Creator of Snowzilla tells Valley he's no trash monster

"If I can't say anything good about anybody, I can't say anything at all," he said Monday.

Powers, responding to a report Saturday that the borough code compliance office planned to notify him of the laws in effect to curb unsightly properties, said it could save the postage.

"I'm working on the property out there, but in no way is it like a garbage dump," Powers said.

Workers hired by the municipality of Anchorage cleaned up Powers' yard Wednesday. Neighbors had complained for years about clutter around the Columbine Street property in Airport Heights. City code enforcement officers obtained a court order to seize what the city labels junk and remove it. Powers was billed $8,500 for the cleanup.

Powers is better known for the enormous, landmark snowman Snowzilla that rises with the snowfall on his Anchorage property in winter.

Powers' statements Thursday saying he planned to move four trucks and assorted stuff piled into them to his property off Vine Road in Mat-Su attracted the interest of interim borough code compliance chief Robert Guertin.

Guertin, emphasizing that nobody has complained about Powers' property, nonetheless said he's sending Powers a notice spelling out borough law on public nuisance. Guertin said he visited the property, a half-acre lot on Limberlost Avenue, on Friday and counted four vehicles and some other items, nothing he labeled junk.

But if more than three vehicles there are unusable, Powers could have a problem, the code chief said.

That comment grated on Powers. All the vehicles run, he said Monday.

"One is a $100,000 motor home. He implied I have junk car issues. The whole article was this is gonna be a junkyard-type deal and it's not. I have no intention of making a junkyard out of my property," Powers said.

He said he plans to live on the property at some point and wants to improve a vacant cabin and landscape the grounds. He said he hauled truckloads of trash and junk out of the cabin left by the previous owner. The property includes a state-approved septic system and a 165-foot-deep well, he said.

"There's some folks out there, yes, have a pretty rough show. There's never been a complaint about me," Powers said. "I'd rather have a guy that works on cars, sells cars, even if they are junkers, I'd much rather have that next to me than a crack house."

Find Joseph Ditzler online at adn.com/contact/jditzler or call him in Wasilla at 907-352-6715.