Anchorage lawyer seeks permit to fill Kachemak Drive wetlands

An Anchorage lawyer once nominated by former Gov. Sarah Palin to be attorney general seeks a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fill about 3 acres of high-value wetlands off Kachemak Drive.

The Corps of Engineers also seeks public comment on the permit application.

The lawyer, Wayne Anthony Ross, plans to build a motorhome and boat storage facility off Arctic Tern Place at the east end of the Homer Airport runway and near Lampert Lake.

He would do so by discharging up to 30,000 cubic yards into a 330-foot by 400-foot by 6-foot deep area, leaving 2 acres of his property unfilled.

In his Corps of Engineers application, Ross wrote that he could not avoid filling wetlands “due to the fact that the vast majority of the property is low lands.” He offered no compensatory mitigation for filling wetlands.

The Corps of Engineers identifies the area as “high value” under the Homer Wetlands Functional Assessment.

To comment on the project, write the Corps of Engineers at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District Regulatory Division, CEPOA-RD, 2204 3rd Street, P.O. Box 6898,JBER, Alaska 99506-0898.

For more information, contact the project manager, Andy Mitzel, at 907-753-2673, by fax at 907-420-0813, or by email at andy.mitzel@usace.army.mil.

Comments also can be emailed to Mitzel or to regpagemaster@usace.army.mil. Comments are due by Oct. 5.

For more information on the application, including drawings, visit http://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Missions/Regulatory/PublicNotices.aspx

Ross’ nomination to attorney general was rejected by the Alaska Legislature in 2009.

Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.

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