Members of Snug Harbor Road in Cooper Landing have expressed great displeasure at the prospect of a concrete plant in their area.
Two weeks ago, on March 19th, at the Kenai Peninsula Borough assembly meeting, an ordinance passed authorizing the Borough to enter into a contract with Davis Block and Concrete Company for Concrete Batch Plant Operations.
This supports the Sterling Highway MP 45-60 Construction Project Near Cooper Landing, better known as the Cooper Landing Bypass.
If the construction were successful, it would create ten new highway miles, bypassing a section of Cooper Landing. The lease agreement would take approximately five years, with the option of ending the contract early or extending the project’s timeline, depending on how the project progresses.
At that meeting, many community members came up to express their concern for the site location and the safety of how this would operate. Another common issue was that members of Snug Harbor felt they had very limited time to be informed about the potential discussion happening and would’ve liked more notice before this discussion.
After a vote, the ordinance passed with eight members in favor and one against. Cindy Eckland’s only vote was against it. She says her opposition was due to concerns about the safety of drivers in the area.
According to Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche, he received a letter from Karen Button of Cooper Landing with a signed petition of over 100 names to veto the ordinance.
He brought this up during the Mayor’s report at the KPB meeting on April 2nd to share his thoughts on the situation with his fellow constituents.
Micciche said that while he did receive the letter, he did not plan to veto the concrete plant site.
“Eight of my team members made the tough choice to move forward on the best site for everyone involved,” he said. “I will schedule a meeting with the folks in Cooper Landing to talk about the details and what we’ll do to ensure that it is a safe operation throughout the life of that lease.”