Parks greenbelt conflicts with car lot

WASILLA — When Chuck Conrad purchased the vacant lot between Mug-Shot Saloon and Nobody’s Inn more than two years ago, he did so with the intention of leasing the land to someone else to sell used cars on the property. The lot boasts visibility to the thousands of people who travel the Parks Highway every day.

Now a parcel that’s part of the state Department of Transportation’s public use park corridor may threaten the viability of selling cars there.

“I’m not against the park or anything,” Conrad said. “But when it blocks my view to a piece of property I paid $20 a square foot for, it blocks my plans or my livelihood on that property.”

As part of plans to landscape the corridor along the Parks Highway, DOT’s project calls for trees, large rocks, park benches and trash receptacles to be placed along the border of Conrad’s lot. A new retaining wall on Crusey Street is also part of DOT’s improvements to area roadways.

DOT Design Project Manager Jim Amundsen said residents want the state to improve the aesthetics and reduce noise and dust alongside the highway.

“This is just one small piece of the landscaping put in as part of the corridor of the project,” Amundsen said, adding that residents have expressed a desire to create a visual break between businesses and the roadway.

Todd Smith, a Department of Transportation project engineer, said construction of the park began the week of May 5. Construction, conducted by Wilder Construction Co., will separate the park from the car lot with a 4-foot decorative barrier fence.

Conrad is concerned the Parks Highway visibility he covets will be lost. He also worries bar patrons could damage cars on his property.

“How many people walk up and down the side of the highway?” Conrad said. “I’m worried about people hurling bottles over the fence.”

Amundsen said the fence was made part of the design to keep pedestrians and bicyclists on the sidewalk and prevent bar customers from meandering through the lot.

In addition, Conrad said the lot now only has one public access point from Tommy Moe Drive, as the driveway from the Parks Highway has been cut off from use since construction began. Conrad’s application for an encroachment permit on the state’s right of way to the driveway was denied.

“I think I am getting a huge injustice placed upon me,” Conrad said.  

Amundsen said the state gets to decide what happens to the right of way, and it’s clear once the park is in place the lot will have to be accessed a different way than from the Parks Highway.

“It’s the state’s right of way all along,” Amundsen said. “That’s not uncommon that we have property owners encroaching on the right of way.”

Smith said he met with Conrad last summer about the proposed park. Until this spring when construction of the park began, Conrad said he didn’t receive any notices about any public hearings or hear from DOT or Wasilla Public Works Director Archie Giddings about any public meetings

Amundsen expressed his disappointment that not all voices were heard during the design phase of the park, saying that people affected by the park should have been notified through e-mail, flyers posted in the corridor, door hangers and other public meetings.

“We tried really hard to coordinate this thing with the property owners,” Amundsen said. “Frankly, I’m kind of sorry we missed somebody.”

The DOT also met with the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce and the city council, Amundsen said.

Conrad said he may seek litigation to halt the corridor development or possibly pursue legal action against the lot’s previous owner.

Contact Derek Casanovas at derek.casanovas@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.