The Juneau Assembly will hear the appeal of a CBJ Conditional Use Permit granted by the Juneau Planning Commission last month to Coogan General, LLC.
Assembly member Ruth Danner is among more than 40 Montana Creek subdivision neighbors to file the appeal.
As Danner recused herself from the issue at Monday’s Assembly meeting, she told her colleagues she expects to lose.
“I have increased the level of difficulty from five out of nine votes to five out of eight,” Danner said. “I give up the right to discuss this matter with all of you and abandon nearly all hope that you will see what I see from my side of this complicated thing between us.”
The appeal was filed last week by subdivision neighbors, who say they’re concerned about the impact of the rock crusher on neighborhood health, safety, traffic, and aesthetics.
The Assembly will act in a quasi-judicial capacity as the appeal agency, but the hearing officer will come from outside city government.
City Attorney John Hartle has said Danner’s comments on the issue to the Planning Commission and during Assembly meetings have compromised impartially on the issue.
He said Michael Lessmeier of the law firm Lessmeier and Winters has agreed to preside over the hearing.
The Planning Commission’s permit attached more than 20 conditions on Coogan’s proposed operations. Among them is a requirement that the rock crusher be located at the far north end of the gravel pit. The permit also limits hours of operation and requires.
