Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-04-17 KRSMA Board Packet• -' Special Manageenent Brea "Working together...lor the river" ~** Meeting Agenda*** Thursday, Aprii 17, 2003 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center I. CALL TO ORDER ~~. Roll Call B: Approval of 3/12/03 minutes C. Agenda Changes and Approval II. PUBLIC COMMENT III. NEW BUSINESS A. KRC Public Education/Outreach Program, Jan Yeager IV. OLD BUSINESS J`~ _~ ~w f ~ ~Yila i =~~„s ~ t ~e•~ . A. Hydrocarbon Samuling Strategy, DEC B. River Terrace RV Park & Other Contaminated Sites Update, Jim. Frecchione, ADEC C. Boat Wake Study -~ Phase II Update D. Moratorium on new Kenai River Sportfishing Guide Permits for 2003, Update, Chris Degernes E. Kenai River Center Update, Suzanne FisIer V. PUBLIC COMMENT VI. ADTOURNMENT A. Board Comments B. Date/Agenda of Next Meeting ~ ~ Kenai Area Office, Box 1247, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2625581 ~~ Kenai Peninsula Borough, Box 850, Soldotna, AK 99669, Soldotna 2624441 I\~4I Q Alaska Division of Parks and Outdoor Recrsation, Department of Natural Resources, In oooperatlon with the Kenai Peninsula Borough. Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board Meeting Minutes """ Wednesday, March 12, 2003 7:00 p.m. Kenai River Center L CALL TO ORDER ~'a. I~oii Catf Present: Toe Connors, Ted Wellman, Charles Quan'e, Ben Ellis, Ken Lancaster, Pete Sprague, Rick Wood, Robin West, Bill Shuster, Lailce Trasky, Chris Degernes, Jonne Slemons, Linda Snow, Dave Westerman, Paul Shadura, Jim Golden Absent: Roland Maw B, Approval of 2/20/03 minutes Ben E11is referred to page six of eleven regarding sending the letter to the legislahu~e. He said he did not make the motion, as Pete Sprague did, and that needed to be corrected. C. Agenda Changes and Approval Ken Lancaster recommended an Executive session of the board at end of meeting and asked for a motion. Motion made and seconded. II. PUBL,TC COMMENT, none offered III. NEW BUTSINESS A. City of Soldotna's Proposed Water and Sewer Line Improvements, Rick Wood The project is under design right now. The proposal is to take the water and sewer down Funny River Road in three phases. Eventually it will extend to the City of Soldotna Maintenance Shop. Tlus project will take about 30 homes off their individual septic systems this year. The contract for design was awarded to 'northern Testing Lab. Henry Knackstead, the design engineer, described the three phases of the project. He stated that test holes indicated coarse gravel but a shallow water table. Many systems Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board -Meeting Minutes March 12, 2003 Page 1 of 5 along the river have been failing due to the shallow water table, so this project will be good for those lots on the river and the river itself. Chris Degernes asked if the,existingsewage treatment plant would be able to handle the increased use. ~ Rick Wood replied that the plant is operating at~bout 50% capacity so it will be fine. B. Soldotna Bridge Update, Judy Dougherty, DOT. The proposed new bridge is a 400+ foot clear span struch~re. It will be 75' high and about 100' wide with pedestrian pathways cantilevered on the outer side of traffic lanes. A conshuction bridge will be required for the crane and equipment for the temporary bracing. There will also be a detour bridge placed downstream of the existing structure. These two t-emporary bridges. will require temporary piling to be installed in the river. As the new struchue is being built they will be demolishing the old bridge as they go. Once the traffic is on the new bridge the temporary bridge will be demolished. The temporary pilings on the traffic bridge will be fairly shallow and will not impact the artesian springs. There will be 5 pile groups at about 100' apart for the traffic bridge and a similar amount for the constniction bridge. There will be 9 pairs ofpilings for the new bridge to hold the deck up as it is built. The approach to the new bridge is 60' wider than the existing one. The utilities on the.. existing bridge will be moved to the temporary bridge. Construction is planned to start next spring and last about 18 months. R2Ck Wnnrd agheLl about the ;deg glue n a `a/hrle agC fGr a barge io iioid the crane and what the estimated cost of the bridge is. Judy D. said that idea for a barge to hold the crane was not manageable because of the extended reach of a crane; the estimated cost of the project is S28 million. Ted Wellman said ~he design locked reminiscent of designs past and asked what designs were considered. Judy said the design may look old but the technology is new. This new bridge is called a Tied Arch structure and was chosen so there were no pilings in the river. Jim Golden asked what the lif of the current bridge is and if the idea for a second bridge across the river was totally eliminated. 7udy said that bridges in other locations are not in DOT's program. The bridge was constructed in the 1960's and the current deck is in a bad state of disrepair. Usually a bridge like this has atypical life pan of 50 years. Judy said DOT has purchased a piece ofproperty off Riverside Drive for a sedimentation pond. They are working osr a design at this time. Stone Kenai River Speciat Management Area Advisory Board -Meeting Minutes March 12, 2003 Page 2 0l 5 water cun-ently being collected along the highway near the bridge will be rerouted to the new sedimentpond when completed. This pond will be constructed around the same time as the new bridge and will be a permanent structure after the bridge is finished. Kiclt Wood asked how the sedimentation ponds are maintained when they fill up and what the cost is to clean them out. Judy replied that DOT expects a life span of 7-10 years for the pond before dredging is needed and it will likely cost around $10,000. Chris Degernes asked if there was any new technology to capture hydrocarbons during spring runoff when the pond is frozen. Carol Sanner, DOT, discussed this and said that is a presumption thaC has not been found i0 be true: There is a research project going on iie~.v with David Nyman to monitor these sites and they are fimetioning quite well. They are testing such things as heavy metals, vinyl chlorides and fecal chloroform. These sites should improve with time as the sites mature in 5-10 years. IV. OLD BLrSINESS A. Boat Wake Study, Lance Trasky Lance has held extensive discussions with the Corps of Engineers, and they are good to ~o: The budget and plan are being developed, but there is a great needfor non-federal fcmds or in-kind match at this time. B. Ma•atorium on new Kenai River ~Sportfishirrb Guide Permits for 2003, Update, Chris Degernes Chris said fne report is similar to iast month's. There is no identirication of funding or resources for a pu'olic process yet. The new Comntissioner has been busy with other issues, but the Moratorium issue is getting higher on the list. There have been 6 appeals that were denied when the Commissioner's Office chose not to act on them. The next option for those appellants wili be the Superior Court. Ben Ellis laid he understands Deputy Commissioner Dick L,eFebvre is Looking into this and we may see some action. Joe Cormors complimented the quality and content of the moratorium letter to the Board of Fish that was written last month. C. Recreation Use C:omanittee Update, Chris Degernes The committcemet before theboard meeting andrevie;wed last swnmer's Recreation Monitoring Project, including what went well, what tunas need to change and whether we need to continue with a monitoring project this summer. Recommendations were made regarding changes, which Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board -Meeting MinnYes March 12, 2003 Page 3 of 5 included getting more surveys from guided azlglers, work on sampling -more Locations and work on a better representation for the GPS tracking system. There is a clear reconnnendation from file committee to go ahead and;duplicate the process in the lower river again this summer. Ted' Wellman rimade a motion that we continue this study this summer azid try to increase the survey sampling of guided anglers. Seconded by Charles. Jonne Slemons asked what the cost was for last year and this year. Chris said the GPS units cost $3,000 and there was less than $1,000 in voltimteer time. This year there will be no cost for the GPS units and about $1500 far 2 volunteers. No objections. Motion passed. D. Kenai River Center Update, Suzanne Filler Suzanne discussed the ongoing Fish & Game Habitat changes that have taken up a lot of our time. One ADF&G employee has h-ansfetred to the Borough because of it. Suzanne said that as a vacant Kenai River Guide permit was made available, it was filled by a qualified applicant who was willing to be first in line to receive it. She reviewed the list of requirements a new guide r~~ust havewith them ~to,acquirea vacant permit. State Parks has applied for two Habitat Permits;one to remove a jetty on state land at I3e11'sLanding on Kenai Lake that has been Yhere for about 20 years without permits and another permit to do repairs at Bing's Landing State Recreation Area boat ramp where holes at the bottom of the ramp need to be repaired. This week Suzaime and several guides will be working on a catch and release video to show at the guide orientations. Jeff Breakfield of Fish & Game will give a discussion on the biology and mortality of different fish species. The video will show guides asking Jeff questions such as certain techniques of catch and release fishing, things they have seen and what new gear is available. Suzanne has also been working on a power point presentation that will identify fishing holes along the river. There has been a lot of extra guided angler presence below the bridge in Soldotna due to regulation changes so this will be an opportunity to get information out about how to exit and enter these areas and other issues associated with this topic. Chris Degemes asked about the Borough's access inventory project. Suzanne said it is sitting on a shelf waiting for a public process. The grant money that was set aside for implementation can't be used to pay a L~e~~ai River Special Management Area Advisory Board - IVIeeYing Minutes March 12, 2003 Page 4 of S facilitator or for a public process to sort out what needs to be saved and what can be vacated. Suzanne and John Morhorcich have talked about the potential for the advisory board to provide the public meetings where input can be gatheredfromthe public. Shemay be ableto have John i\~. come in and give a presentation. V. PtiBLIC COMMENT: none offered VI. ADJOURNMENT A. board Comments Ben E. said he understands a Parks Director will be named late this week 6r first Of n.°.lt `VeP,ii. ~<; tiliiKS tile. BCai'd iiad SCmC fCTetilCr:gilt wiieri rt dealt with funding and he understands that the general funds will be zeroed out over a two year period and the concept is that two years from now Parks will be self sustaining. Pauu S.: There have been hearings on Legislative Bill i07, tL-e shift of Habitat Divisicn to Dlv'R. Lance T.: Has a handout that talks about Glenda Landua's posirion that will stay at the Kenai River Center and work under DNR Bill S.: Bi11 said the Forest Service is proposing a Trail River Campground expansionandthiscanbe afut«re board agenda topic. Chris D.: Chris thanked Lance for many years of dedication and service. B. Date/Agenda of Nest Meeting Aprii i7, 2uu3 Kenai River Special Management Area Advisory Board -Meeting Minutes March 12, 2003 Page 5 of 5