Borough cites nursery for manure pile

MAT-SU — Piles manure and grass compost dumped at the Four Corners area by an Anchorage nursery have drawn two citations from the Mat-Su Borough.

The Borough Code Compliance Division cited Evergreen Nursery & Garden Center CEO Jeff Dinwiddie for storage of animal waste and for changing the use of the property to commercial sales without applying for a land use permit. Dinwiddie is contesting the citations in district court. A court date is set for Dec. 18.

Almost immediately after Evergreen started dumping an estimated 30 piles of the stinking compost, nearby residents, business owners and drivers passing by began complaining about the stench.

The popular Three Bears grocery store is right across the street and customers there were often confronted with the odor as they left their cars and entered the building.

But nobody had it as bad as Morgan MacConaugha, 24, who worked as a barista when the piles came piling in. She was at ground zero, working only a few yards away where she sells lattes from the Krazy Beanz espresso stand.

“It would gag you,” she told The Frontiersman for a story in late October. “Customers would roll their windows down, order something and then roll the windows right back up. It’s just rancid.”

The borough ordered the piles to be removed Nov. 6.

According to a borough press release, Evergreen was cited in Anchorage for storing horse manure.

“The fact that the manure was brought to the Mat-Su Borough after the person was cited in Anchorage is a very good indication that our code was not researched by the property owner,” the press release says.

Contact T.C. Mitchell at tc.mitchell@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.