Development on Eklutna Inc. land next to Chugiak's popular Loretta French park will proceed without a contentious construction and demolition debris landfill.
The Alaska Native corporation last week announced it had eliminated the so-called "monofill" from its planned community district master plan proposal for the 68-acre property. The decision reflects ongoing discussions between Eklutna and Anchorage municipal officials after tests last year revealed contamination from the old Peters Creek dump may be leaking onto the proposed monofill site.
Until the "potential trespass contamination matter" is resolved, Eklutna said in a statement, it isn't pursuing the monofill.
The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday approved the Eklutna master plan that sets the stage for future development on the property. A number of audience members and several Assembly members thanked Eklutna for removing the monofill as a permitted use.
Eagle River Assembly representative Bill Starr said he appreciated Eklutna's land stewardship and flexibility.
"We worked it hard, some behind the scenes, some in front," Starr said.
Some 800 people signed a petition against the Chugiak fill, according to Chugiak Community Council secretary Jake Horazdobski. He cautioned the Assembly to make sure the monofill was "truly deleted" from the Eklutna plan.
The decision to mothball the monofill marks the second apparent setback for the company proposing it and another one near Palmer: Central Monofill Services is affiliated with Central Recycling Services, the company that runs a successful industrial recycling operation at Ship Creek.
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission in December rejected the Palmer monofill in a tie vote, after scores of area residents testified about the risk for underground fires, potentially fouled drinking water wells and wind-blown trash or asbestos dust.
Central is hoping for a reversal of the commission decision from the borough's five-member Board of Adjustment and Appeals. A hearing on the company's appeal is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the borough building.
Central officials have called both sites necessary to take at least 8,000 tons a year of debris they can't recycle but that is becoming too costly to dispose of at the Anchorage landfill. Monofills can contain building materials including plywood, carpet, wiring and Sheetrock. Central also hopes to dispose of asbestos in special cells at the Palmer site, located above an unpredictable water table a few miles from the city along the Glenn Highway.
Monofills are lightly regulated by the state because officials say they pose a lower potential to pollute air and water than traditional garbage landfills. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation is reviewing a permit request from Central for the Palmer site, according to an email from Lori Aldrich, the department's regional solid waste program manager. DEC is currently researching information from 86 comments about the monofill permit application.
The Palmer permit decision will take at least another three months, Aldrich said.
Central put its DEC application for the Chugiak site on hold.
Central officials did not testify before the Assembly on Tuesday night. Contacted Wednesday morning, Central co-owner Shane Durand said the Eklutna property is the company's only potential monofill site in the Chugiak area.
Asked about the company's plans now, Durand referred questions to "our partner," Eklutna CEO Curtis McQueen.
McQueen was attending a day-long forum and couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday.
Eklutna is the largest private landowner in the Anchorage Bowl. The master plan for that Chugiak parcel includes a list of allowed uses that range from housing and industry to a golf course, a fitness center and animal boarding.
Numerous Chugiak residents and community council officials thanked Eklutna for pulling out the monofill but said they still had concerns about what they described as a lack of detail in the plan.
The plan includes only five uses that don't require additional review or a conditional-use permit, according to DOWL consultant Tim Potter: a community garden, a public or private park, a community or police substation, a "stealth design" transmission tower and a farmers market.
"Everything else has to go through the public review process," he said.