The Sitka Assembly, at its regular meeting Tuesday (7/23/19), took another step toward breaking ground on a secondary water filtration plant. The body approved two lots be removed from the Gary Paxton Industrial Park- one of which will become the home to the $18 million dollar system.
Plans to build the plant have been in the works since last year, after it looked like the city risked losing its federal permit to pump unfiltered drinking water directly from Blue Lake.
The secondary water treatment plant would be used in an emergency or for planned Blue Lake outages. Last year, the assembly raised water rates by 22 percent to help cover the cost of the project, and voted to move ahead with plans to build the $18 million-dollar system last December.
But on Tuesday, some assembly members had reservations about the next step. Why? Location and mission.
I know the horse is already out of the barn or whatever and somebody has decided that that water filtration plant needs to go at Sawmill Cove,” said assembly member Valorie Nelson.” I think common sense dictates that it should be some place like Indian River. There are things you can do for disaster planning, and not putting all of your water in one basket is a good thing.”
“It isn’t in line with the charge of the park and also it’s not, in fact, a secondary water source at all,” said assembly member Aaron Bean.
“I’m more in favor of preserving the GPIP park as a whole,” said assembly member Steven Eisenbeisz, who was uncomfortable with portioning off parts of GPIP for projects that don’t line up with the mission of the park- to foster economic development and job growth in Sitka.
According to the memo from interim administrator Dave Miller, consult from an engineering group found of the two lots, constructing the plant on Lot 17, which abuts Sawmill Creek Road on the South, would cost $18 million. Lot 18 would cost $10 million more to develop because the pipeline would have to be secured to a cliff face.
But assembly member Richard Wein said the preferred lot (17) looked like it could be a prime spot for a boat haul-out.
“It is in essence contiguous to potential expansion if we do get into the marine service business.”
Mayor Gary Paxton and assembly member Kevin Knox didn’t weigh in on the ordinance before the vote. Kevin Mosher said he didn’t want to make city staff go back to the drawing board- he said it was the cheapest option possible.
“My opinion is we’re shooting ourselves in the foot if we do that,” Mosher said. “Part of our mandate is to try and keep rates as low as possible.”
Public works director Michael Harmon said that the city had considered multiple locations, and all were more expensive than the GPIP lot.
“There’s pros and cons in what you’re buying for the additional money. It’s harder to treat, it’s more expensive,” he said “There’s no doubt that Indian River provides a true secondary water source. It’s harder to treat. It’s more expensive, but it does have that advantage.”
In the end, the assembly voted 4-3 with members Bean, Nelson and Wein against, on first reading.
Raven Radio will provide additional coverage of the Tuesday Assembly meeting on our website later this week.
