Houston OKs gravel mine with changes

HOUSTON — After a lengthy public process, the city council has approved a gravel operation in south Houston, albeit with some serious amendments.

The 69-acre parcel where the mining will happen straddles the Parks Highway just past the fireworks stands. The plan, like many smaller operations around the Valley, is to sell the gravel produced by leveling a small ridge for future development.

The original application for the conditional land use permit would have allowed Mat-Su Gravel Products to extract 1.5 million cubic yards of gravel over a 10- to 12-year period. Mining would have happened on both sides of the highway, and the finished product would have had a small pond filled by water from the adjacent wetlands.

As far as environmental conditions, the original application included provisions for undisturbed buffers between any mining activity and the seasonal high water table, surrounding properties and Cheri Creek. There was also a storm water pollution prevention plan and a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers saying no permit was needed for the operation under the Clean Waters Act.

As the city of Houston is exempt from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s existing earth materials extraction ordinance, the conditional use permit is ultimately awarded or denied by the city council.

The application first went to the city’s newly formed planning commission, where it was given a positive recommendation. It then went to the borough’s planning department for a staff review.

Viewed in light of the borough’s gravel ordinance, the application was seriously lacking, the report says. Among a long list of concerns, the site plan and pollution prevention plan are inadequate in the original application. The buffers around the creek and surrounding properties should be increased, the operation poses a threat to the water table, and a reclamation plan should be required, the report says.

Additionally, a representative from the Environmental Protection Agency testified at the city’s public hearing on July 9. The pollution prevention plan filed with the application was the wrong type and included the wetlands as a sediment control measure. The sediment must be captured before entering the wetlands, and the operation needs the longer-lasting multi-sector general permit, said Matthew LaCroix, a biologist with the EPA. Also, the Army Corps must not have had all the information at hand because the activities as proposed would indeed require a permit under the Clean Waters Act, he said.

Based on the concerns of the borough, EPA and local land owners, the city council delayed the vote to give the applicants time to address the issues raised.

After a work session in July and another in August, the amended plan came before the city council last week for a final vote. The changes to the application include the following:

• A reduction in the total area mined. Only 15 surface acres will be disturbed, and the operation will be limited to the parcel north of the Parks Highway.

• A reduction in the length of the operation from 10 to 12 years to six years.

• The required paperwork for the multi-sector general permit to comply with the storm water pollution prevention plan.

• Test wells drilled every five acres to test the seasonal high water table as recommended by the EPA.

• A reclamation plan for the contractor to follow.

• Limited hours of operation. Mining will only occur from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

• Increased buffers from both the creek and other properties.

• The pond has been deleted from the plan.

Before the vote last Thursday, Deputy Mayor Lance Wilson said the fact of the matter is this parcel is zoned residential. One of the uses on residential properties is resource extraction with a conditional use permit. The owners and operator have met all the requirements placed on them.

“We have to keep in mind this is a piece of private property. The owner has certain rights. One of those rights is to develop the property as long as the legal requirements are met,” Wilson said. “I believe (the operator) and the owners have met those legal requirements.”

Casting the lone dissenting vote, Councilwoman Natasha Schachle said she is still concerned about the local residents.

“The operation will be going on Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “There will be no day of rest.”

Mayor Roger Purcell said a lot of time and effort has gone into this project and the danger to the wetlands has been minimized. Unfortunately, he said, compromises will always lead to a certain amount of dissatisfaction.

“Not everybody is happy with this. Some residents still have concerns, but so does the person doing the gravel operation,” Purcell said. “We can’t make everybody happy.”