Juneau plans to expand its temporary levee along the Mendenhall River, in part by using money originally intended for a new arts and culture center.

An ordinance passed unanimously at Monday’s Assembly meeting will allow the city to help protect more homes and businesses from annual glacial outburst flooding by pulling $5 million from the proposed Capital Civic Center.

The current levee is made of HESCO barriers — steel and mesh baskets filled with sand. It protected hundreds of homes from flooding by a slim margin during the record-breaking glacial outburst flood in August.

Deputy City Manager Robert Barr said at the meeting that $4 million of the reallocation will go toward Phase 2 of the levee project.

“These funds would contribute toward ongoing overall protection costs

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