Anchorage Daily News

HOMER -- A local doctor whose subdivision roads risked washing dirt into a tributary of the Anchor River will pay a $27,600 fine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

Dr. Paul Sayer had earlier settled a permit violation with the Army Corps of Engineers on his Anchor Point subdivision, which required him to tear out a road across a wetland and grant a conservation easement along the tributary, Ruby Creek.

Both federal agencies said Sayer was very cooperative when notified of the violations and agreed to set things right. There was no evidence of actual damage to the Anchor River when the subdivision was inspected in July 2007, according to the EPA.

"The potential was definitely there," said EPA compliance and enforcement officer Chae Park. "The rules aren't simple, but if you're developing, you need to understand them."

The EPA was concerned about such things as poorly maintained fabric fences meant to keep soils from running off into the creek, Park said.

The 34-lot subdivision covers about 80 acres at the south-end junction of North Fork Road and the Sterling Highway. The Anchor River is an important salmon and trout stream.

In granting Sayer an after-the-fact permit, the Corps required him to restore some wetland areas, a Corps spokesman said.

"Nothing at all got into the river or into the creek," Sayer said Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT