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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-03-21 KRSMA Board PacketSpecial Managem®nt krea "Working together..Jor the river" *** Meeting Agenda*** Thursday, March 21, 2002 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO OI2DEI2 A. Roll Call B. Apprcval of 2121102 nlinutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC C®MMENT III. NEW BUSINESS /1Db~~OQ~7 ~ OQG3D ~ n ~~ ~ ~ .,~ R~~~~l a r, ri M A. Mike Lilly, Alaska Water Resources Association Meeting Announcement B. Forest Legacy Program, Evie Witten IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Boat Wake Study - Phase II Discussion, Dave Meyers, USGS B. Recreation Use Study Committee -Report and Recommendations, Chris Degernes C. Kenai River Nutrient Study Public Outreach Committee D. Kenai River Center Update, Suzanne Fisler ~. PLI3LIC COMMENT VI. ADJOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting Committee Meetings: 3/21/02: 5:00 p.m. Kenai 12iver Nutrient Study Public Outreach Committee Meeting, KRC Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-5581 Kenai F~ninsula Borough. Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 262-4441 i p Alaska Division of Parks and Outtloor Recreation, Depadment of Natural Resources, in cooperailon with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Thursday, February 21, 2002 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center L CALL TO ORDER A. Roll Call Present: Tim Navarre, Rick Wood., Ann Whitmore-Painter, Jim Hall for Robin West, Bill Shuster, Lance Trasky, Linda Snow, Chris Degernes, Deric Marcorelle, Joe Connors, Ted Wellman, Brett Huber, Charles Quarre, David Westerman Absent: Janette Cadieux. Jim Golden. Paul Shadura B. Approval of 1/17!02 minutes Approved as written. C. Agenda Changes and Approval Addition of item C under New Business will be a Board of Fish update by Brett Huber. II. PUBLIC COMMENT iv one III. NEW BUSINESS A. Board Elections Nominations for President: Ted Wellman nominated by Ann Whitmore- Painter. Motion seconded by Linda Snow. Vice Chair: Brett Huber nominated by Joe Connor. Motion seconded by Rick Wood. Both nominations were approved by unanimous consent of the board. B. Seward Highway MP 18-25 and Soldotna Urban Project Proposals, Laurie Mulcahy, DOT Environmental Team Leader, John Dickinson, DOT Project Manager, Judy Dougherty, DOT Project Manager The Seward Highway Project has been divided into 4 sections. The milepost 8-18 is completed, the milepost 0-8 will be done this year and the Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 21,2002 Page 1 of 6 milepost 25-36 is in the early stages of design with construction slated for 2005. Tonight's presentation addressed the MP 18-25 section. John Dickinson, DOT's Project Manager provided an introduction to the MP 18-25 project. The Snow River overflow channel and the main channel bridges will be widened to provide wider shoulders. The major changes within the project include passing lanes, new bridges and a railroad crossing overpass. The project construction ends adjacent to Lower Trail Lake. Because the construction area is between mountains, lakes and the Snow River, the alignment will be similar to the existing road for much of the project area. In the Crown Point area, the existing highway will end up being a frontage road. Additionally, the road will be elevated to cross the railroad tracks to avoid having a crossing on Che highway. Some sections of the railroad Cracks will need to be relocated. The Crown Point airstrip may be raised 20-30 feet, improving the clearance between the road and airstrip. This will also be a good area to waste the tremendous amount of rock material that is excavated during the project. DOT is working on locating a gravel source as the rock that will be excavated is of poor quality and cannot be used as road bed material. It is possible that gravel from the Snow River flats will be used. All the bridges will be replaced except the Snow River bridges, which will be widened only.A bike trail will be constructed from Che north end of the project to Che frontage road near Crown Point and then continue from the south end of the frontage road to the Kenai Lake overlook. Dickinson said no retaining walls are planned unless necessary. At the south end of Lower Trail Lake, a new parking area, rest room and boat ramp is planned. This will replace a defacto site currently in existence. DOT will need an agency to take on the management of this site. Dickinson stated that DOT would provide additional information to the Board as the plans are developed. Judy Dougherty, DOT's Project Manager for the Soldotna Urban Proposal, provided information on this project to the Board next. Phase 2 will complete the work done last summer to upgrade the Sterling Highway through Soldotna by replacing and widening the Kenai River bridge and improving the highway in this vicinity. It is expected that this will be a 2- year project with advertising starting September 2003. The K-Beach intersection will get minor adjustments and widening and the bridge will be widened to 5 Lanes with a raised median occupying the center lane, and pedestrian walkways on each side. The primary concerns Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 21, 2002 Page 2 of 6 will be to maintain traffic flow while protecting the Kenai River during the construction. The plan is to retain the existing structure, making it seismically sound, and widen the piers. "Cofferdams" will be used to provide dry areas for constructing the pier expansions. A sediment basin located on Riverside Drive is proposed to be used as a settling pond for pumping out the coffers, and later as part of the storm drain water treatment program. The existing storm drain will be routed to the sediment basin during construction so as not to impact the River Terrace Cleanup project. The challenge will be finding a sensitive way to design this project. There will be a public meeting on March 11 to discuss the process with the public. Judy said the navigability for recreational users is a big issue along with the thought of whether a temporary bridge might be needed. She said they would need a platform of some sort in the river for some period of time. A barge has been proposed for a work platform in the rveT at this point. She said this project would take about 2 construction seasons and they have 1.5 years to design it. Judy will be bringing updates frequently to the board, as she needs the Board's input. C. Board oP Fish Update, Brett Huber During the February Board meetings, the Board of Fisheries used the committee process to help get through about 330 proposals regarding Upper Cook Inlet issues. The early run King Salmon was the first concern due to signs of a diminished run. There was some discussion on whether it is lime now or in the near future to iook at managing this as a trophy King fishery. The Board decided to put in place a ron-retention slot to protect fish between 40-55 inches in length. Fish longer than 40" and shorter than 55" may no longer be retained on the Kenai River before June 10`h Beginning June 11°i a catch and release fishery will start for Kings under 20" or over 55". There are no changes to the second run of Kings at this time. fihe Kasilof Management Plan begins on June 25`h and allows for regular periods and additional 36 hours of emergency order commercial fishing periods for two weeks. After July 8`h the fishery will be managed on an abundance basis. A summary of the actions will be available from the Boards Support section in a couple of weeks. on the web and the regulations will start at the beginning of this season. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes Iebruary 21, 2002 Page 3 of 6 IV. OLD IIUSINESS A. River Terrace RV Park Cleanup - Update, Rich Sundet, I)EC Rich gave a short history about the site including the twodifferent plumes south of the building and under the building. There are about 25 injection points around each of the two plumes into which a hydrogen releasing compound has been injected. The initial results showed a tremendous change in the chemical breakdown on the site. The PCE broke down just as it was supposed to, to cis DCE. The breakdown seems to have stalled, however, at the cis DCE level. The PCE under the bridge is currently remaining above cleanup levels. Rich said Chey did continue to Phase Two and installed more injection wells. This was to cover more area than before. He said they are still above cleanup levels and have contacted the contractor to find out what is impeding the breakdown of the cis. There will be another monitoring evert in March and then the conh~actor will attempt to determine from the data what the limiting factor is. Brett asked what the levels of vinyl chloride are. Rich said they have not seen any elevated levels as yet, as the degradation has not reached this stage yet, and even if the material degrades to vinyl chloride, it is likely to dissipate quickly as it is so volatile. Ted asked if there are any theories as to why it is not breaking down further. Rich said it is possible it could take another form of the microbes to breakdown the cis. He said they have not been taking biological samples in regards to microbes and maybe the cis would break down better aerobically than anaerobically. Brett suggested that the Water Quality Committee look at this and also reviews the report when it comes out this March/April. Ted told Rich that this board is dissatisfied with the progress of the cleanup and they want to be more involved with this process. He said they want to weigh in on any new remediation ideas as they are considered. Brett made a motion to draft a letter requesting sediment sampling be done. Motion seconded by Joe C. Ted suggested the letter ask for an explanation regarding why no sediment sampling has been taken since the clean up commenced. B. Water Quality Committee, Charles Quarre Robert Ruffner provided a copy of a granC application to the Coastal Impact Assistance Program asking for additional funding to look at sampling in the lower and middle river. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 21, 2002 Page 4 of 6 The committee has been discussing how to improve the accuracy of the water quality sampling data by taking additional samples in specific areas of the river insteadof at just one site, and possibly trying to take samples on days boats. are on the river, Currently the samples are taken on Tuesdays. Robert Ruffner has more information available to share regarding nutrients and metals. He also asked the board for a letter of support near the end of March when the Kenai Watershed Forum will be requesting grant applications for the coming year. C. Recreation Use Study Committee, Chris Degernes The committee has not met since the last board meeting. Chris gave a brief report on a draft survey that the committee proposed last month that has been sent out for review. This survey includes a combination of questions from the 1992 Kenai River Carrying Capacity Study and new questions the committee generated. Chris asked for comments on the draft survey form prior to the next meeting. The next task for the committee is to develop a final work plan. It is possible that a student intern from Rutgers University may be hired to head up the monitoring project this summer, as no students from Dr. Brown's classes are interested. Brett suggested that the survey include questions regarding whether people had fun and why they chose the Kenai. Chris commented that the survey needs to generate responses that we can use in management decisions. The Recreation Use Committee will meet prior to the next board meeting r___i.~ r~. ~_.~_ r i to llllallLe some (1l Its I"el~olI1111enf1aLTUns for the OarQ. D. Kenai River Nutrient Study Public Outreach Committee Brett said they have not met since the last board meeting to discuss this since Phil North has been out of town lately. At the next meeting the committee will be able to provide some recommendation to the board to facilitate a public exchange. V. PUBLIC COMMENT None Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 21, 2002 Page 5 of 6 VI. ADJQURNMENT A. Board Comments Lance spoke to Gordon Nelson 5rom USGS regarding a draft proposal for phase two of the boat wake study. Gordon promised Lance that he'd have it to him by next week. He also sent an email to Dr. Maynord, who responded that the Corps might be interested in this also. Lance said there is a study going to be done on the Chiikat River similar to this. Tim thanked Ted and Brett for being willing to serve again on the board. Charles seconded Tim's thank you. Chris said the Legislative Committee should be thinking of working on HB155 and lobbying for the $200,000 boat wake study appropriation Linda thanked the DEC and DOT folks for keeping the board informed on their issues. Rick thanked Robert Ruffner for the continuing help with the water quality study group. Deric made a motion (and Brett seconded) to have the Board send a letter of support for KWF's water quality grant funding that Robert Ruffner discussed earlier. B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting March 21, 2002 Agenda should include: USGS Boat Wake Study-USGS, Recreation Use Monitoring Committee report, Nutrient Study Public Outreach Committee report, and a presentation about the Forest Legacy Program by Evie Whitten. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 21, 2002 Page 6 of 6