The borough is applying for a $1.166 million state grant to go toward replacing the harbor float at Meyers Chuck. The 400-foot-long float is 57 years old, supported by steel pilings almost 40 years old, according to information presented at the July 11 borough assembly meeting.
Assembly members approved the application for state funding.
The float “has been in a poor and deteriorated condition for many years and needs to be replaced,” said a report to the assembly prepared by Amber Al-Haddad, Wrangell’s public facilities director.
Total cost of the harbor work is estimated at $2.332 million. The state grant would cover half the cost. The required 50% local match would come from the borough’s Ports and Harbor Enterprise Fund Reserves, which held about $3 million as of the end of the past fiscal year on June 30. Some of the reserve fund is restricted for use on the Meyers Chuck project.
In 2008, when Wrangell expanded to a borough instead of a city, it took in Meyers Chuck as part of the borough. State law requires that a new borough include at least two communities. Meyers Chuck, population about 20, is 50 miles south of Wrangell. The state transferred ownership of the harbor to the borough in 2014.
“The project would include a complete replacement of the existing moorage system with a wood-decked float structure, replacement of steel piles … replacement of the gangway for ADA compliance and a small shelter,” according to the summary prepared for the assembly. There are no utilities to the float.
The plan is to replace the 400-foot float with a 200-foot-long structure, said Steve Miller, Wrangell port and harbors director. “I don’t think they probably ever fill it out with their own vessels,” he said of the small community.
Frequent users of the float, Miller said, are yachts and other private boats that stop over in Meyers Chuck as a halfway point on cruises between Ketchikan and Wrangell.
The state budget for the fiscal year that started July 1 includes $16 million for municipal harbor grants, with applications due Aug. 5.
The borough will continue to look for other grant funds to help pay for the project.
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