KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly has selected eleven major projects to submit to the state legislature for possible funding. At the top of the list is the Alaska Department of Fish and Game research facility. The new building will be built on Near Island adjacent to its federal research facility counterpart. The current Department of Fish and Game building was built in 1973. The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly is asking the state for three million dollars for the project. That’s around one fifth of the total construction cost. Other funding for the building will be requested from the EVOS Trustee Council. State grants totaling close to five million dollars have already been provided to the department of Fish and Game and the borough for this project.
Second on the funding wish list is money for new vocational facilities at Kodiak High School. The assembly is requesting 15 and a half million in state dollars to build and renovate vo-tech space to serve the Kodiak Island community. This project is part of the 80 million dollar high school renovation plan. If approved by voters,funding for the total cost of the new school will be paid for through the sale of bonds and through the state’s reimbursement program.
The cost of planning and designing a new nursing home in Kodiak comes in third on the funding request list. The assembly is asking for 700,000 dollars in state funds. That’s the entire cost of the planning and pre-development phase for the new facility.
The assembly also hopes that the state will foot most of the bill for the Womens Bay Emergency Shelter which is fourth on the list. The cost of that project is a million and a half dollars. The assembly is requesting one million, twenty five thousand in state funds.
Next on the list for state funding is the entire cost of emergency generators for school and emergency shelters in town and in villages. That bill is one million two hundred thousand dollars.
The other six items on the funding request list include traffic flow improvements at East Elementary school and traffic lighting for the stretch of road between the city limits and the Coast Guard base. Also: the paving of some portions of Borough service area roads though the specific paving projects have not yet been identified for that two million dollar request. The assembly’s list for state funding includes improvements to Baranof Park. The assembly is requesting a little less than half of the expense of replacing the track and improving field drainage and the bleacher area. The total cost is projected at 7 million.
Rounding out the assembly’s list: an upgrade to Rezanof Drive from Fort Abercrombie through the City of Kodiak and past the Coast Guard base, as well as the paving of the Peterson Elementary school parking lot.
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