Gravel pit reclamation clears last hurdle

PALMER -- The Palmer Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Thursday to grant a conditional-use permit allowing reclamation of a gravel pit on Alaska State Fair land to proceed.

The city council previously approved rezoning a 40-acre site containing the pit from residential to industrial use. Planning and Zoning's action was the final needed step.

Joe Lawton, the fair's general manager, said the commission added a condition to the permit that will allow slightly less gravel extraction than anticipated but it won't kill a deal between the fair and Alaska Demolition of Anchorage.

Under the plan, Alaska Demolition would buy the 40-acre Hamilton Farms across the street from the pit. The company would trade that land to the fair for the rezoned 40 acres containing the pit. Alaska Demolition would use the pit as a site to deposit drywall, concrete and other materials from buildings that are torn down while also selling some gravel from the site.

When the pit is filled, the deal calls for the fair to have first chance to buy the land to use for future expansion.

Lawton called the commission's stipulation to raise the extraction level by five feet "kind of onerous" but said he still expects the deal to proceed. The city council had reduced the amount of gravel extraction somewhat in its rezoning ordinance, too.

"We'd made a pretty tight agreement with the council," Lawton said.

The next step in the process, he said, is for Alaska Demolition to close on the Hamilton Farms property. He estimated that preparation of the pit to accept fill debris may begin within a week.

"They [Alaska Demolition] need to get in there and start," Lawton said. "They need to grade it to get rid of the steep slope and prepare for cells" to hold debris.

Part of the council's interest in rezoning the land and filling the pit was to get rid of what many considered a longtime hazard.

Contact Steve Kadel at steve.kadel@frontiersman.com.