Some Haines residents have noticed an increase in truck traffic in recent weeks. Heavy rock trucks have been shuttling material between a quarry four miles from town, and a barge loading area on private land on Lutak road. The company responsible for the activity also carved a large section of the mountain across the road from the loading area.   Residents have complained to the borough about the increased noise, and the unpermitted work in the Lutak area. The borough intervened and issued some of the necessary permits.

 

Residents along the tuck route in Haines have noticed an increase in traffic in recent weeks.

Boyce: “It seems like it’s starting at full daylight.”

Annie Boyce lives on Union street, along the downtown section of the truck route. She says there is a marked increase in traffic.

Boyce: “The lion’s share of the big truck traffic is AML, and those oil trucks in the past. And then depending on the construction season, and where it is happening, you might get an incidental increase. This is a significant increase, and I don’t know how long it’s going to last.”

Boyce says the trucks are loud enough to make conversation impossible in her front yard when they are passing by. The traffic ebbs and flows. Other residents have reported That sometimes trucks are passing by every few minutes.

The trucks are owned by Southeast Road Builders, and are shuttling rocks and gravel between the company’s quarry four miles from town, and a waterfront property it acquired this winter. In May, the company applied for a site development permit, according to borough planner Andrew Conrad. The permit allows the company to clear trees and vegetation, and to level out the ground.

Residents reported seeing trucks take soil away from the site, and bring in loads of rock. These activities fall under different permits. Trucking material away from the site requires a resource extraction permit. Storing rocks and transferring it onto a barge requires a land use permit.

Borough officials went to the site to witness the activity. They saw a pile of rocks the size of a large building on one side of the road. On the other side, excavators and bulldozers have carved the mountain, removing enough material to create a zigzagging road up the hill to the height of a ten story building. They estimated the work went beyond the scope of the site development permit. Conrad says the borough contacted Southeast Road Builders.

Conrad: “We issued a cease and desist letter forcing the contractor to shut down unpermitted operations.”

Conrad says the company maintained the work fell under the scope of its permit, and was necessary to provide a turnaround area for their semi trucks. Conrad says he disagrees with that characterization. He says the borough is issuing two penalties to the company. One $600 fine for the unpermitted storage of rocks. There will be another fine for extracting material from the hillside, the amount has not been determined yet. The amount will depend on how much material the borough estimates has been removed from the mountain. 

The borough issued a land use permit to the company on August 14th, allowing it to resume bringing rocks to its property and loading it onto a barge. Conrad says the company will have to jump through more hoops if it wants to keep removing material from the mountain.

Conrad: “The resource extraction, the taking of material from that lot, and hauling it offsite, that’s the permit we can’t issue in our office. That’s the conditional use permit that goes to the planning commission for approval.”

Southeast Road Builders acquired the properties this winter. Company manager Tim Dudley said the intent was to use it to load aggregate on barges and bring the rocks to the company’s other project sites around Southeast. He and every other company employee that were contacted for this story denied any intent to transfer ore from the Palmer Project, a mining prospect 40 miles up the Chilkat valley.

As for the truck traffic, Brian Muller, another manager at the company, said there are more deliveries of rocks planned this season. He said the truck traffic would slow down toward the end of September.