Assembly and Community Councils Discuss Junk

In a special meeting this week, the Borough Assembly and community councils discussed how to deal with junk cars, derelict properties, and cleanups. 

Borough Development Services Manager Jason Ortiz, with the department that handles code compliance, says there are overlaps in code violations and criminal issues.

“A lot of what we deal with code compliance has a lot of overlapping issues with criminality or other issues. A lot of cases where we see code compliance, the troopers also have similar situations where they are being dispatched or called to.”

Borough Manager Mike Brown outlined several existing programs that would help offset the costs of community cleanups on private and public property. Those include Adopt-a-Road, salvage vehicle towing, and derelict property cleanups. 

Brown proposes that the Borough provide a reimbursement for salvage yards to collect up to two vehicles per home. Towing derelict vehicles is currently funded for $50,000, but there is no deal yet. He says that though there are three salvage yards, one is not in compliance with code, one did not like the price point offered, and the third is newly established and not yet ready to accept vehicles. For vehicles in the Trapper Creek and Talkeetna area, there may be a cost differential to account for transportation. 

“Obviously it’s going to cost a little bit more, but we would create an offset by paying up to a certain number and then potentially the homeowner would have to pay the delta to get that vehicle pulled into the core area to one of the salvage yards.”

Private property cleanups are funded for $288,000, but there is not yet a process to implement that program. Under the proposal, the Borough would work with the Community Councils to address specific properties, but homeowners would need to be willing to allow the cleanups. The Borough would provide some funding to help offset the overall costs. 

The group provided detailed recommendations for how the Borough could handle derelict property complaints that would be fair and provide a way to keep neighborhoods clean. At this time, there are only proposals and recommendations for moving forward. 

The Councils and Assembly agreed to meet again soon to continue the discussion.