The Army Corps of Engineers is set to begin a Geotechnical Analysis – that’s drilling for test samples to see what kind of ground is under the water – on the east side of the SERVS dock on the spit.

“They did get it scheduled for this year,”  City Manager John Hozey told the Valdez City Council at its Monday night meeting. “I was just notified about it last Friday afternoon.”

City officials had originally hoped to have the testing – which is needed to finalize the design of a new harbor – last summer. However, Hozey said the need for barges and the right tide combinations did not jibe last summer, and the time was now to begin the work, meaning this Wednesday, May 7.

“This is when they (the Corps) could do it,” said Hozey, when questioned sharply about noise issues.

“That will be a 24 hour operation,” he said, “That’s when the tides are.”

While progress on the new harbor is good news to some, Cottle asked pointed questions about noise, which tends to be loud, and is scheduled to run until May 16.

“Our own laws say you can’t do it past ten o’clock,” lamented Cottle, who engaged in a high-profile dispute with similar testing conducted a few years back that disturbed guests at the Sea Otter Campground in 2004, which Cottle manages in the summer.

“If we’re going to violate our own laws let’s get it on the table now,” he said, asking who in the city would handle potential noise complaints.

While the noise issue was worrisome, the council as a whole gave a  thumbs up to the testing.

“… so we’ll go with what council said,” Cottle added in an interview after the meeting.

“This is one week,” said Hozey after the meeting, adding that he hopes the noise levels will not be as pronounces as in past operations that ran 24/7.

Similar testing onshore is scheduled to begin May 31 and will run through June 6, but will be conducted in daylight hours only.