The new owners of the land on which Lazy Mountain Trailer Court was located in Eagle River have inherited its contaminated earth and groundwater.
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has supervised groundwater monitoring at the former Lazy Mountain Trailer Court since June 1999, two years after a spill from a heating oil tank system was discovered on the property.
Contaminants from the spill included chemicals from diesel fuel, gasoline and benzene, in both the soil and the groundwater. Extraction and removal of contaminated soil was conducted on the property as late as 2006.
Ongoing requirements for the site by the DEC include continued groundwater monitoring and decommissioning of the Class A community water system on the site by May 30. The DEC also requested the new owners of the property, Eagle River Downtown, LLC, submit a long-term groundwater monitoring plan by May 15.
Former trailer court residents fought and lost a court battle to prevent their eviction from the property by the previous owners, Swain-Williams Eagle River Associates, when they announced their intent to sell the property to Eagle River Downtown, LLC, who reported their intent to construct 230 residential units and office retail space at the site. The last of the trailer court residents were evicted Oct. 8.
Eagle River Downtown, LLC became owners of the property, which consists of two adjoining parcels at 11431 Old Glenn Highway and 16808 Coronado Road, Dec. 31, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Recorder's Office. The company also signed off on a construction deed of trust, a mortgage that pledges real property to secure a loan for construction, in the amount of $2,625,000, which was also documented with the Recorder's Office Dec. 31.
Eagle River Downtown, LLC, formed Dec. 6, 2007, is owned by subdivision developer and real estate agent Connie Yoshimura and real estate company R&G LLC, an Anchorage-based company owned by Roger Aldrich and George Porter. It is listed with the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development as a business for new multifamily housing construction. There are no other properties listed under its ownership at the state recorder's office.
The listed address in tax records for Eagle River Downtown, LLC is identical to that listed for Connie Yoshimura and Associates, an Anchorage-based subdivision development company with several projects in the Anchorage area.
When building will begin on the former Lazy Mountain Trailer Court location and what is planned for the site at this time remains to be seen, and Yoshimura could not be reached for comment.
“Typically, Connie is a very shrewd individual as far as looking at things and developing," said Eric Bushnell, a real estate agent for Prudential Jack White Vista Real Estate of Eagle River. "I don't know what they're planning on, but it lends itself to multifamily (residential development). It's a good place for it, because the adjacent properties are similar."
Lee Raymond, owner of Sleepy Dog Coffee Company, said he thinks there are pros and cons to building condominiums or apartments on the site.
"As the owner of Sleepy Dog, if they did go in, it would bring me more customers," Raymond said. "But at the same time, I feel sorry for the people who live just behind them. It would block their views."
Bushnell said the current housing market is favorable for building homes in Eagle River, and that condos and zero-lot homes provide more affordable housing.
"If you take a bigger lot and divide it into five pieces, you can sell it for less, which impacts the price of the home," Bushnell said. “So if you do several lots like in Eagle Crossing with attached zero-lot lines, which Connie has developed recently, it's about $30,000 less than what a standalone property would cost. Some people don't like it. But you have to be able to build homes people in your community can afford."
Bushnell cited rising gas prices as contributing to increases in construction costs and increases in consumer costs as contributing to the demand for multifamily housing complexes.
Whatever its plans for the site, Eagle River Downtown, LLC appears to be preparing to build on the land, as the DEC granted a request filed Feb. 27 on behalf of the company to relocate a monitoring well at a contaminated site in anticipation of a building that is planned to be constructed over the original location of the well at the former Lazy Mountain Trailer Court. The request was approved by the DEC March 6.
Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.
