Residents have until Sept. 1 to apply for a Borough lake construction taskforce

MatSu residents have until Sept. 1 to submit their applications for a working group that will make recommendations on how close to lakefront homes and other large structures can be built.

Currently, Borough law requires a 75-foot space known as a riparian setback between all waterways and most buildings. A law change previously proposed by Assemblymembers Rob Yundt, District 4, and Mokie Tew, District 5, sought to drop that space to 25 feet at lakes, so long as a civil engineer signed-off on a plan to block pollution runoff and the builder received a Borough-issued permit.

Land owners with existing setback violations are often unable to receive financing or sell their properties until the problems are fixed. Yundt said the proposed rule change was designed to give those with existing construction within the no-go zone a path to compliance. But opponents of the legislation worried the rule change would put wetlands and salmon habitat at risk for pollution. The change was shelved in July, and a working group to examine the problem and offer a comprehensive solution was proposed by Yundt as a compromise.

At least 674 people across the Borough are currently in violation of the setback on lakes, many of them unintentionally, Yundt said.

In addition to their assembly duties, Yundt co-owns Robert Yundt Homes, LLC, a general contractor which constructs homes in the Valley, according to the company’s website. Tew co-owns Tew Inc., an excavation company.

The new nine-person working group was approved unanimously by the Assembly Aug. 15. While group members will ultimately be formally selected by Borough Mayor Eden DeVries and approved by the Assembly, interested residents are encouraged to apply via the Borough’s website. Members can then be selected from those applications.

DeVries and the Assembly are not required to stick to any specific group make-up or even select from among applicants. The legislation approving the group says “as feasible,” the panel should include: a member from the Borough’s Planning Commission; a member from the Borough’s Fish and Wildlife Commission; a member representing the MatSu Salmon Habitat Partnership; a member from the home-builder, lending or real estate community; a member with expertise in waterbody pollution mitigation; a member from the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation; and three at-large members of the public.

Yundt said In an interview with the Frontiersman that forming a taskforce is the right step for sorting through any contentious issue.

“Any time you’re in that situation and you don’t have a working group, it’s pretty disrespectful to the public,” he said.

Would-be group members must apply by Sept. 1, with an Assembly vote on official appointments scheduled for mid-September. Once selected, the group will create its own meeting schedule. And although it can request an extension, the legislation asks for the advisory board to present its final report by mid-September, 2024.

Among the board’s tasks will be recommending Borough waterbody setback code changes, how to address existing structures built in violation of the rules and how the Borough should implement and enforce the setback rules.

That enforcement requirement was a last-minute addition by Assemblymember Stephanie Nowers, District 2, who said any changes are just nice sounding ideas without a way to execute them.

“I just think government, in particular, is great at coming up with solutions that sound good, like we will enforce this rule and you will do this and it all sounds good,” she said during the Assembly meeting. “But if you don't have the bodies to go with it and the resources to go with it … if you don't identify those, you don't necessarily know if it's a solution that's workable.”

Nowers also said she hopes the board’s recommendations will avoid giving scofflaws an easy out for ignoring the rules even as others have painstakingly obeyed them.

“We need to make sure that the solutions don’t reward people who have flaunted the rules, and help people to not be out of compliance in the future,” she said. “We might have 600 out of compliance, but we have thousands of people who have followed the rules and are in compliance.”

A federal lawsuit filed in April against Yundt and his business by the Environmental Protection Agency states that Yundt failed to perform his agreed-to fixes on violations of the Clean Water Protection Act (CWPA) created when his team at two sites dumped construction debris, including gravel and soil into Cottonwood Lake and Wasilla Lake, according to court documents. While the CWPA violations do impact local waterways, they are not directly related to the Borough’s riparian setback rules.

In July, Yundt agreed as part of a proposed settlement with federal prosecutors to pay $77,500 and perform remediation work, according to court filings first reported by the Northern Journal. The proposed settlement is open for public comment through Aug. 30.

Yundt told the Frontiersman he did not break CWPA regulations, and on Wasilla Lake held a permit from the Borough to work in the wetland area as well as a permit from fish and game to install a dock, and on Cottonwood Lake had a verbal OK from the Army Corps of Engineers for his work. He said he settled with the EPA to avoid spending more money fighting the allegations.

“Everything I did was correct and within those permits,” he said. “I would 100% spend the next three to five years fighting this if my wife would let me … I didn’t do anything wrong here.”

Yundt said he plans to run for reelection in November, when his current term expires. Tew’s seat is also up for reelection, as is the District 6 seat currently held since February by Dmitri Fonov. Fonov was selected by the Assembly for the position when its previous holder Jesse Sumner resigned to serve in the state assembly.

Borough Assembly elections will be held Nov. 7, with early voting starting Oct. 23. The last day to register to vote is Oct. 8.