Juneau Planning Commission to consider 10-year Lemon Creek gravel permit extension

Colaska, doing business as Secon, wants the Juneau Planning Commission to extend its Lemon Creek streambed sand and gravel extraction 10 years and expand it onto two adjacent parcels zoned Rural Reserve.

The commission takes up the permit Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 6 pm in the Assembly Chambers and on Zoom. City staff recommend approval with the requested changes to permit conditions, according to the agenda.

The operation, at the end of Anka Street, was last permitted in 2016 for 10 years. Digging would occur on gravel bars outside the active channel, at sites the Alaska Department of Fish and Game picks yearly based on habitat, spawning and streambed conditions, and available gravel.

The staff report calls the digging long-term flood mitigation. The Department of Environmental Conservation says human activity has left the creek impaired by sediment. Permit conditions aim to avoid adding to it.

Fish and Game's 1990 Mendenhall Wetlands refuge plan says Lemon Creek supports pink, chum and coho salmon and Dolly Varden.