Outgoing Mim McConnell and incoming Mayor Matthew Hunter served four years together on the Sitka Assembly. He presented McConnell with a gavel and offered thanks for her seven years of service. (Emily Kwong/KCAW photo)

On Tuesday night (10-11-16), nearly everything changed about the Sitka Assembly. They swore in a new mayor: Matthew Hunter. New members: Kevin Knox and Aaron Bean. All in a new building. The Assembly chambers were revitalized in the remodel of Harrigan Centennial Hall.

The Sitka Assembly first honored outgoing members. Deputy-Vice Mayor Ben Miyasato was true to form, encouraging citizen participation as he did at nearly every meeting in his tenure. “We do have comission seats open. We do have committee seats open. I’ve always said this again and again and again and again and I’ll say it again. If you want input, it is important that you either attend those and serve on those,” Miyasato said.

Assemblyman Aaron Swanson was characteristically concise. “Do I have a time limit?,” he joked after stepping up to the microphone. He added, “I just want to thank the city of Sitka for allowing me to serve the last three years. It’s been a privilege to serve with these other members, so thank you.”

Mayor Mim McConnell, who was elected in 2012, said “One of the things Matt [Hunter] is going to discover as Mayor is that when you introduce yourself as the Mayor of Sitka, [other people] go, “Ohhhh Sitka!” Being Mayor of Sitka is really cool. If you want to be a mayor from somewhere, this is the place to be mayor from because this place has an excellent reputation worldwide, as far as I know,” McConnell said.

McConnell offered thanks to the city staff and encouraged the Assembly to support them. “Sitka, keep doing what you’re doing. You’re on the right path. Keep talking to each other and working out your differences and finding common ground,” McConnell said.

The Assembly also certified the results of last Tuesday’s municipal election (10-04-16) and swore in new members Kevin Knox and Aaron Bean. They appointed Swanson to take over Hunter’s seat for a one-year-term. Swanson was the third highest vote getter, followed by Alexander Allison and Evy Kinnear.

Passing of the Gavel as 2016 Assembly Begins (Slideshow)

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Marijuana money for student travel

On Tuesday night (10-11-16), the Sitka Assembly established a dedicated travel fund for student activities. The fund will draw upon state fees for marijuana licenses.

See ordinance here: Ord 2016-39

Each state fee costs $5000 and local communities receive half of that. With this fund, Assemblyman Steven Eisenbeisz says the marijuana industry could raise $8000 to $10,000 a year for activity travel sponsored by the Sitka School District. Right now, student travel is funded through city dollars and fundraising within the schools.

Aaron Bean, owner of the grow and retail operation Green Leaf Inc., objected to the ordinance, which had its second and final reading last night.

During persons to be heard, Bean talked about the importance of keeping marijuana out of young hands. “If we’re funding school programs and the kids that are traveling know where these funds come through, I would hate to encourage…it’s not direct advertising, but I feel like it’s priming if that makes sense. I wouldn’t be in favor of that as a business owner.”

Mim McConnell, who completed her final meeting as Sitka’s Mayor Tuesday night, said that while she understand where Bean was coming from, there is precedent. McConnell said, “To me, it’s kind of like the tobacco tax going to the hospital. We don’t give it to the hospital and people thinking, ‘Money going to the hospital? Let’s smoke more.’ So hopefully that’s not what people are thinking.”

The ordinance passed unanimously, on second and final reading.

Money for geotechnical and legal support

The Assembly appropriated $100,000 for geotechnical work with Shannon & Wilson, a firm assessing landslide risk and mitigation in Sitka. The firm previously conducted a study of the South Kramer area. The Assembly also appropriated an additional $150,000 for legal representation from outside attorney David Bruce. Individuals whose lives and property were impacted by the Kramer Avenue landslide have filed suit against the city. Both appropriations were approved on first reading.

FEMA will also be funding a two-year landslide mapping project in Sitka.

Roles, Responsibilities Assigned

Bob Potrzuski was chosen as Deputy Mayor and Steven Eisenbeisz as Deputy-Vice Mayor. The 7-member body also divvied up liaison duties among the city’s boards, commissions, and committees.

Gary Paxton Industrial Park Board of Directors: Steven Eisenbeisz

Health Needs and Human Services Commission: Tristan Guevin

Historic Preservation Commission: Aaron Swanson

Sitka Community Hospital Board: Steven Eisenbeisz, with Kevin Knox as an alternate

Investment Committee: Tristan Guevin, with Matt Hunter as an alternate

Library Commission: Matthew Hunter

Local Emergency Planning Commission: Bob Potrzuski

Parks and Recreation Committee: Kevin Knox

Planning Commission: Kevin Knox, with Aaron Bean as an alternate

Police and Fire Commission: Aaron Swanson

Port and Harbors Commission: Matthew Hunter, with Bob Potrzuski as an alternate

Tree and Landscape Committee: Bob Potrzuski (appointed during the Assembly’s meeting on Tuesday, October 25th)

Informational Liaisons

Southeast Economic Development Association (SEDA): Steven Eisenbeisz

Sitka Tribe of Alaska: Aaron Bean, with Bob Potrzuski as an alternate

Sitka School District: Bob Potrzuski

FEMA will be stepping in to fund landslide mapping in Sitka. The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, who will be leading the research project,  announced the news on Tuesday.

Deanne Stevens, a chief geologist for DGGS, said the agency has been given $110,000 for two years of research through a program called “FEMA RiskMap.” The goal is to create a comprehensive map of landslide risk in the Sitka area.

Sitka was given a competitive edge for this funding through new LIDAR data, collected by DGGS this summer in partnership with the National Park Service and U.S. Army’s Corp of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. The dataset – which mapped Sitka’s topography with a laser beam – will provide a useful foundation for the team’s work.

“I’m very pleased we’ll be able to help out the people in Sitka with this. They’ve been so responsive and so accommodating and so helpful in the immediate response work that we did there and the field work we’ve done since then,” said Stevens. “We really look forward to working with them more and giving them what they need to have a safe community to move forward and start planning for the future.”

The LIDAR data has been released and is currently available online at CRREL’s Geospatial Repository and Data Management System (GRID) site, and will soon be accessible on DGGS’s Elevation Datasets in Alaska interactive map.

In addition to the LIDAR data, the research team will analyze already existing geologic data and modeling algorithms for landslide hazard.

The research project officially began on Saturday, October 1st and the final report is due in September of 2018. But, Stevens adds, the data will be made available to the public as it’s collected. “There won’t be any delay in sharing this information with the community and emergency responders,” Stevens said.

FEMA was already working to develop a multi-hazard risk report for the Sitka area when the Kramer Avenue landslide occurred. The slide, triggered last August by heavy rainfall, tore through a subdivision and took the lives of three men.

Since then, the city has contracted with the Seattle-based Geotechnical Firm Shannon & Wilson to develop a comprehensive landslide map and recommendations for mitigation in the South Kramer Avenue and the Gavan Hill area. That South Kramer report was published in February and the Gavan Hill report is due out in December. Preliminary research has suggested that Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School is in an area at moderate risk for landslides. 

City Administrator Mark Gorman says the mapping will inform how Sitka develops moderate and high risk zones and how properties in those zones are managed. FEMA will be holding a meeting in May of next year for citizens to meet the scientists and see the maps. 

The building that houses Keet Goshi Heen Elementary School, formerly Verstovia Elementary School, is located at the base of Gavan Hill. (KCAW photo)

The city of Sitka announced today (08-29-16) that the Gavan Hill area, including Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School, may be at risk for landslides.

Shannon & Wilson, a Seattle-based geotechnical firm, identified the landslide hazard zones during an assessment of the area. Although the final report isn’t complete, they notified the city verbally that Keet Gooshi Heen may be subject to moderate landslide risk.

In a press release issued today (Mon 8-29-16), city administrator Mark Gorman said the city wanted to get the information out to citizens “as quickly as possible.”

The city has contracted with Shannon & Wilson to develop a comprehensive report of the Gavan Hill area, including proposed mitigation if necessary. That report should be available to the public in December.

Mary Wegner, superintendent for the Sitka School District, said that safety of students and staff is a top priority. “We’re really anxious to see what the report has to say,” Wegner said over the phone today. “I’m not surprised to hear that when a school is close to a mountain, that there might be a potential risk of a landslide. I understand it’s a moderate risk. So, it’s not a high risk. It’s a moderate risk. And I really appreciate that the city is working hard to get more information, so that we can make appropriate evacuation plans and emergency preparedness plans.”

Wegner said the district is updating already existing emergency preparedness plans, in consultation with Sitka Police, Fire, and EMS departments. Wegner says it’s important for the district to not overreact, until more information is known.

Gorman said the city is also working with NOAA and other agencies to develop an early warning system for landslides, based on rainfall, wind speed, and other weather data.

Gorman talked about that project with KCAW earlier this month. “Could we have a warning system that says we anticipate a storm system that has all the variables in that results in a high probability of landslides in this area? ‘Please take caution.’ If there’s a public facility in this area, the city may say, ‘During this period that this warning, we’re going to have a rain day and this facility won’t be occupied.'”

The city anticipates the Gavan Hill report will be similar to the South Kramer report, published by Shannon & Wilson in February. The South Kramer analysis included a color-coded map of risk zones and recommendations for future development.

The Assembly wants the city to invest in landslide research beyond the Kramer Avenue area. Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys partnered with the Coast Guard to create this digital surface model of North and South Kramer landslide area, as part of Sitka’s GeoTask Force. (From GeoTask Force Summary report)

At their meeting last night, the Sitka Assembly broadened the city’s commitment to landslide risk assessment. They approved a community-wide mapping project and an analysis of the Gary Paxton Industrial Park. And if their deliberations had a central question, it was this: Given the land shortage in Sitka, does establishing “risk zones” hamper future development? Basically, how much is too much when it comes to landslide research?

Downloadable audio.

It’s hard to put into words just how much the August 18th landslides changed Sitkans and their relationship to the land.

Take Assembly member Matthew Hunter. The lifelong Sitkan mentioned how he accompanied a Department of Transportation geologist to survey the South Kramer Avenue area.

“Hiking up around the landslide immediately after the event, we got to talking and [the geologist] said, ‘You see all the flat area along the shorelines. That’s all landslide deposit.’ So, you wait long enough and something’s going to fall. Be it a tree or a rock or a hillside,” Hunter said. “I guess it opened my eyes – opened all of our eyes – to that risk.”

An illustration from the geotechnical study commissioned by Sitka in the aftermath of the August 18, 2015 landslides. Geologist LaPrade confirmed that there are no “no-risk” zones below Harbor Mountain.

But landslide risk is difficult to quantify without scientific research and data collection. In the wake of landslide, the Sitka Sound Science Center (SSSC) coordinated a GeoTask Force to pool landslide research from NASA, the U.S. Forest Service, and a variety of other federal and state agencies.

Click here to see the GeoTask Force summary report. 

This table shows that an anomalous precipitable water values swept over Baranof Island the morning of August 18th, 140% of normal for late August. (Image from the National Weather Service, GeoTask Force Report)

Tori O’Connell, Research Director at SSSC, told the Assembly that once of the major conclusions by the task force is that the rain event that caused the landslide (three inches in six hours) is rare, happening every 45 years.

O’Connell also spoke about how NASA’s jet propulsion lab flew their P-band radar system, called AirMOSS, over Sitka twice to ascertain any further creep of our slide area.

SSSC is now working with National Weather Service to develop a warning system for landslides. O’Connell said, “You might have noticed that, since the landslide, the National Weather Service hasn’t included landslide warnings in their weather report, on the marine weather. The hope is that with siting more weather stations, the modeling can make these warnings more specific.”

With specificity in mind, the Assembly considered a resolution to develop a community-wide hazard map for Sitka. Similar to the South Kramer landslide report, prepared by geotechnical expert Bill Laprade over the winter, this report would do a similar analysis along the entire road system and map low, medium, and high risk areas.

Click here for Shannon & Wilson’s full South Kramer Avenue report.

Shannon & Wilson, Laprade’s firm, estimated a community-wide report would cost $150,000. Mayor Mim McConnell felt this was the more affordable option than going parcel by parcel.  The South Kramer report alone cost $45,000. “There’s people that maybe would want to know this, but maybe would not be able to afford to have a study done [on their property]. And I think that would not be very fair,” McConnell said.

The South Kramer landslide tore through the Benchlands subdivision, claiming the lives of three men and destroying property. (Credit: US Coast Guard)

The pros of mapping are pretty obvious: enhancing safety of people and property. To protect the city from liability, attorney David Bruce even suggested a critical area ordinance, which would establish regulations for developing at-risk areas. For that, you need a map.

But the cons are manifold too. “Some of the cons could possibly be impacts on property value and future sales of property, possibile limitations on use of property or rights to property, and then certainly there could be limitations or impacts on development costs,” said Meagan Bosak, Community Planning and Development Director.

Assembly member Steven Eisenbeisz worried that in pursuing the information, the city would one day order people to abandon their homes or  eliminate land for development altogether. Bosak assured him that regulations of any kind would come well after the mapping process.

And Assembly member Bob Potrzuski had this to say.

I’ve also had those same thoughts, Steven. It keeps coming back to me though, that, if I don’t know that I live in a risky area, I can’t make that decision in my own whether to stay there or not. In the discussions I’ve had, I don’t foresee the city moving people out of their homes. But again, if I’ve got a family, I think I want to know.

That comment steered the Assembly towards unanimous support of a community-wide hazard map on first and final reading.

There’s state forces behind this project too. Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) requested FEMA conduct a multi-hazard assessment, that would include landslide mapping, avalanche, and riverine flooding hazards. It remains to be seen whether FEMA would oversee – and possibly fund – this project, but a map won’t be created anytime soon.

A debris flow along Sawmill Creek Road damaged GPIP’s administrative building. (Photo from GeoTask Force report)

The Assembly’s next item of business was to award a contract to Shannon & Wilson to perform a debris flow/risk analysis at the Gary Paxton Industrial Park. The contract is not to exceed $65,505 and would be paid for with GPIP’s undesignated working capital.

GPIP’s administrative building, which was damaged by the August 18th landslide, is up for sale.

City Administrator Mark Gorman said the city would not sell that or any other building without a risk assessment first. “Our economy is struggling. We have an opportunity to start moving property again in the park and it’s not going to happen unless we do the risk mapping.”

Eisenbeisz then asked, “Who is telling us this is a must do?” City Attorney Robin Schmid chimed in, “I am.” She commented, “Trying to protect the assets of the city is my job. And we’ve got a building down there that was damaged by a landslide. It just wouldn’t be prudent at all to turnaround and sell it and have another slide hit it. We’d be looking at liability.”

Assembly member Aaron Swanson asked why, if a community-wide assessment is on the horizon, the city should spend GPIP’s funds on this project. Gorman reasoned that this analysis would be more specific and offer designs for mitigation projects.

In the end, the Assembly voted to award the contract 5-2, with Eisenbeisz and Swanson opposed.

With these proposals, the Assembly continues to build upon the hard lessons learned from the August 18th landslides. Their hope is that, even if the mountains come down, the city has done the work to protect people and property down below.

A previous version of this story misstated that Hunter went up Harbor Mountain with geotechnical expert Bill Laprade immediately following the landslide. KCAW regrets this error. 

An illustration from the geotechnical study commissioned by Sitka in the aftermath of the August 18, 2015 landslides. Geologist LaPrade confirmed that there are no “no-risk” zones below Harbor Mountain.

Geotechnical consultants hired by Sitka say it’s unlikely that the city can protect residents from the type of landslides that that killed three people on Kramer Avenue last August.

An attorney on the team also argues that Sitka is not liable for damages from the slides, even though the city issued construction permits.

Downloadable audio.

Attorney David Bruce was sympathetic to the tragedy that took place in Sitka last August 18. But the former assistant attorney for Seattle understood the balance that has to be struck between development and safety.

He spoke to a full house at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce last Wednesday (2-10-16).

An analysis of the landslide identified an area of weak soil and volcanic ash deposits at the top of the ridge, which failed following heavy rains that morning.

Bruce suggested that it was not going to be an isolated incident.

“This pocket of poor soil is gone. It’s at the bottom of the mountain now. It’s depleted. It’s naturally not likely that anything substantial is going to come down there anytime soon. The problem is that there are other similar formations up at the top of this ridge. So we know that there are still some up there. And I can tell you to a certainty, that some of those will give way.”

The problem is identifying where or when those failures will happen.

Bruce works for the Seattle law firm of Savitt Bruce & Willey, and specializes in municipal cases. He was joined at the chamber by Bill LaPrade, a geologist and vice-president of Shannon & Wilson, a geotechnical consulting firm.

LaPrade had prepared a detailed report of the Kramer Avenue slide area, the first geotechnical report of this scale ever done in Sitka.

As he spoke, he referred to an aerial radar image — called LIDAR — which showed the underlying terrain beneath the forest canopy.

LaPrade had some good news and some bad news.

“The lucky thing about August 18 was that there was a berm here and it deflected it. So it didn’t come straight down the hill and potentially impact these lots and these houses down here.”

LaPrade explained that a large berm of rocks being stored by contractors just below Kramer Avenue turned the slide away from home. He called it a “Rube Goldberg” device, and a happy coincidence.

And although similar structures have been built on purpose to protect slide-prone areas in other parts of the country, neither speaker recommended that Sitka rush into decisions like that.

Geologist Bill LaPrade credits a temporary berm for deflecting the slide from homes in the Sand Dollar Drive neighborhood. Building permanent mitigation measures like berms and pits has been done in some parts of the country, where tax payers agree to subsidize them.

But Attorney Bruce said it was time to start talking about risk management.

“It is my hope that this event and this information gets used to start a broader conversation in Sitka, in this room, and in other rooms like this over the coming months, about whether Sitka should undertake a more comprehensive approach to managing the set of risks that are presented in your incredibly beautiful natural setting. I mean, you sit by the sea under these gorgeous mountains — but there are some risks that are associated with this. This is not the first landslide in Sitka. The community as a whole has some sense that these hills move from time to time — that’s not news. But what happened here was that earth moved, and the mud came down, and people died.”

Bruce suggested that Sitka may want to develop a so-called “critical areas ordinance,” as Seattle has, where property owners would be allowed to develop only after obtaining their own geotechnical reports.

It would be a huge undertaking to identify risk at the level of detail that Bill LaPrade supplied for the Kramer Avenue slide, for all of Sitka. The consultants agreed that it may not be worth it.

LaPrade, the geologist, was very direct as he referred to the entire slope of Harbor Mountain, which fronts the northern end of the Sitka road system.

“There are no no-risk zones on this hillside. This whole mountainside.”

So, who is responsible when a risk becomes a reality? During questions, audience member Randy Hughey, who sits on the board of the Sitka Community Land Trust, posed this question that many area property owners in the room were thinking:

Hughey – If the city allows a property owner to build in one of the zones — or occupy a home in them — is the city assuming some sort of financial risk?
Bruce – I don’t think so, is the short answer. It’s called sovereign immunity. It’s a body of law that says when you can and can’t sue the government. In Alaska the law is pretty clear, by statute, that the city can’t be sued for either granting a permit, or not granting a permit. So if the city were to permit subdivision or construction in one of these zones that have been identified as high risk, it is my view that the city would not be liable to a claim in damages, even if the city knew it was permitting somebody to do something dangerous.

Bruce did know if that same immunity extended to developers. He said at least one lawsuit has been filed so far related to the Kramer Avenue slide.

The city has published a report Shannon & Wilson, Inc., hired to investigate the South Kramer Avenue landslide on August 18th, 2015.

Click here to view the report.

The consultant was hired by the city in the fall to assess future landslide risk and further development in the Kramer Avenue area, particularly between Jacobs Circle and Emmons Street.

Bill Laprade, a geotechnical expert, was joined by attorney Dave Bruce to brief the Assembly on his findings tonight (02-09-16). They will also be presenting this report at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon tomorrow (02-10-16) at 12 p.m.