Houston takes another look at gravel mining operation

HOUSTON — The city council has delayed its vote on a proposed gravel operation at Mile 53 of the Parks Highway, choosing instead to send it to a second work session on Thursday.

The original application to level a ridge on Ben Jones and Anna Sutton’s 69-acre parcel called for excavation of 1.5 million cubic yards of material over 50 acres on the north and south sides of the highway. It included the digging of a pond and a 20-foot buffer of undisturbed land between any mining operation and Cheri Creek.

Because the city recently gained planning powers from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and is exempt from its earth materials extraction ordinance, Houston City Council has the final say on the application.

The application passed the city’s planning commission, then went to the borough’s planning department for a recommendation. Working within the borough’s much stricter regulations, planner Susan Lee delivered her negative recommendation to the project before the first public hearing on July 9. She cited the incompleteness and inconsistencies of the application, concerns about damage to the water table and insufficient buffers.

The application met further opposition at the public hearing. Adjacent property owners expressed concerns about the noise, dust and sedimentation of ground water. A representative of the Environmental Protection Agency said the operation needs a different permit requiring a more complete storm water pollution prevention plan.

After listening to the concerns, the council scheduled a work session with the applicants for July 14. The applicants expressed their willingness to make changes to the application and work with the EPA. The council was scheduled to vote on the application last Thursday, giving the applicants a month to make the recommended changes.

Property owner Jones said the requested changes to the application have been made. The applicants have decreased the area they are planning to mine, increased the buffers around the creek and neighboring properties and removed the pond from the plans, Jones said.

The applicants have filed the proper notice of intent for storm water discharge, EPA biologist Matthew LaCroix said. He has worked with the applicants, LaCroix said, and is comfortable they understand the requirements of the permit and will be in compliance if their pollution prevention plan is followed.

The notice of intent got to the council members at the end of last week, Jones said, too late for the council to give it a thorough review before last week’s meeting. The council set a work session for this Thursday to discuss the changes the applicants made to their plan.

Despite the further delay, Jones does not blame the city for the long process.

“I think the city of Houston has been easy to deal with, but the borough has been a pain in the butt,” Jones said.

He said the matter would be solved already if the borough had discussed its concerns directly with them over the phone, rather than issuing a formal letter to the city council.

Borough planner Lee said she did meet with the applicants and addressed some of her concerns. However, there were additional issues that came up after their meeting and she had to write a formal letter to record her findings. She has not had a chance to review the revised application yet, but the city council has the final vote on the application anyway.

This process could be changing soon, as a new earth materials extraction ordinance is making the rounds in the borough that would not exclude cities from its regulations.

However, Jones said, “the city council seems to think we might have this done before the borough can take the rights back.”

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