The Kodiak Island Borough Assembly is asking for public input on the future of its properties on Signal Hill, also known as the old mental health buildings. A public forum will be held next week on March 25 while the assembly learns about the rising costs to abate the buildings.
For several months the assembly has been discussing what to do with 13 units it owns near the Kodiak High School, which have been vacant for a few years since the Providence Kodiak Island Counseling Center left them.
Work has already begun on demolishing the units down to the frames and studs, with plans to put on temporary roofing and wrapping them in vapor barrier that has a warranty of about six months; but what the properties will be used for after the abatement is still undecided.
Borough Mayor Scott Arndt told the assembly last week on March 13 that time is money, and a decision needs to be made for the future use of those buildings as soon as possible.
"We don’t have the money to go ahead with reconstruction, or that [vapor barrier wrapping]," Arndt told the Borough Assembly that's what he heard. "You’re going to lose the buildings before we get the money together to do something. That’s the reality of the situation.”
At the same special meeting on March 13, the Borough Assembly approved a contract to have materials containing harmful chemicals known as PCBs or Polychlorinated Biphenyls, removed from the site, which includes most of the sheetrock, the wood trim and more. PCBs are man-made chemicals that were banned from being used in domestic manufacturing in the U.S. in 1979 for the serious harm they can cause to humans and the environment according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Borough Manager Aimee Williams told the assembly that those materials will need to be put into containers and shipped off island to be properly disposed of in the Lower48. That’s because the Kodiak Island Borough landfill, and others in Alaska, won’t allow any materials that consist of more than one part per million in PCBs to be dumped there.
“Tonight we’re going to look at the change order for the additional separation and shipping of the PCB containing materials," Williams said. "The change order includes a per container cost of $14,565.13 and there are 24 containers.”
Alaska-based contractor Far North Services is working with the borough to do the demo and abatement work on Signal Hill.
The assembly had approved a $1.3 million contract with the company for the work on Dec. 19, 2024, but now the cost for removing the recently discovered hazardous materials has gone up. Up to 24 containers of PCB materials, at a cost not to exceed $349,563.12, might eventually make their way off island during demolition, according to the most recent borough contract.
Manager Williams said the extra costs to dispose of these PCB materials will come from the Borough’s building and grounds accounts while the rest of the contract is paid for with the last of the Borough’s American Rescue Plan Act [ARPA] funds from the federal government.
The public forum on Signal Hill properties will be held at the Kodiak Fisheries Research Center at 5 p.m. next Tuesday, March 25. Aside from public input, the borough says it is interested in gathering input from “potential strategic partners” who may want to invest in a future remodel of the site.
There is also a survey available online for residents to fill out anonymously by visiting the Kodiak Island Borough website.
