Object to proposed gravel pit

To the editor,

Public Alert: Your Attendance Required - Homeowners in the Alsop Road, Holstein Heights Subdivision, Lost Lake, and Twin Island Lake areas of Point MacKenzie and Borough taxpayers at large.

Call a halt to 34 years of possible resource extraction that threatens public safety, existing transportation infrastructure and perpetuates bloated Borough government.

Attend a Planning Commission Meeting and Public Hearing on March 7 at 6 p.m. in the Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly Chambers.

Object to the Earth Material Extraction Application Interim Materials District Alsop East Pit Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Stop this action to prevent:

— Significant increased threat of fire and smoke hazard to local residents and prison inmates on dead end Alsop Road.

— Public Safety threats and heavy truck use that would damage Point MacKenzie area roads.

— Altered watershed and negative impacts to nearby water bodies including subterranean water flow to wetlands and anadromous fish streams.

Deforestation that is devastating to wildlife and large raptors now beginning to nest.

Further reduction and compromise of lands available for public use and recreation.

Support a long-term solution for earth materials extraction. Use the Matanuska River floodplain as a gravel source. It is continuously replaced and has the advantage of proximity to a nearby railhead. It also offers a way to protect the Glenn Highway from river erosion. Costs could be shared with the State of Alaska to reduce expenses to Borough taxpayers.

Speak out by calling a halt to the Borough Point MacKenzie Town Site Program that this application seems to perpetuate.

Garvan Bucaria

Point MacKenzie