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COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Tower's Big Dig

At least 6,000 cubic yards of sediment removed, but much more work remains in harbor expansion

Marshall Helmberger
Posted 12/19/14

TOWER—The dredging of the East Two River wrapped up this past week, but the actual excavation of Tower’s harbor won’t begin until January.

Dredging was the first part of a multi-step process …

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COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Tower's Big Dig

At least 6,000 cubic yards of sediment removed, but much more work remains in harbor expansion

Posted

TOWER—The dredging of the East Two River wrapped up this past week, but the actual excavation of Tower’s harbor won’t begin until January.

Dredging was the first part of a multi-step process in what is, without question, one of the largest public works projects in Tower in decades. So far, a work crew from Duluth-based Marine Tech has dredged and removed about 6,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediment and debris from the river channel.

“Everywhere in the river is now a minimum of five feet deep,” said Ricky Luukkonen, who headed up the dredging work for Marine Tech. His crew spent most of their time at the mouth of the river and at the site of the soon-to-be excavated harbor, located just south of Hwy. 169, on Tower’s west end.

“The dredging went really well,” said Luukkonen. “Everything is right on schedule.”

The crews did run into a couple problems in the harbor area, where two big boulders prevented them from dredging to the required seven-and-a-half-foot depth in the harbor plan. They eventually freed and removed one of the rocks, and the other, which is six-and-a-half-feet down was left in place and shouldn’t be any risk to navigation.

The cold weather in November only posed a minor challenge to Marine Tech’s equipment. “There was quite a bit of ice, but we managed to keep it at bay,” said Luukkonen.

In addition to dredging, Marine Tech installed sheet piling in a few locations along the harbor. Most of the remaining harbor shoreline will be contained with riprap.

With the dredging complete, Marine Tech is making way for Ulland Bros., whose own work crew will be arriving on the scene after the New Year to begin the harbor excavation. Unlike the dredging, the excavation of the harbor will be done from land and it will substantially expand the size of the harbor over what had existed there before.

The city has until April to complete the dredging and excavation according to the terms of its permit with the Department of Natural Resources. But work on the project will continue well into the spring, depending on funding.

The city’s $1.416 million contract with Marine Tech includes the dredging, harbor excavation, and shoreline stabilization— and it’s being funded by a combination of state grants and city funds.

The city will be seeking more funding over the next few months to help pay for other harbor-related infrastructure, such as docking, sidewalks, and landscaping. The city is working on a $300,000 request to the IRRRB and a $400,000 proposal to the Department of Employment and Economic Development to help fund that work. The city is also planning to tap some of its own resources, including a possible grant from the Gunderson Trust as well as land sales. The city approved the sale of three parcels earlier this month, two in Vermilion Lake Township and one in Kugler, which will generate about $100,000 in combined revenue after legal fees.

The Legislature provided significant taconite tax funding towards the harbor project in the past, but legislators have told city officials not to request more funding from the IRRRB until the city has a signed development agreement in place, and has made a financial contribution of its own towards the project.

The city now has a signed hotel agreement, with construction tentatively slated to begin May 15, and will have contributed at least $350,000 towards the project. “Hopefully, that will open up some of the funding doors again,” said City Clerk-Treasurer Linda Keith.

Meanwhile, the city is waiting on the completion of another market study, this one on the potential demand for condominiums along the river. According to Keith, the city’s development recruiter, Gary Lamppa, already has potential developers waiting for the outcome of that study. Keith expects the study to be available by mid-February.

"Tower, Minnesota, " harbor, hotel