Middle Bay Off The Table In City’s Composting Discussion

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Brianna Gibbs/KMXT

Middle Bay residents can finally rest easy – the city’s proposed composting facility will not be built there. That announcement came from Mayor Pat Branson during a city council work session last (Monday) night.

The decision keep the composting facility out of Middle Bay came after more than two hours of presentations and discussion among the council members to try and find a solution to the biosolids issue in Kodiak.

In June 2012, the city was notified by the Kodiak Island Borough that biosolids would no longer be accepted at the landfill. But long before then, the city had been looking at alternative methods of handling the waste, which comes from city, borough and Coast Guard residents. One option on the table was to compost the biosolids into a usable, and perhaps even marketable, material. The city contracted with the engineering firm CH2M HILL to build a pilot composting site and evaluate the feasibility of such a project in Kodiak. Other options, such as incineration of the waste, were considered, but composting proved to be the most realistic, sustainable and cost effective.

The city sought out Quayanna Development Corporation as a potential contractor for the composting and began looking at Middle Bay as an option, based on industrial-zoned land availability. The proposed facility quickly drew criticism from Middle Bay residents, and delayed permitting from the Department of Environmental Conservation made it impossible for the city to begin composting by the landfill’s cut off date of December 15, 2012. However, quick collaboration between the city and borough led to a short term class B composting operation at the landfill, but that will be required to stop by August 15.

During last night’s work session, City Manager Aimee Kniaziowski said the council needed to decide on short and long term solutions for handling the biosolid waste. Right off the bat, council members agreed that Middle Bay should be taken off the table and a permanent Class A composting facility at the landfill should be the long term option. Kniaziowski said that based on preliminary discussions with the borough, that option is definitely a possibility.

Borough Landfill May Be Considered for Sludge Compost Site

Maggie Wall/KMXT and Jay Barrett/KMXT

In a series on the proposed composting project using sludge from the city’s waste water treatment plant, we have brought you the perspective from the organizer of the ad hoc group opposed at putting the project at Middle Bay. Today, we hear Kodiak City Manager Aimee Kniaziowski’s perspective.

She weighed in on the Kodiak Compost controversy yesterday in an interview with KMXT’s Maggie Wall. She said a new plan may find the compost operation being sited at the borough’s landfill, but said that is a very conceptual idea at the moment.

She also defended the city’s contractor, Peter Olsen of Quayanna Development Corporation of Kodiak, saying his plan is a good one. No matter where the compost is made, she said the city’s contract with him requires compost meet all environmental standards.

Kniaziowski also said opponents of putting the composting site at Middle Bay have not got all their facts straight.

Though there is no public hearing on putting the compost site at the land fill, or outside city limits in Middle Bay, the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly is meeting tonight, and there could very well be some public comment or discussion there.

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