Looking before leaping

The town of Saratoga will know exactly what they are getting into before they begin to fix erosion problems in the Upper North Platte River near Veterans Island.

The town of Saratoga has applied for two Federal Emergency Management Agency grants. If awarded, the money will fund erosion repairs in two sections of the river near Veterans Island. The town is still waiting for grant approval. The town should hear within three to four weeks, said Chuck Bartlett town engineer and public works director.

If Saratoga does get the two grants, construction would not move forward until the town of Saratoga contracts two surveys of the river.

“When we are done with this study, we will have scientific facts, and that will help us plan accordingly,” Glen Leavengood, district administrative assistant for the Saratoga Encampment Rawlins Conservation District said.

One survey will focus on the entire section of the Upper North Platte River running through Saratoga. The other survey will focus on the two eroded sections of the river near Veterans Island.

“The surveys will help the town understand how any future construction projects may affect property near the river,” Leavengood said.

Some Saratoga residents were concerned the town would kick off construction on the river banks without conducting surveys first.

“If you do that without a full understanding of the river’s hydrology, you have no idea who you are going to mess up,” Saratoga resident Cindy Bloomquist said.

Bloomquist, along with several other Saratoga residents, learned about the construction projects in January after reading a legal notice. The wording of the notice suggested the projects would begin without a proper study of the river, which prompted several people to contact FEMA with concerns for private property along the river, Bloomquist said.

At least seven concerned residents contacted FEMA, Bartlett said.

“The uproar was, I guess people didn’t know what was going on,” Bartlett said.

FEMA officials informed residents the projects would be phased, and surveys on the river would be conducted before construction began, Bloomquist said.

“We were worried that they would get the money, armor this corner, and affect all of us without waiting for the (survey),” she said.

If the town did not do a river survey before fixing the banks, it could have changed the hydrology of the river, which could have damaged homes, Leavengood said.

“It’s cause and effect,” he said. “You could hurt someone upstream or downstream.”

Bartlett said the town would have to conduct those surveys in order to do the construction and never planned to do construction without surveys.

Although some residents may be at ease knowing the town plans to take precautions, Bloomquist said she is still concerned the projects are being pushed too fast.Unfortunately, time is not a luxury the eroding banks have, Bartlett said.

“We got to protect those banks one way or another,” he said. “If we don’t, we have the possibility of losing a lot of the infrastructure.”

If the banks are not restored, further erosion could damage the access bridge to Veterans Island, sewer and water lines and the Public Works Facility, Bartlett said.

Assuming the town of Saratoga gets the grant money and everything goes according to plan, the surveys will be completed by the spring or fall, Bartlett said. Construction could then begin in the fall of 2014.

Costs to fix a river

Bank near Veterans Island access: $184,000

Grant: 75 percent of project cost or $138,000

Bank near Public Works Facility: $240,000

Grant: 75 percent of project cost or $180,000

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on what it takes to correct the Upper North Platte River through Saratoga.