Neighbors of the proposed gravel quarry and rock crusher at Montana Creek Road testified Tuesday night their evolving community does not need more industry.
“The area has outpaced its former uses,” Montana Creek Road resident Patricia O’Brien, said. “It is time to phase those out,” she said of the proposed quarry.
“This is not in harmony with this area anymore.”
Neighbor Michelle Kaelke agreed.
“We can’t have a growing residential area and an industrial area at the same time,” Kaelke said.
Juneau’s Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for glacier gravel extraction and a rock crusher on a site adjacent Montana Creek Road. Coogan Construction requested the permit.
The project is located in a triangular, 17-acre lot along Montana Creek Road in the Mendenhall Valley, near the Hank Harmon Rifle Range and an existing inactive gravel pit.
Ricardo Worl also lives near the proposed site. He said he opposed the permit because of the potential for noise and traffic.
“We’ve learned to accept and deal with helicopter noises, gun ranges, tourist traffic” and a popular campground, Worl said. Add to that the current rock crusher located on Montana Creek Road, he said.
“I do hear the crusher, I do hear that,” Worl said. He said he hasn’t called to complain.
“Nothing is going to stop that,” Worl said.
He said his testimony was a chance to do something about additional noise.
“I get very tired of the noises,” Worl said.
John Thedinga, president of Juneau Community Garden testified against granting the permit. The community garden is located just off the northeastern tip of the site, across Montana Creek Road.
Thedinga’s first concern was water.
“We all know plants need water,” Thedinga said. Even in a rain forest, gardens need a lot of watering at certain times. The garden’s water comes from a fairly shallow well, Thedinga said. Any change to the water level could affect the garden’s water supply.
“We’d be concerned putting contaminated water on our plants,” Thedinga said. “Some of which we plan to eat.”
“It’s an insult to the people who live out there,” Mark Kaelke said. Kaelke testified that he fishes Montana Creek.
“It is simply an issue of compatibility,” Kaelke said.
Lauren Champagne lives on the southeastern corner of the proposed project.
She said she opposed the permit.
“That sound makes being outside absolutely unbearable,” Champagne said of prior experience.
Michelle Kaelke said in a telephone interview Wednesday she left during public testimony at 11:30 p.m. She said she felt the commission did not address her and her neighbor’s concerns.
“Unfortunate that they put one operator’s business concerns over 300 of our households in our neighborhood,” Kaelke said.
Wayne Coogan, owner of Coogan Construction said his company takes the public’s concern seriously. He said Coogan Construction plans to mitigate the noise with berms, trees and the location of the rock crusher. However, he said he believed some residents nearby the project were swayed by their neighbors’ objections.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (17)
Add commentSo you buy a house next to
So you buy a house next to several gravel pits, in an area that exists in its current state solely due to past mining ventures, is next to two shooting ranges, and then complain about the noise? Perhaps you should relocate to Thane?
Need fill
My lot is developed, and house is built. Nobody else may ever clear their trees, or fill their lot. I was lucky, God dumped 500 yards of fill just after a wind gust blew all the vegetation off my lot.
Some people are so ignorant. If not for stump dumps and gravel pits, your house was not possible.
move
You moved next to develpment.Maybe sell and move
NOT TRUE
Above, people are stating that these people moved there with the rock crusher in place. You're wrong.
It says that it is a NEW permit.
And, Kpawsuh, it's not just that neighborhood: this entire CITY is the result of past mining ventures.
The article clearly stated that the residents were okay with the gun range and the campground traffic, etc. They are justified in their anger. I'd be ticked off at the noise and the decrease in my home values as a result of this permit.
Would YOU want a rock crusher operating near your house? I'd be just as angry as they are.
@fisherwoman
"Add to that the current rock crusher located on Montana Creek Road, he said.
“I do hear the crusher, I do hear that,” Worl said. He said he hasn’t called to complain."
There's already a rock crusher there. This permit is for ANOTHER rock crusher. Before you tell everyone they're wrong, you might want to read the article more carefully.
@wfischer
I stand corrected; that wasn't clear to me upon my reading.
Perhaps the people above think another one won't make much difference. I myself would be very sad about the decline of my neighborhood and I feel for those people.
Fisherwoman44
There has been a crushing operation there for time immemorial. The developer of most the homes in that area operated that pit and crushing operation. Even city and state pits have to be repermitted annually. All these people moved next door to a gravel pit. That is a FACT. Now they say "I'm here now. You have got to move." How about I move next door to you and run you off?
"There goes the neighborhood!"
There has been one there for
There has been one there for decades. This is for another one. They say they are fine with the gun range and campground traffic. FOR NOW. Just wait. It will become an issue. Just like moving next to a gravel pit then complaining about the noise.
City meeting
The nerve of those homeowners to show up at a City meeting to voice their concerns. Judging by yesterday's article there were some areas of improvement that they agreed could be done to lessen the noise, why wasnt that already being done if Coogan takes their concerns seriously? For sure, when you have a residential area and an industrial area next to each other there are going to be problems but the prior article said there were berms with gaps, and they could move the crusher north, and the City recommended a 30 ft vegetative buffer. I would say the meeting accomplished something, would that have been done without the meeting? Who knows. Coogan said that he felt there was a little bit of a bandwagon going on. Hey, if it got you to do a little more to be a better neighbor than so be it.
Problem is
Per City Code the crusher is only allowed in Zone D3 as follows...
49.25 Article III 4.150 - Must be in conjunction with an approved state or municipal public road construction project, and must be discontinued at the completion of the project. Road construction by private parties for subdivision development is excluded except as provided in this title. Rock crushed on-site must be used on-site. Crushing shall be limited to 8:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m. unless the director authorizes otherwise.
This crusher does not fall within these parameters.
The currently operating crusher is "grandfathered" since it was in operation prior to rezoning this area to D3.
“We can’t have a growing
“We can’t have a growing residential area and an industrial area at the same time,” Kaelke said.
That line says it all. No, you can't have the best of both worlds. Which is why people tend to weigh all of these elements prior to moving into an area.
Moving the operation might be a viable option if it were a box warehouse or manufacturing operation, where raw materials or finished goods could be transported in to the location - but it is not. Mining is location based.
It's unclear why anyone would think living next to an operating mining operation would come without nuisance.
Assembly person Ruth Danner
Assembly person Ruth Danner lives back there or nobody would care. She also complained about a smell and tried to get the quarry closed down last fall. Email her in support of the quarry and jobs for Juneau.
@curtis
Tried to get the quarry closed down last fall? Not hardly. All she has done is asked different agencies to look into the smell - one that wasn't always there (like the rock dump) - because the people living closest to that area ASKED her to out of concerns for health and quality of life.
I recreate in that area frequently, and have done so since I was a child. The smell can be pretty dang overwhelming at times. Smells like open sewage. If I lived in those houses closest to Skaters cabin (or was a visitor to the campgound) I would be concerned as well, and want to know the who, what, where, when, and why. And frankly, imho asking questions when something seems a little off, should be encouraged.
@Argh
Thank you for posting of the City Code. I am totally on the side of industry and jobs. Yet it seems that Coogan is asking for an exception to the rules (according to what you posted) and that's where things get less black and white for me.
In general, agree with the previous posters who say that it is wrong to move into a noisy area and demand quiet. But in this case, I am having a harder time making it okay in my head for Coogan to essentially get a pass at following the rules at the cost of the residents.
Typical Juneau
Another group of people with nothing better to do than to complain about issues that were there before they were. Yeah that rock pit has been there for years. Why would you move to an area if all you want to do is change it? I love Juneau but some residents here and so idiotic.