NOTN- City leaders are asking View Drive homeowners, the area hit hardest by glacial lake outburst flooding, to weigh in on whether they want to pursue a voluntary federal buyout program.
The City and Borough of Juneau is gauging interest in a potential buyout through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service Emergency Watershed Protection program, (NRCS) which helps communities recover from natural disasters by purchasing at-risk properties and restoring the land.
Under the program, eligible properties would be acquired at fair market value, followed by environmental review, demolition and site restoration. NRCS would cover 75% of total project costs, but Juneau would be responsible for the remaining 25%.
The non-federal match is estimated at about $6 million if all 18 eligible structures on View Drive take part.
City Manager Katie Koester said the city wants to know whether homeowners would be willing to help assemble that non- federal match, either through their own resources or with help from nonprofits and other non-federal sources, asking owners through an informal ballot, to indicate whether they would be willing to participate if that cost share were required, though responses are not binding.
“The Assembly really hasn’t received any official communication from View Drive residents on whether or not they are even interested in participating in the program,” Koester said. “The first important step is sending them an informal ballot to gauge actual interest in participating.”
View Drive is considered one of the neighborhoods most vulnerable to annual flooding caused by glacial lake outburst floods, as it sits just outside the reach of the HESCO barriers.
Juneau officials have discussed buyouts as one possible option for residents, particularly as flooding frequency and severity increase, though Koester stressed that whether or not the city goes through with the buy-out program, officials are still committed to an enduring solution.
“I just want to make sure that the public knows that it is the number one priority for the City of Juneau, to find a permanent solution to the flooding, not just for View Drive, but for the entire valley.” She said.
Koester said the Assembly is seeking to understand whether enough property owners would participate to justify moving forward.
Participation in the program would be entirely voluntary, and Koester emphasized that not every property owner would need to opt in for the project to move forward.
“‘It’s totally feasible that four people want to participate, and we move forward, and the rest of the neighborhood does not participate.”
Property owners have until Feb. 16 to return their ballots to the city’s engineering division, those results from residents are expected to be presented at the assembly’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 23.
