Gravel was on the agenda again at the joint Mat-Su Borough Assembly and Planning Commission meeting on Tuesday, March 14. Several residents once again spoke out against the proposed amendment to the earth materials extraction permit legislation. The initial proposed amendment would allow up to 10,000 cubic yards of gravel to be removed from any site before triggering a conditional use permit requirement. The current allowance is for 2,000 cubic yards.
Assemblymember Mokie Tew, the sponsor of the initial proposed amended legislation, submitted an additional amendment on Wednesday, March 15. That brings the number of amendments to four on the initial proposed change. Tew’s second amendment appears to make a change to Assemblymember Yundt’s proposed amendment to adjust the days of operation to no longer include Sundays.
Assemblymember Ron Bernier spoke at the joint meeting about what he perceives as a misunderstanding from the public about the purpose of the proposed change to the legislation.
“So I believe that most of the public are under the idea that these are gravel pits going in next to their homes and stuff. And then when they’ve got Assembly people reaching out to other districts and saying that there’s thousands and thousands of trucks that are going to be going through their neighborhoods is doing a very grave injustice to what we’re trying to accomplish here.”
There still has been no indication what this proposed amendment will accomplish since no industry officials, community councils, road service area boards, or other groups requested the change. There also was no indication from the public that there was an issue with the existing legislation.
District 7 Assemblymember Ron Bernier also attended the Meadow Lakes Community Council meeting on March 8 and indicates that the materials extraction legislation is not about gravel pits.
“It seems to me that a lot of people are under the assumption that this is for gravel pits or something. This is literally just to take and knock down hills, haul it over to low spots, and fill it in. And then once the hill is knocked down, leveled out, you have a buildable, usable lot that we can collect taxes on. The low area will be upgraded to where we can collect taxes on that. It’s not to take and put in a gravel pit in everybody’s back yard.”
What is clear about the legislation is that the four amendments to the proposed change in the legislation have confounded residents and made it difficult to determine what might or might not be included in the final legislation or if the matter will be dropped altogether. It also is clear that the majority of residents do not want this change. Bernier has not reached out to the Talkeetna or Trapper Creek Community Councils to discuss the proposed changes and hear from his district’s most northern residents. He has not attended any Talkeetna Community Council meetings since beginning his term. It is unknown if he has attended any Trapper Creek, Susitna, or Chase Community Council meetings, but his presence has not been noted on minutes.
