FY2016-29 Adopting a Federal Capital Improvement Program and Identifying Federal Program Priorities for Federal Fiscal Year 20171 Introduced by: Manager Cassidy
2 Requested by: Borough Assembly
3 Drafted by: Special Projects Support
Introduced on: 03/03/2016
4 Amended on: 03/03/2016
5 Adopted on: 03/03/2016
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7 KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH
8 RESOLUTION NO. FY2016-29
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10 A RESOLUTION OF THE KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH ASSEMBLY
11 ADOPTING A FEDERAL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AND
12 IDENTIFYING FEDERAL PROGRAM PRIORITIES FOR FEDERAL
13 FISCAL YEAR 2017
14
15 WHEREAS, a capital improvement program has been adopted by the Kodiak Island
16 Borough Assembly that identifies the needs of the community over the next five years; and
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18 WHEREAS, the Kodiak Island Borough has identified a capital improvement project list
19 to submit to the Alaska Congressional Delegation for funding consideration; and
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21 WHEREAS, the Alaska Congressional Delegation has requested the views of the Kodiak
22 Island Borough on which federal programs should be considered priorities for rural Alaskan
23 communities and their residents.
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25 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE ASSEMBLY OF THE KODIAK ISLAND
26 BOROUGH that:
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29 Section 1: The Kodiak Island Borough's federal capital improvement project priorities for
30 federal fiscal year 2017 are as follows:
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32 1. Kodiak Landfill Wastewater Treatment Plant
33 Total Estimated Cost of the Project: $1670007000
34 Funding Sources: local and state $1471757000
35 Funding Request: $178257000
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37 The Kodiak Island Borough's landfill is near the limits of its permitted capacity. To
38 address this problem a lateral expansion project constructing new cells adjacent to
39 the existing landfill is underway. Current Alaska Department of Environmental
40 Conservation regulations implementing the federal Clean Water Act require the new
41 cells to be fully lined to capture all leachate or fluids produced by the waste. The
42 captured leachate will be processed in a newly constructed wastewater treatment
43 plant on -site. This treatment represents an unfunded federal mandate. Federal
44 assistance to communities to comply with this federal mandate has been available
45 in the past through EPA's State and Tribal Assistance Grant Program (the "STAG"
46 Program). The Kodiak Island Borough is seeking the Alaska Delegation's
47 assistance in supporting legislation for a grant program in rural areas designed to
48 provide a federal match with state and local funding to comply with EPA's unfunded
49 environmental mandates.
Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. FY2016-29
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2. Anton Larsen Bay Road Extension to Ice Free Water
Estimated Project Cost $814501000
Funding Acquired 4507000
Funding Request $810001000
An extension of the Anton Larsen Bay Road to ice free waters will provide year
around access to those communities located in the Kupreanof Strait as well as
those who use the island's west side for commercial and recreational purposes.
Many times during the year travel by vessel to/from Kodiak is treacherous.
Extending the road to ice free waters makes traveling safer, providing access to
critical services located in the City of Kodiak including hospitals and businesses.
This route was identified in the Kodiak Transportation Plan as an important upland
facility.
The Ouzinkie Native Corporation subsidiary, Spruce Island Development
Corporation (SIDCO) received a $450,000 legislative grant for planning and design.
With that grant funding SIDCO is working with DOT finalizing the route and
developing a more formal cost estimate.
Funding is requested from DOT for construction of this road as it is an extension of
an existing state roadway. Additionally, the land owner, Ouzinkie Native
Corporation, has agreed to donate ownership of the road right-of-way to the State
when construction funding is obtained; and another local organization, Sun'aq Tribe
of Kodiak, is working to obtain BIA or other road grant funding to support the
project.
Section 2: The Kodiak Island Borough's views and recommendations on priority federal
programs are as follows:
1. Marine Ferries: The Alaska Marine Highway System is a critical element of the
interstate movement of passengers and cargo to the coastal communities and
coastal villages in the Gulf of Alaska. The TUSTAMENA has less than ten years
left on its useful life and is in need of replacement. The Federal Highway Trust
Fund includes an account for marine ferry activities. The Kodiak Island Borough
would like to go on record in support of any application from the State of Alaska to
the U.S. Department of Transportation for funds related to a marine ferry
replacement project.
2. Groundfish Surveys: The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has raised
concerns with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about what
appears to be a reduction in the number, the spatial extent and the consistency of
the winter and summer groundfish surveys occurring in the Gulf of Alaska. The
diminution in these surveys will eventually negatively affect Kodiak fishermen and
processors should the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council add additional
precautionary buffers to what already exists in the establishment of annual
groundfish quotas due to insufficient stock assessment data. A reduction in federal
groundfish quotas for pollock, cod, and rockfish would result in lost economic
Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. FY2016-29
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99 opportunities for Kodiak residents and lower raw fish tax receipts over time. The
100 Kodiak Island Borough recommends that the Alaska Delegation support the
101 Surveys & Monitoring activity at the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriated level.
102
103 3. Homeporting Coast Guard Vessels: The Kodiak Island Borough would like to
104 emphasize that Kodiak remains the ideal location for the deployment of National
105 Response Cutters and Offshore Patrol Cutters, and the clustering of Fast Response
106 Cutters. Kodiak sits at the crossroads of one of the largest fisheries in the world as
107 well as some of the busiest shipping lanes in U.S. waters. Kodiak offers
108 unmatched geographic advantage for timely mission response and deployment to
109 the myriad of marine incidents in the Alaska area of operation. The Borough
110 recognizes that Kodiak Island also presents unique mission support challenges
111 such as a constraint on housing and mooring facilities. The Borough stands ready
112 to work with the Coast Guard in whatever way possible to keep this location ideal
113 for capital asset placement. The Borough supports the President's Budget Request
114 for Coast Guard vessel construction. We request that the Delegation actively
115 monitor the Coast Guard's planning process for future deployment of new assets in
116 the Arctic and promote Kodiak as a homeport for these new vessel classes.
117
118 4. Payment -In -Lieu -of -Taxes: There are over 2.8 million acres removed by the
119 Federal Government from taxation within the boundaries of the Kodiak Island
120 Borough. This is land that would otherwise be available to the private sector to
121 develop, creating jobs for the residents of Kodiak and the rural Kodiak Island
122 communities. This in turn would create tax revenues for the Kodiak Island
123 Borough. PI LT was enacted by Congress to help offset the loss of revenues to
124 municipal entities caused by federal land withdrawals within local government
125 boundaries. The KI B uses these funds to provide basic social services, including
126 medical facilities, emergency fire and rescue services, roads, and schools. The
127 Kodiak Island Borough is seeking the Delegation's assistance in reauthorizing the
128 program for three to five years.
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130 5. Refuge Revenue Sharing: The National Wildlife Refuge Fund is a critical source of
131 replacement revenue to communities like ours that have the presence of a large
132 Federal wildlife refuge within their boundaries. That presence removes substantial
133 amounts of property from the Local property tax base. The share we receive from
134 the Fund is based on a formula that partially compensates us for our tax losses due
135 to the existence of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is over 1.9
136 million acres in size and therefore has permanently removed from private
137 ownership, development and taxation over half the property on the island. The
138 Kodiak Island Borough is seeking the Alaska Delegation's assistance in providing
139 level funding for this program.
140
141 6. EPA's Fishing Vessel Discharge Rule: EPA has promulgated two rules to
142 require commercial fishermen to obtain Clean Water Act incidental discharge
143 permits as a condition for operating both small and large fishing vessels. The
144 permits would cover ballast water, fish hold water, anchor chain mud, deck
145 wash/runoff, bilge pump discharge, gray or "stick" water, laundry, shower, and
146 galley sink water. The permits require burdensome reporting, monitoring,
147 inspections and compliance activities — all subject to heavy fines and citizen
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148 lawsuits under the Clean Water Act for what seems to be minimal environmental
149 protection. The Congress has imposed a three year moratorium preventing EPA
150 from implementing the Small Vessel General Permit Rule and the Vessel General
151 Permit Rule. Efforts are underway within the Congress to make the moratorium
152 permanent. The Kodiak Island Borough is requesting that the Alaska Delegation
153 actively support a permanent moratorium.
154
155 7. EPA's "Waters of the U.S." Rule: The Environmental Protection Agency and the
156 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are moving forward with a proposed "Waters of the
157 United States" rule that would expand Federal permitting and other requirements to
158 many waters currently regulated by State and Local governments. The proposed
159 rule would also apply to private landowners. The key change being proposed
160 would expand Clean Water Act coverage to "other waters" where there is a
161 "significant nexus" to currently covered interstate waters, territorial seas and
162 navigable waterways. That determination is meant to be "case -specific" but has not
163 been fully defined and the concern is that "significant nexus" could be interpreted to
164 include floodplains, certain man-made waterways and ditches, self-contained water
165 bodies such as ponds or temporary/isolated wetlands. Under this model, Alaska's
166 extensive acreage of wetlands would likely mean that wetlands and other water
167 bodies, including small streams and tributaries, that are seemingly isolated and
168 geographically far removed from any current CWA-covered waterway would fall
169 under the new definition. The Kodiak Island Borouah feels that the r)ror)osed rule
170 would add extra layers of bureaucracy to the efforts of Kodiak citizens to use their
171 land and for the Borough to engage in future public works projects. The Borough is
172 requesting that the Alaska Delegation support legislative initiatives to curtail this
173 proposed rule. J
174
175 8. Karluk Lake Enrichment Project: The Karluk Lake system, on the west side of
176 Kodiak Island, is the largest producer of sockeye salmon in the Kodiak area, and
177 supports a large portion of the area's commercial and subsistence sockeye
178 fisheries. Since 2007, returns of adult sockeye to the Karluk system were
179 extremely poor for a number of years. In order to bring the Karluk Lake ecosystem
180 back to its earlier, higher level of production, the Kodiak Regional Aquaculture
181 Association (KRAA) proposed to apply nutrients over the course of up to five years.
182 This lake enrichment project follows established protocols for rehabilitating sockeye
183 salmon rearing environments. Since Karluk Lake is within the Kodiak National
184 Wildlife Refuge and a pre -statehood withdrawal, however, the Fish and Wildlife
185 Service decided to perform a compatibility review and an environmental
186 assessment. This process took over three years. Despite strong support from the
187 Alaska Congressional Delegation and local residents and groups, the FWS
188 completed its environmental assessment in January and selected the No Action
189 alternative. The agency did not issue a compatibility decision, stating that sockeye
190 salmon stocks within the Karluk system are within their historic levels.
191 While the Karluk Lake sockeye returns have improved since 2007, there remains a
192 possibility that run trends can reverse and create hardship for local fisheries. The
193 KRAA has been informed by FWS that the Environmental Assessment action
194 alternative could be reconsidered if lake conditions deteriorate and the sockeye
195 returns collapse again. The agency decided, however, not to make a compatibility
Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. FY2016-29
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196 determination. This is the key policy decision surrounding the proposal to add
197 nutrients to Karluk Lake in the event of a collapse. Revisiting the issue could take
198 two or more years if FWS has to engage in both an EA and compatibility review,
199 thereby hampering KRAA's ability to respond quickly to changes in the productivity
200 of the lake system. The Kodiak Island Borough therefore is requesting support
201 from the Alaska Congressional Delegation to advocate for a compatibility decision
202 to resolve the policy question in advance of any sudden change in circumstances.
203
204 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Kodiak Island Borough administration is hereby
205 instructed to advise Congress and the appropriate agencies of the United States Federal
206 Government of the Capital Improvement Program and priorities adopted by the Kodiak
207 Island Borough Assembly.
208
209 ADOPTED BY THE ASSEMBLY OF THE KODIAK ISLAND BOROUGH
210 THIS THIRD DAY OF MARCH, 2016
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216 ATTEST:
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220 Nova M. Javier, MMC,,R,Borough Clerk
:V
KODIAK ISLAND
' Borough Mayor
Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska Resolution No. FY2016-29
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