Removing junk a slow process

It’s not the hand-hewn-log-cabin-on-an-idyllic-loon-filled-lake Alaska that people pay money to see. It’s also where Billy Powers, the Anchorage creator of monster snowman Snowzilla owns a half-acre lot. And, according to Robert Guertin, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s interim code compliance chief, it’s part of what once was among the Valley’s worst neighborhoods for junk and trash violations: Birch Hills Estates.

The level of clutter there a few years ago prompted the borough to “go proactive,” handing out citations to property owners with too many broken-down vehicles or too much trash. Other subdivisions, including Caswell Lakes north of Willow and Williwaw subdivision east of Wasilla, got similar treatment.

Those subdivisions are unrestricted in terms of zoning regulations. But, Guertin said, in the Valley even unrestricted properties must comply with borough laws limiting junk, noise and other “public nuisances.”

Guertin said Birch Hills looks a lot better now but still has a long way to go. Drive down Limberlost and it’s not hard to see why Powers might have thought his new property had loose rules.

Welcoming visitors to the neighborhood is a retired school bus missing its engine and hood. Next door is a whole lot full of chopped-up mobile home trailers. Near the road a twisted, crushed barbecue grill is sandwiched between leaning layers of grayish walls. Plywood-clad cabins are plentiful along Limberlost. Junk cars hulk amid weeds and trees. Loose dogs, tied-up dogs, dog lots and “beware of dog” signs pepper the route. Those signs are outnumbered only by orange-and-black “no trespassing” warnings.

COMPARATIVELY UNCLUTTERED Powers is better known for building giant snowmen on Columbine Street in Anchorage, prompting a lot of drive-by picture-takers and stories by local and national news media. In August he was fined $8,500 when Anchorage sent contractors to clean up his yard. Powers said he planned to take some of his stuff to his lot in the Valley.

Powers’ lot on Limberlost is situated where the road sweeps into a left-hand turn. He’s got a boarded-up cabin, a little hut on wheels that looks like it might have been a coffee stand, a leaning refrigerated trailer van that says “Roland” on the side, a few older-model vehicles and a camper.

There’s a hot tub set askew on the grass out front, a refrigerator out back and a grill under a nice grouping of trees. By far, Powers’ is not the most cluttered lot in the 40-acre Birch Hills Estates.

Guertin said after reading Powers’ comments in the newspaper that he planned to send Powers a message: Mat-Su didn’t want his junk.

On Friday, Guertin said he didn’t send Powers a letter pointing out the Valley’s public nuisance laws as he had initially planned. He thought Powers had already gotten the message. Powers said last week that he plans to fix up the property and live there one day. He said he has no plans to turn it into a junkyard. Powers did not return phone messages seeking comment for this story.

WORSE EVERY YEAR But one of Powers’ neighbors wants to know why the borough is focusing on Powers and not others in the subdivision who have been violating junk laws for years.

“Why all of a sudden is Billy Powers so biggy-doey, when we have all this local trash out here and every year it gets worse?” asked Art Cassel, a Limberlost Avenue resident since the early 1980s.

Cassel, 64, is a retired mechanic and runs an auto shop, Coyote Unlimited, from his home. He acts as sort of a self-appointed neighborhood watchman for Limberlost and Birch Hills. He said he complained about Powers to the borough last week. “It’s a pigsty over there,” Cassel said. “I don’t have any problem with people living and doing their stuff, but there’s got to be a line drawn in the sand someplace.”

Guertin said he has no record of Cassel’s complaint. He said a code compliance officer recently checked and found that Powers’ place complies with borough law. No citations are warranted.

Guertin said the borough has made headway cleaning up Birch Hills Estates. Since 2000, borough code compliance officers have closed out 28 junk and trash cases in the subdivision. “The absolute majority have been cleaned up. We only have three active (cases) now,” Guertin said. It happens that two of those cases are at an entrance to the subdivision, he said, but they’re being cleaned up.

CLEANLINESS TAKES TIME Cleanup can be slow, Guertin said. Property owners get ample opportunity to take care of the problem on their own. If they don’t, the complaint goes to civil court, where it can take months to be resolved. “We’re doing the best we can,” Guertin said. “If the people … are willing to clean up and give us a time frame, we’re willing to work with them.”

Paxton Oborn, for two years a real estate agent in the Valley, is selling a house on Crestview Avenue, a few streets away from Limberlost. A new split-level with cheery yellow paint and a clean half-acre lot, the $185,000 home is across the street from a junkyard filled to overflowing with cars. Oborn said some prospective homeowners visit the site and immediately say “no thanks.” But others see a lot of potential. “In the real estate business we say there’s a buyer for every property and a property for every buyer. People who were living in Settlers Bay wouldn’t buy that house. But people who live on Knik Knack Mud Shack Road would,” Oborn said.

Find reporter Rindi White online at www.adn.com/contact/rwhite or call 352-6709.