Chair Wall and committee members spent substantial time on flood response options for View Drive before the committee approved direction to staff to pursue resident outreach on a federal buyout option.

Manager Katie Kester told the committee the buyout under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection program would be entirely voluntary and could cover demolition and conversion of up to 18 properties to parkland in perpetuity. Kester said the NRCS-funded buyout check to homeowners would be based on a pre-flood appraisal and that the estimated total cost for buyouts plus demolition and restoration is about $25,000,000, with a required 25% nonfederal cost share (about $6,000,000 if all properties participate).

“Six years is still too long for many people,” Kester told the committee when contrasting this buyout option with the Army Corps of Engineers’ longer-term lake-tap preferred alternative. She said staff requested—but was denied—a waiver for the required nonfederal cost share and that the project would impose a significant local match if the borough chose to participate fully.

Brett Nelson, a consultant working with NRCS, told the committee the buyout appraisals used to estimate homeowner payments were approximated from Zillow values for the order-of-magnitude estimate; he said the average appraised value across the 18 properties likely landed near $750,000 and that roughly $13.5 million of the $25 million estimate covered direct buyout payments, with the remainder for demolition and site restoration.

Assemblymember Smith moved that the City and Borough of Juneau participate in the program for the purpose of informing View Drive owners, that staff send certified mailings to gauge interest, and that staff ask whether interested owners would be willing to contribute a pro rata share of the 25% local match. Manager Kester said staff had sufficient direction to proceed, and the motion carried with no recorded roll-call objection.

The committee did not commit the borough to a final project agreement. Kester cautioned the project would require substantial staff time and noted any risk of cost overruns would be borne by the City and Borough of Juneau if the borough became the project sponsor. She also noted that other temporary flood protection measures (for example, Hesco barriers used elsewhere in the valley) are not effective for some View Drive locations, increasing urgency for near-term options.

Next steps: staff will prepare outreach material and return with more detailed cost breakdowns and participation scenarios to inform whether and how the borough would sign a project agreement with NRCS.