State issues notice over tire dump

POINT MACKENZIE — The state has taken notice of an alleged illegal tire dump.

A local woman accused of dumping dozens of old tires on a neighbor’s property has been sent a notice of violation from the state Department of Environmental Conservation and could face maximum penalties of up to a year imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $10,000 if prosecuted.

“Between Aug. 20 and Aug. 30, four loads of tires were dumped at the described property,” says the notice of violation, dated Oct. 2. “An additional two loads were reportedly dumped on Sept. 29, 2013. Witnesses recognized the defendant dumping the first loads, and when questioned by Mat-Su Borough Code Compliance officers, the defendant admitted dumping the tires on the property.”

That defendant is Amy Jacobsen, who lives near the alleged tire dump location on South Starlight Lane. While property owner John Fraley says he wants the tires removed so he can sell the land to use as payment on a house he wants to buy in Willow, Jacobsen refutes claims she did anything illegal and that all the tires on Fraley’s property are his.

“He bought (that parcel) with tires all over there,” Jacobsen said. Her fiancé runs an auto repair and tire business out of their home, Jacobsen said, and he actually bought those tires from Fraley for about $200. She said the agreement was that he could salvage usable tires and put the rest back, so that’s what she did.

“I can’t believe this guy,” she said of Fraley’s complaints about the tires. “Who buys a property full of tires, then complains about them? I told the (code compliance officer) he sold them to us and he told us we could bring back whatever we didn’t need. We run an auto shop, so we used them for vehicles. There were ones that were good and a lot of them were bad.”

Fraley said he did sell Jacobsen’s fiancé some tires, but the sale was some time ago and they were good tires, not the ones that were dumped on his property.

“He bought some tires from me a long time ago, but not those,” he said. “He bought good tires from me and there was no deal like that. He just wanted to get rid of his junk. That’s just their junk they wanted to get rid of. Why would they bring more (on Sept. 29) when they know the borough wanted them to get rid of them? So, they bring more over?”

Jacobsen said that when she met with the borough code compliance officer, she agreed to go back and remove the tires.

“She told me I could clean them up within a week or so,” she said. “I said I’d do it when it stopped raining. I don’t understand what they’re trying to get out of us.”

Now along with the contact from the borough, the state DEC notice spells out that to avoid possible civil or criminal prosecution, the tires must be removed no later than Oct. 31 and that Jacobsen provide the state with photographic proof of the removal no later than Nov. 4. The letter also says the tires need to be disposed of at a facility permitted to accept them and a receipt for that disposal also must be submitted to the state by Nov. 4.

Fraley admits that some of what Jacobsen says is true: he did buy the property with a lot of tires on it, and he did at one time plan to use the tires to build a retaining wall. He said he gathered and stacked those tires back on the property, but asserts that just because he already has some stacks of tires on the land doesn’t mean that’s an invitation to dump more there.

Jacobsen said the situation has escalated and the whole thing “is downright embarrassing and stupid. He bought a piece of property with all these tires on it, now he’s upset that somebody dumped all these tires on his property. They’re his tires.”

She said she will remove the tires and wants to be done with the brouhaha.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.