After a few years of planning and difficulty, the dike project has finally begun on Rosenberry Drive.
The project started three years ago when the city of Coeur d’Alene received a directive from the US Army Corps of Engineers stating that the dike running along Rosenberry Drive was considered invalid.
The city had two simple choices: require NIC and surrounding property owners along Rosenberry Drive to buy flood insurance or build a levee that would follow Corps’ standards.
The dike in place now was built in 1940 by the Corps to protect North Idaho College and the nearby area from floods. It also prevented the college from having to pay for pricey flood insurance.
However, the latest regulations set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency requires all levees be certified following the Hurricane Katrina disaster no longer applied to the old dike.
While both options were expensive, building a new levee was deemed important due to new regulations. A levee now rated as “unacceptable” is not eligible for federal funding for post-flood reconstruction.
In other words, if Coeur d’Alene Lake was to flood from excessive precipitation and cause damage to the college and surrounding neighborhood, the city would not be able to receive federal funding for repairs.
Coeur d’Alene city engineer Gordon Dobler set up a new levee system and began assessment of the 0.9 mile-long dike to decide what would have to be done to meet the new standards.
However, the project ran into some conflict with the Kootenai Environmental Alliance (KEA), a non-profit conservation organization. The Corps’ directive required that all vegetation on both sides of the dike be removed. This would have meant the destruction of more than 1,000 trees along Rosenberry Drive.
KEA collected more than 5,000 signatures on a petition and filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Corps’ clear-cutting mandate. KEA’s argued that the Corps had not carried out an environmental analysis and that there was no scientific basis for their restriction of vegetation in flood control levees.
As a sign of victory for KEA, in 2012, a court in California rejected the Corps’ argument for vegetation removal, allowing Coeur d’Alene to certify to preserve as many trees as possible in the construction.
Keeping many of the trees in place was even helpful for the new levee.
“After an arborist surveyed the trees health, it was determined that most of the majestic ponderosa pines trees could stay,” said Adrienne Cronebaugh, executive director of KEA, “They were healthy and with a tap root that may extend up to 100 feet down- the ponderosas were playing a large part in stabilizing the levee.”
A couple invasive trees like black locusts and some ponderosa pines in poor health from crowding were recommended for removal and marked. They were carefully cut down late January. The next step will be to remove shrubs and stumps so that slope on both sides of Rosenberry can be regraded.
“Now that work is underway we must ensure that there is proper root and stump removal so that the remaining live tree roots are not disturbed and may remain healthy,” said Cronebaugh.
While construction has finally begun along Rosenberry Drive, it seems as though the project has not quite reached steady sailing yet. During the board of trustees meeting on January 21st, a difference of opinion arose between the NIC board of trustees and Coeur d’Alene city representatives regarding the levee expenses.
Coeur d’Alene City Administrator Jim Hammond and Dobler recommended to the trustees that the more than $800,000 in project costs be split by the city and the college.
Trustee Ken Howard disagreed with splitting costs while board chair Christie Woods found that the sharing of costs was equitable.
“The College has very limited funds as does the City so we must continue to work together in the best interest of our students and taxpayers/residents.” said Mark Browning,Vice-President for communications and governmental relations
It’s a bit of a difficult situation. The college owns a large amount of beach front property along Rosenberry Drive, but it is the city that owns Rosenberry Drive and is the official sponsor of the dike project.
“I’m really of the mindset that good solid public management and policy comes from communication and compromise and that’s what’s taking place here,”said Browning, “Both NIC and the city are working together to ensure that the dike is certified with the Army Corps and that the college, the city and the residents of the Fort Grounds are protected.”
Costs aside, the construction has been helpful for local businesses
“Most of the work is being done by city crews,” said Dobler.
According to Bill McElver, manager of the physical plant and facilities of NIC, the city has already started the construction and will continue though February while waiting to see how payment will work out.
Work on the levee should be done by early summer, but the entire structure won’t be complete until the fall of 2016.
“President Dunlap and Vice-President Martin have been working closely with City of Coeur d’Alene officials and I do believe there will be a report about those discussions and a possible settlement amount during the upcoming board of trustee meeting in February,” said Browning
“We are committed to working with the city to come to an amicable agreement,” said Chris Martin, Vice-President of finance and business affairs, “Our goal is to be a good neighbor and partner, while also ensuring we are protecting the college.”
After an understanding is reached, it is hoped that the dike project can continue without anymore hiccups.
Said McElver, “It’s been an interesting project.”
