Homer Alaska - News

The seawall on Munson Point along Ocean Loop Drive is the most visible effort by the city to forestall erosion, but it costs nearly $20,000 a year to maintain and that's without any catastrophic failures. Installing armor rock, which many believe would be a better solution, would cost even more.

The decision on the seawall is just one of many that the council will have to make over the coming years to answer a question that is being considered throughout Alaska, the state with the longest coastline in the country running some 30,000 miles with 80 percent of its population affected by quickly diminishing ground.

That question is: What should be done about coastal erosion affecting homes, business and roadways?

Though the erosion issue has made its way so prevalently into the council's agenda in the form of the seawall, work has been ongoing to find an answer to the problem of coastal erosion in Homer.

City Planner Rick Abboud said that the Homer planning department is working on a steep slope ordinance, which would put zoning restrictions on potentially dangerous coastal areas and create setbacks on bluffs.

"It's looking at development on steep slopes, including coastal bluffs — what may be appropriate for certain sites for development from the top of bluffs down to the toe," said Abboud.

The ordinance, if everything goes smoothly, could be in front of the council in as little as two months, said Abboud.

The ordinance is just one small piece of the erosion puzzle. A study conducted by the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve and commissioned by the city in 2004 has pointed out that erosion rates regularly change and in fact slowed between 1975 and 1996.

The coastal erosion rate in Homer spanning the length of bluffs within city limits from 1975-1996 of 0.46 meters per year was down over the 1968-1975 rate of 1.49 meters a year. The rate, however, has increased in recent years to 0.57 meters per year between 1996-2003.

The highest rate of erosion recorded was 2.8 meters a year between 1961-1968, which includes the effects of the 1964 earthquake.

The overall rate of erosion in Homer from 1951-2003 was 1.7 meters per year.

According to Steve Baird, who developed the study through the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, the news today is a mixed bag compared to what he found in 2003.

"Areas like Main Street at the Bishop's Beach area has seemed to stabilize a little bit, but on the other hand, the base of West Hill and further out is still seeing really significant erosion since 2003. It's a mixed picture from the spot-checks I've done," said Baird.

While the actual Coastal Change Analysis study has not been updated, Baird said he has spot-checked a few high change areas out of curiosity.

Kachemak Bay Research Reserve is currently working on an application for a more comprehensive study of both the causes of Homer's coastal erosion and possible solutions, according to Mayor Jim Hornaday.

"My general view of it is that it's going to be a continuing issue and I think we need to get as much good scientific information as we can. I think the plan of the Bay Reserve to get funds for this study is a great idea," said Hornaday.

Aside from homeowners affected by encroaching bluffs, travelers and shippers using the roadways in and out of Homer may run into difficulties in the coming years as roads come in danger of sloughing due to erosion.

For Homer, the base of West Hill Road is the major concern, but further north in Anchor Point, the story may be even more dire for motorists as well as the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

"I know that DOT is well aware of a spot near Anchor Point and I know that has been hit really hard with erosion. I know they're thinking about it," said Baird.

Rick Feller with DOT is thinking about it. He said that the worst affected area of the Sterling Highway, Milepost 153, still has at least a few years of life before erosion becomes an imminent danger to the highway.

"For the past three years we've been actively monitoring the rate of erosion. I haven't seen this year's numbers yet but based on what we know up through last year the edge of pavement to the nearest point of the bluff line was about 56 feet," said Feller.

At that particular site, coastal erosion is not the only threat. A spring has developed in the bluff and has stifled any efforts to reinforce the bluff.

"That's certainly the most significant threat we're dealing with right now, but there are certainly places along that highway threatened by erosion and we observe all those and respond accordingly," said Feller.

Feller said that this year the Department of Transportation has budgeted $200,000 for reconnaissance work to look at coastal erosion at Milepost 153 but come 2012 it will have $1.5 million for preliminary designs that could combat erosion's ravages on the highway system with a center point at Milepost 153.

Right now, if coastal erosion becomes an imminent threat to the highway, " you could be faced with relocating that highway," Feller said.

The state monitors areas that are likely to be affected by erosion monthly by taking a measuring tape from the bottom of the road's embankment to the bluff line.

"What they've observed through the last fall and winter is very limited movement, so we don't expect the numbers have changed much over last year," said Feller.

Feller does point out that typically the spring sees a quick burst of erosion activity, over which bluff lines near the Sterling Highway may lose up to a foot and a half.