Monofill permit appeal rejected

PALMER — Residents worried about potential consequences from a twice-rejected local landfill near Mile 38, Glenn Highway can breathe a little easier, at least for now.

The Mat-Su Borough board of adjustments and appeals unanimously rejected an appeal from Anchorage-based Central Monofill Services for a conditional use permit twice rejected by the borough planning commission at meetings in June and December 2014.

Monofill opponents generally say the landfill poses a risk to the health and safety of people living in surrounding subdivisions. The number of jobs created is not worth the risk of potential fire or potential long-term environmental damage that could result, residents of the Crimson View, Canoe Lakes, and Pioneer Meadows subdivisions told the board. They presented a study of Ohio monofills showing seepage into nearby water wells in that state. Others had testified about concerns over asbestos contamination from debris deposited in the landfill, about fire, and about water potentially used to put it out.

An Alaska Demolition’s monofill operating near the Alaska State Fairgrounds since 2004 was thought to have caught on fire in December 2013, but an investigation by the Department of Environmental Conservation’s Solid Waste Program at that time determined the discharge was steam, not smoke.

But nearby residents like Stacey Figon worry that any potential disaster at the Central Monofill Services site could overwhelm available local resources.

“If that landfill were to have a single fire, what in the world would we do?” Figon said. “We don’t have the means to fight that kind of a fire.”

The focus is on long-term concern, Mat-Su resident David Gilley said.

“Tomorrow morning we won’t wake up and open our faucet and see green slime coming out of it, but people’s kids, and grandkids and the rest of ’em will,” he said.

Some, like local resident Marion Bumgardner, said they felt the entire process leading up to the rejection needed reform. The company could simply try again, Bumgardner said. The borough should have used the property to create a park, as recommended in the long-range plan documents for the area.

“How many times do we have to beat this horse?” he said.

Attorney Bill Ingaldson, who represented the monofill before the commission, argued that the board of adjustments had the legal authority to re-hear the matter. Monofill operations would conform to state and federal safety and environmental standards. The board’s written decision rejected calls for a “de novo” — legal jargon referring to a do-over — hearing of evidence presented at the planning commission hearing, and said the planning commission had based it’s decision on evidence presented at the meeting.

Opponents had not demonstrated the potential for harm to water used by surrounding subdivisions, he added.

“What we’re ultimately boiling down to now is, will this pose a harm to the water?” he said. “Because there (were) no real facts — not even much argument about the other issues under (Mat-Su Borough Ordinance 17.60), such as values of the land — because the only evidence was evidence submitted by realtors ... there’s no diminution in value of the property near the other monofills in the Palmer area. There’s no diminution in value of houses around the Chugiak landfill. There’s no evidence of diminution of value other than fear of landowners, but that’s not based on facts, and your decision should be based on fact.”

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has not yet ruled on the monofill operations project, Ingaldson said.

About 75 people signed up to testify during the proceedings, and 25 ultimately testified.

Monofill officials were considering an appeal in Alaska Superior Court, but have not yet reached a decision, Ingaldson said Wednesday. Company officials have 30 days to file an appeal of the board’s decision.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.