The borough will spend about $80,000 for an engineering report, cost estimates and conceptual drawings in hopes of winning a $25 million federal grant to rebuild the Inner Harbor, Reliance and Standard Oil floats.
The grant application is due by Feb. 28, pushing the borough and its contractor, PND Engineers, with offices in Juneau and Anchorage, into an accelerated schedule to meet the deadline.
If the federal grant comes through, the work will include new floats, ramps, pilings, electrical service and dredging, explained Interim Borough Manager Mason Villarma.
Though the seaplane float also needs work, Villarma said, the grant program sets a maximum at $25 million, and the project is likely already at the limit.
Wrangell will apply for design and construction funds from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program. “The docks’ infrastructure has been in a poor and deteriorated condition for many years and needs to be replaced,” according to a report presented to the assembly by Amber Al-Haddad, capital facilities director.
The assembly on Jan. 9 approved unanimously $79,453 for the contract with PND Engineers.
“PND has committed to our short timeline to complete the condition assessments, cost estimates and conceptual drawings which will be used to strengthen our upcoming RAISE grant application,” Al-Haddad reported.
As part of assembling the grant application, the borough has scheduled a public meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at City Hall to gather public comments on the project. Conceptual drawings of the rebuild will be available at the session. Borough and PND staff will be at the meeting to answer questions.
The borough selected PND because the firm has done a lot of design and engineering work on Wrangell harbor projects, Villarma told the assembly on Jan. 9. “It is really important” that the borough submit a thorough application by the deadline, and no other firm could prepare the information as quickly as PND, he said.
The community should know by June if it is selected for the RAISE grant. If it is unsuccessful, Villarma said, the borough will continue looking for other state and federal sources of money for the project.
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