At the busy Homer harbor, rafting became the norm long ago and is now costing the city considerable time and money, said Harbormaster Bryan Hawkins.
"If you're the vessel owner of the second boat in on a raft and you want to get out so you can go start a trip but the guy outside you went moose hunting, what do you do?
"You call the harbor and the officers go down and help man the lines and whatever else to get you out of the raft. Sometimes, for the bigger boats, we need to get the harbor tug in there to ease them out," said Hawkins.
Photo provided
The Homer Harbor as it looked in 1986, shortly after an expansion project increased its basin from 17 to 50 acres.
It's an idea that has been discussed for years and is currently the subject of a joint city of Homer, Alaska Department of Transportation and Army Corps of Engineers feasibility study.
The three-year study, focused on expanding the harbor to the east of its current inner basin, is nearing completion but likely won't be released until later this year, said Hawkins.
"Then we'll have some results to go over and have some decisions to make, I'm hoping," he said.
If the study's recommendations align with the conclusions of a 55-page economic analysis released by Anchorage-based Northern Enterprises Inc. last year, the project will be big -- adding about 15 acres to the harbor's 50-acre area -- and expensive -- costing anywhere between $75 million and $211 million.
The Northern Enterprises analysis examined six different models of possible expansion, all but one of them adding a second basin -- and second entrance -- just outside the harbor's east wall.
In the new section of harbor would be a protected berth for the USCGC Hickory, which presently moors outside the inner basin in a weather-battered spot that often has to be dredged twice a year.
"That's one of our big priorities with this project. We definitely are interested in making a better arrangement for the Coast Guard and they are very interested in the east harbor expansion project. They'd very much like to get her inside the harbor," said Hawkins.
The Northern Enterprises analysis concluded that harbor expansion of 176 new stalls and secure moorage for 11 federal government vessels, including the Hickory, would make land on the Homer Spit more valuable and would "strengthen the harbor's revenue generation capability and ensure its sustainability."
The harbor is already a big economic driver for the city and the Kenai Peninsula Borough, generating about $95 million in activity annually, including employment for more than 1,200 people, counting those who work in the commercial fishing and charter fishing industries, said Hawkins.
The last time the 45-year-old harbor was expanded was in 1986, when dredging and expansion of the uplands to the east increased its size by 33 acres. Over time, floats were added to make use of the larger basin and in 2002, many of the older floats were replaced.
"That allowed us to use up all the space that we had, but now we've filled it up again," said Hawkins.
Although the release of the Corps of Engineers feasibility study will be an important step on the road toward harbor expansion, Hawkins warned that any project is still years away.
"Keep in mind the average Corps project takes 17 years to complete," he said. "You just have to keep grinding away, working on it a little bit every day. It's ongoing, but it's the right thing to do."
Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig.@homernews.com.
Add to that the increasing congestion at the harbor's entrance and the lengthy waiting list for one of its 920 stalls, which can be as long as five years for a 75-foot vessel, and you can see why Hawkins and other city leaders are exploring the possibility of a harbor expansion.
Story last updated at
8:48 PM on
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Expansion study nears completion
By Aaron Selbig
Staff Writer
