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Report to Council - Emergency Declaration for Glacier Stream Flood Control
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SUBMITTED BY: Dean Day, Capital Facilities Director
FISCAL NOTES:
Expenditure Required: $ 200,000
Unencumbered Balance: $ 755,293.81
Funding Source: 352-8300-55300 flood mitigation account
RECOMMENDATION:
See Emergency Declaration.
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SUMMARY STATEMENT
On the morning of Monday July 24, 2017, we noticed we were losing ground on the west bank of the Valdez Glacier Stream. We had the public works crew install some reinforcing material on Copper Avenue where the Glacier Stream was chewing up the road, and inspected the rest of the west bank below the bridge that we could get to. There was some erosion, and trees were starting to fall behind the one home that is next to the Glacier Stream and below the bridge. We have no easy way of getting behind the home, as it is wet, and heavily forested. Even though the flow was relatively low for this time of year, areas were eroding at a fast pace. We talked about an emergency declaration, and what to do. We decided to keep close watch and talk to the City Manager and Mayor the next day.
Last year we learned that substantial erosion can happen quickly, and a lot can happen between 10 pm and 2 am. The Public Works Director got up for flood watch at 2 am on Tuesday July 25, 2017, and relayed continuing disturbing information. While no major blow outs had occurred, trees were continuing to fall, and the flow was low. Higher flows could cause major damage with the direction of the flow. We decided that if Harris Sand and Gravel re-built the temporary dike that they had constructed this year under an emergency declaration in a semi-permanent manner with their large rock out of the Glacier Quarry, it would last a season under heavier flows. The temporary dike should channel the Stream away from the west bank, save the two houses on Copper Avenue, and allow us to build the two dike projects below the bridge w...
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