Mat-Su coordinates removal of 50 vehicles from Big Lake road

Crews pulled 50 vehicles and trailers off a half-mile stretch of road in Big Lake's Peaceful Place neighborhood last month, then filled 11 dumpsters with trash during a follow-up cleanup. The work followed years of pressure from a resident who said she could not sell her house because of the blight along the road.

The borough's deputy director of planning and land use told the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly on Tuesday that no real estate agent would list the property because of the junk along the road.

Borough staff mailed notices to 120 residents and held a meeting on the corner Aug. 6. About 122 people attended, along with the district attorney and Alaska State Troopers, who committed a criminal suppression unit to the area. Officials called the cleanup adversarial and said arrests occurred during the work, which is why they requested trooper support.

On Aug. 12, code compliance staff organized what they called a tow swarm. Private towing companies extracted 50 vehicles and trailers in about five hours. A volunteer cleanup Aug. 28 and 29, backed by donated equipment and time from excavation and waste-hauling companies, filled the 11 dumpsters. In all, the project removed about 60 vehicles and 50 tons of trash, including vehicles pulled from properties once owners agreed to the work.

The development services manager put the cost at about $42,000. Some of that is recoverable from property owners, including the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks.

"The, probably the pivotal thing in this was that the stuff was in the right-of-way, right?" one assembly member asked. Staff agreed that public right-of-way gave them the authority to act. One family, they said, used the road to reach their property for the first time.