in a monofill last summer raised hackles with residents, who lobbied the Department of Environmental Conservation to find an alternative. The department has since put the project on hold, but is expected to resume work in April.
The Shoemaker dredging would bring up about 7,500 cubic yards of material, which the city plans to store at an upland monofill site near the public shooting range. Because wetlands would not be affected, Al-Haddad explained the city is under no obligation to test the material beforehand.
However, she said, "We have an obligation to the community to make sure it is not contaminated. Especially with the Byford soil issue a hot topic right now, we wanted to make sure we do our due diligence and do the right thing."
If the dredged material did prove to be contaminated, the city would be obligated to deal with it properly, which would inflate the cost of the overall project, already pushing $12 million. Despite the risk of added cost, Assembly members approved undertaking the testing. Admiralty Environmental LLC was contracted to test the material, and measured samples from the proposed dredge site for heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons.
"We went down and collected those down to a four foot depth, to make sure we got a good representative sample," said Al-Haddad. "All of those came back – a lot of them no detection – and a couple of them were very minimal."
The substances that were detected came back at marginal levels, compared to DEC thresholds. Lead came back at 1.5 milligrams per kilogram, for instance, compared to a 400 mg/kg threshold. Mercury was not detected at all.
With that given the all-clear, Al-Haddad said the city would proceed to make available its shooting range monofill for the contractor's use, should they need it. "We will be making that site available to the contractor as a disposal location option. They may choose to do something different with it, but it would be up to the contractor to figure out," she explained.
Now that that unknown has been cleared, the city will have a better idea about its project costs. A combination of harbor reserve funds and municipal bonds will cover the majority of it, which is being worked out by Wrangell's finance department.
"As soon as we get the bonding in place and we know that we're good to go, we'll release the project for competitive bidding," Al-Haddad said.
The completed bid packet could be ready by March, and once that process proceeds it is hoped that work can begin by September.
"This time of year it works good," explained Greg Meissner, Wrangell's harbormaster. "We have a lot more vacant space in the fall."
If sticking to schedule, work would likely wrap up before the following May. People currently mooring at Shoemaker would need to coordinate new spots to keep their vessels while the project goes on. Meissner said workshops would be scheduled and letters sent ahead of time. There would be some opportunity for stallholders to switch around to other harbor facilities on a permanent basis if they wanted, and for others to move into Shoemaker Bay.
Along with disposing of its dredging, project planners also need to contend with disposing of its old float materials. One way to approach that will be to sell off sections by auction. Meissner said a cry-out action was being scheduled for 2 p.m. on February 16, inside City Hall.
Eleven sections of dock will be portioned off and sold to the highest qualified bidder. Ahead of the bidding, Meissner said his department will go out and mark off and number sections, allowing prospective buyers to take a gander. Once purchased, auction winners would need to coordinate with the department to remove their sections ahead of the new float construction.
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