Commission passes gravel rules to assembly

MAT-SU — After months of being held up in the planning commission, an overhaul of the rules governing one of the Valley’s biggest industries is now before the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.

The planning commission voted unanimously Monday night to recommend the draft of the comprehensive earth materials extraction ordinance to the assembly, albeit with 43 suggested amendments.

The draft created a stir with industry representatives when it first came out of the borough’s planning department. If adopted, the new ordinance would impose strict regulations over gravel mines and give the borough the power to enforce the rules.

The proposed ordinance would apply to all areas of the borough, including land inside the boundaries of the three cities. Changes to the existing borough regulations include:

• Increased reclamation requirements calling for 8 inches of topsoil covered with plants that include no more than 8 percent noxious weeds.

• Increased buffers between open water bodies and adjacent property lines.

• A required minimum of 4 feet vertical separation between mining operations and the seasonal high water table unless otherwise specifically permitted.

• Higher liability insurance policies and reclamation bonds for gravel operations.

The role of the commission is to make an advisory vote and recommend changes before the document goes to the assembly. The commission’s work sessions started in September, and discussions ran through November. The advisory vote was repeatedly delayed until Monday night.

Besides giving the ordinance the unanimous vote of approval, the commission suggested 43 changes, said borough planner Emerson Kruger.

With regards to reclamation, Kruger said the commission recommended lowering the top soil thickness required from 8 inches to 4 inches. The commission also suggested striking the 8 percent limitation on noxious weeds in lieu of mandating the use of certified weed-free seed.

Also related to reclamation, the planning commission recommended rejecting the proposed metric for calculating the bonding requirement for each mine. The bond requirement is to ensure reclamation takes place even if the operation goes bankrupt, Kruger said. The commission recommended determining the amount required on a more specific basis for each mine. This should decrease the required bond amount and help the smaller gravel operations, he said.

As to who would collect the bond, Kruger said there was some concern about the borough’s requirement being collected on top of the state’s requirement. However, Kruger said, the borough and the state are moving toward an agreement where the borough will be the only entity to require a bond.

Kruger said the commission also recommended making sound level caps for noise-sensitive areas — like schools, hospitals and nursing homes — more strict than in other areas.

The commission decided to recommend an amortization process for existing mines, Kruger said. This would require the mines to come into conformance with the new regulations gradually over a long period of time.

With regards to existing mines, Kruger said areas where mining has already occurred would be held to a lesser reclamation standard. Areas where a permit has already been issued would be held to the new standards, but they would not need to submit a new reclamation plan or reclamation bond. Any new permits for any new areas would require both the reclamation plan and bond, he said.

One last major change the commission recommended, Kruger said, was to remove the permitting process for new operations to mine below the seasonal high water table.

The planning commission did not make a motion regarding the applicability of the new rules inside the city boundaries, he said. Essentially, this means the commission supports the area-wide status of the ordinance.

The ordinance, with the planning commission’s recommendations, now moves to the assembly for its final stage in the public process. The assembly will hold its own public hearings. It can accept or reject any of the planning commission’s recommendations and make its own amendments to the ordinance.

Kruger said the first public hearing in front of the assembly is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 19.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.