Assembly unanimously rejects gravel pit

WASILLA — Borough assembly members on Tuesday unanimously rejected permitting for a gravel pit that had sold gravel to a contractor working on a borough-managed construction project while operating without sufficient permitting.

B & E Construction had sought an interim material use district approval for a gravel pit along Pittman Road, a move the planning commission had rejected. Local residents have complained about wind-blown litter and the presence of possible asbestos-containing materials at a landfill at the same location that was also unlicensed.

Numerous residents turned up Tuesday to ask the assembly to reaffirm the planning commission’s previous rejection, and generally repeated concerns about materials.

At least one resident mentioned lingering ire over gravel pit and landfill operations in the area. Bill Smith, who lives on one of many adjoining properties, said borough officials should have been more diligent.

“If the folks at the borough planning and land use department had done their job to start with, we wouldn’t be here tonight to discuss the proposed interim materials district known as B & E Construction,” he said. “Granting these folks a two-year permit to extract 1,500 cubic yard of gravel per year didn’t require a public notice or a hearing. Did they even get out of their office and look the area over and consider what the current land use pattern was?”

Natasha Pope told borough officials she was concerned about the materials in the landfill potentially leaking into drinking water, which in some cases is within 40 feet of the surface.

“There are neighbors all along the edges of the property, and I just want to bring it to your attention that there is a way this can be remedied, where all interested parties could find peace with your decision,” she said. “That is: either deny and recommend that they go after their conditional use permit for the recyclable permit, because it still is a public nuisance. That’s the bottom line.”

State officials had in the past given B & E a series of deadlines to remove a large pile of refuse kept on the property, after rejecting a permit application for a landfill at the site on the grounds that B & E’s permit application was incomplete.

Assembly members kept discussion to a minimum during consideration of the measures, save assemblyman George McKee.

“What we have is a contractor that has adamantly, simply refused, blatantly, to follow the state, federal and local ordinances dealing with this,” he said. “I also believe this, I believe an ordinance should come before that contractor and do whatever is necessary to take it back to its original condition.”

The line drew brief applause from Meadow Lakes residents in attendance.

In other business, the Assembly unanimously rejected an interim materials district for a gravel pit in Trapper Creek.

The assembly also introduced ordinances on marijuana businesses, in the face of some opposition related to an election date for a retail marijuana ban on Oct. 8.

Those ordinances now move to a public hearing tentatively set for March 1.

An ordinance approving a land exchange to obtain land for a warm-storage building in the Willow Fire Service Area (an issue that has proven somewhat divisive in the past) was set for a Feb. 16 public hearing.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.