Gravel extraction ordinance pulled, going back to the drawing board

The much maligned gravel extraction ordinance was pulled during the Matanuska Susitna Borough (MSB) Assembly meeting on Tuesday, effectively killing it.

In a surprise move, Assembly member Mokie Tew, who drafted the ordinance, made the motion to pull the ordinance indefinitely.

“I brought this forward this year after I brought it forward last year, and the folks told me if I would have done half, the 10,000 yards, then they would support me. Well, you in the room know who supports me and who doesn’t,” Tew told the Assembly. He also said there are a number of amendments that may have led to some confusion.

In fact, on the MSB Assembly agenda, there were 5 proposed amendments to the 5-page original ordinance, with some amendments were longer than the proposal.

“I thank all of you for your input, and I have gotten some good input that I plan on using for the next one to come up,” he said, indicating that he will try again to propose a gravel extraction ordinance at the next meeting.

“I think anytime you have an ordinance, regardless of what it is, it’s best to have the meat and potatoes of the ordinance in the actual piece of legislation, and not have a bunch of amendments,” said Assembly member Rob Yundt.

“This is a good opportunity, the staff is re-working this to incorporate many of the amendments so it’s not confusing.” Yundt told his fellow assembly members that people he has spoken with, on both sides of the ordinance, have been confused by the amendments, and that for the next go round, work should be done to rework the ordinance to include the amendments in a succinct manner.

Putting the ordinance on hold means that it will go back to the Planning Commission, go back through the public comment period, and ultimately go back to the MSB Assembly. Yundt projected it would be in front of them in early to mid-May.

Assembly member Stephanie Nowers, who has been critical of the ordinance, extended her thanks and appreciation to Tew for his willingness to put aside the proposal.

“I don’t think we need to drag people to multiple, multiple meetings to decide that this was a bad idea, to cut the people out of the public process,” she said, which was met with public applause at the meeting. It had been a complaint many opponents had voiced when speaking out about the ordinance.

Originally, a proposal to allow 20,000 cubic yards of gravel extraction had been brought to the assembly in December, 2021, and had been met with public uproar and no support from the Planning Commission. It was killed in March, 2022.

Several months later, Tew brought forth the current ordinance, that would have allowed for 10,000 cubic yards of gravel to be extracted.

“I’m glad to hear we’re going to kill this. If we’re going to move forward to the Planning Commission and drag people through this again, I think we need to recognize a few things,” Nowers said, adding, “Number 1 is that the public doesn’t get cut out of the process. There should be public notification and the public gets to comment if you’re doing anything significant.”

She went on to add the some of the amendments need to take into account impacts on drinking water, ground water impacts, dust, noise, and traffic.

The motion to set aside the ordinance passed without opposition and was met with applause from the audience.