Monofill case moved to Palmer

PALMER — A superior court case involving a high-profile construction landfill will move to the Palmer Courthouse, court documents show.

Superior Court Judge Erin Marston ruled July 21 that the administrative appeal would be relocated to the Palmer Court, and assigned a new case number. Judge Eric Smith will preside over the Palmer Case, according to an Aug. 5 order.

Marston granted the borough’s motion to move the case to Palmer for convenience, which is one of the legal guidelines for appellate cases.

The borough had argued that because the interested parties — anyone who participated in the planning and zoning commission hearings — were largely in the borough, the case should be tried in Palmer. Attorneys for Central Monofill Services (CMS) argued that because the decision would likely be based on the record of previous testimony, and oral arguments appeared unlikely, the actual location was immaterial, according to his decision.

“While the captioned parties (those named in the lawsuit) are equally split in location between Palmer/Wasilla and Anchorage, the vast majority of interested parties are located in the Borough,” Marston wrote. “In the event that oral argument or any other hearing takes place it will be more convenient for the interested parties to attend in Palmer.”

The proposed monofill site has been the subject of multiple-day public hearings and widespread discontent among property owners in the area. Neighbors generally say the risks posed by locating a monofill — a special type of landfill specializing in construction waste — in the neighborhood poses too great a risk for contamination to be allowed. CMS officials have said in the past that they are following federal and state guidelines for the disposal of construction waste, and any risks of contamination from the project are exaggerated.

The borough planning commission has rejected the site twice in two years. Most recently, the board of adjustments and appeals upheld in April a December 2014 vote rejecting the landfill.

The courts had previously ruled that because then-presiding judge Erin Marston could still try the case, even though he and CMS’s attorney Bill Ingaldson live on the same block in Anchorage.

Contact Reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.