“We have an offer from NIT to purchase that land for a school, a pretty extensive school, it’s pretty impressive,” said fair general manager Ray Ritari.
NIT stands for Northern Industrial Training. The group is based in Palmer and currently runs a truck driving school, which they conduct in the fair’s parking lots.
 Courtesy A schematic drawing of the proposed Northern Industrial Training facility. The new campus plans include classrooms, gymnasium, kitchen, recreation area and study hall. Also, a wastewater training facility, wind turbines, fabrication and paint shop are in the plans. |
“I haven’t even had a chance to talk to a real estate attorney to develop a contract,” he said. “We are a ways from it happening.”
The fair’s Board of Director’s meeting Thursday drew a standing-room-only crowd.
Most everyone who testified, with a few notable exceptions, opposed the plan.
Ben VanderWeele said he’d offered to buy the land himself to make it a part of VanderWeele Farms. Board president John Harkey told him to speak to Ritari who could then bring VanderWeele’s proposal to the board for consideration.
“I promise you that it will remain in agriculture forever,” VanderWeele said.
Arthur Keyes of the Glacier Valley Farm also spoke at the meeting. He said he’s not opposed to a training school, but doesn’t want it on the 40 acres of land that was one part of the Hamilton Farm.
“We live in a state that there’s lots of land but, comparatively, there’s very little farmland in Alaska,” Keyes said in an interview prior to the meeting.
And the type of land in question, what farmers refer to as Tier II land, is the best Alaska has to offer. It’s also very rare. The plot in question, he said, is currently a hay field. But that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. To clear a similar plot from forested land and start farming, he said, would involve a process stretching out over multiple years.
Also at the meeting, board members heard from Todd Pettit, another farmer, who noted that Valley residents spend a lot of time digging up old plows to put in museums. But then they pave the farmland “and call it progress.”
Assemblywoman Michelle Church also came to speak. As an Assemblywoman she told the board about the Borough’s efforts to promote farmland preservation.
As an individual, she said, “I think you guys need to take a long-term vision,” and explore other options.
Ritari, in an interview, said that, from the fair’s perspective, there’s more than just a land sale here. They have plans to buy another parcel currently owned by Alaska Demolition. With this money, they could do that without going into debt.
More than that, though, having the school next to the fair will allow for the partnerships with NIT.
The students in the classes, he said, “will be used over here at the fairgrounds so we can keep our buildings in better maintenance conditions.”
Krista Gonder, Chief Financial Officer for NIT, agreed with Ritari about the partnership. It’s something, she said, that they already do.
“We just also helped build that mile of road up to the railroad depot there. That was our students that did that,” she said.
She said the facility plan calls for dormitories, wind turbines and a power generation facility. Students will fix and operate those things and also take classes in pipefitting, heavy equipment operation. All are skills they’ll need to work on projects like the natural gas pipeline and in the oil and gas sector. That would, in turn, allow companies to fill those jobs with in-state hires.
They’d do that now if they could, but, “the problem that we have right now is that we’re limited on space,” Gonder said. “We don’t have enough classrooms we don’t have enough shops and labs to teach.”
Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.
Comments
52 comment(s)Jed wrote on Mar 25, 2009 5:22 PM:
jp to Jed wrote on Mar 25, 2009 11:29 AM:
as i know for fact that i have read more of the Obomnibus bill than any of the likes of Mark Begich. and that idiot signed off on it, and you elected the moron! "
Jed wrote on Mar 24, 2009 10:02 AM:
Uncle Jed wrote on Mar 23, 2009 12:43 AM:
Spankles wrote on Mar 23, 2009 12:41 AM:
just stupid wrote on Mar 19, 2009 9:11 AM:
jp to just stupid wrote on Mar 19, 2009 8:23 AM:
Just stupid wrote on Mar 18, 2009 6:23 PM:
True Alaskan Gal wrote on Mar 18, 2009 1:46 PM:
Ben C wrote on Mar 18, 2009 12:40 PM:
Some of the world's largest vegetables grow up here. Look it up. Summer=sun almost round-the-clock, so even though the growing season is shorter, what you plant doesn't stop growing. The Mat-Su valley is Alaska's farm belt and another one of the ways Alaska is capable of being self-sufficient. Alaska is far from what you see in the movies. We have several different and distinct climate zones. "
jp wrote on Mar 18, 2009 12:14 PM:
it is not anything but a larger saturday market like in anchorage. only with less crafts and less produce.
The hay for horses reference is astounding, what? horses don't need to eat? a lot of that hay goes toward other livestock as well, like dairy cows.
Milk comes from cows, it doesn't just appear in the stores magically in white jugs. "
Landowner wrote on Mar 18, 2009 11:00 AM:
jp wrote on Mar 18, 2009 7:48 AM:
EG just proved my point to a tee, wouldn't know sarcasm if it hit him upside his/her head. EG is the epitome of the term "ridiculously stupid" if you took any of those blatantly obvious sarcastic posts seriously, you need to at least rent a clue.
always keep the farm land as farm land, there is plenty of parcels where a school could be built that would not destroy something that is not replaceable. "
MAXKATT from NY wrote on Mar 17, 2009 7:26 PM:
...Other than hydroponics, I wouldn't have imagined you had any agriculture. :-) Whatya plant on Independence Day and pluck on labor day??? "
E G wrote on Mar 17, 2009 1:13 PM:
jp wrote on Mar 17, 2009 12:30 PM:
well heck, let's just go slaughter the horses then, they have no place in an educated society. mow all the fields down, and pave them, as dirt is just..............dirty! "
True Alaskan Gal wrote on Mar 17, 2009 10:17 AM:
jn wrote on Mar 17, 2009 6:29 AM:
jp wrote on Mar 16, 2009 8:55 PM:
I certainly hope that i am wrong. "
jp to jn wrote on Mar 16, 2009 8:50 PM:
i grew up on farmland, seen what the overwhelming bunch of california influence can do to another area (Oregon) they absolutely ruined Oregon.
and the Evil Horde just keeps moving north. did they not pave and mason enough land in california? why do they feel that they have to ruin our area too?
if you don't like the way we live up here, go back to Cali!!!!!!! "
jn wrote on Mar 16, 2009 6:45 PM:
jp wrote on Mar 16, 2009 11:47 AM:
I'm glad to see that you came to the realization that i am right, and everyone else is wrong, you have made the first step toward common sense thinking. "
Born to FARM wrote on Mar 16, 2009 11:07 AM:
jn wrote on Mar 16, 2009 8:39 AM:
jp wrote on Mar 15, 2009 1:57 PM:
keep the fertile farm land for farming, take some other area that has no fertile top soil (like most of the valley) and build there.
There should be some common sense about this, think about it this way:
can you build a school over gravel?
cand you grow a crop in gravel?
is that simple enough for you ? "
cottonwood49 wrote on Mar 15, 2009 12:28 PM:
Just stupid wrote on Mar 15, 2009 9:36 AM:
Russ wrote on Mar 15, 2009 7:13 AM:
Alternative wrote on Mar 14, 2009 2:31 PM:
Outer Springer Resident wrote on Mar 14, 2009 1:56 PM:
jn wrote on Mar 14, 2009 12:37 PM:
jp to Lady Farmer wrote on Mar 14, 2009 11:34 AM:
i'm saying if this is agricultural land, it should be zoned as such, and protected to stay that way. there are plenty of parcels of land that would be conducive to the formation of a school, this one is precious, it is fertile land, and should be retained as agricultural forever. "
Allen wrote on Mar 14, 2009 11:12 AM:
Lady farmer wrote on Mar 14, 2009 10:15 AM:
jp wrote on Mar 14, 2009 9:58 AM:
annoymous wrote on Mar 14, 2009 1:24 AM:
E G wrote on Mar 13, 2009 7:09 PM:
boo wrote on Mar 13, 2009 5:04 PM:
jp wrote on Mar 13, 2009 4:40 PM:
The democrats will shut the fairgrounds down, because they had a gun sale there! "
jp wrote on Mar 13, 2009 4:38 PM:
so, go max out your credit cards, write bad checks, sign up to be a democrat, and praise the allmighty Obama !
SHEESE!!!! "
E G wrote on Mar 13, 2009 2:59 PM:
Waiting for spring wrote on Mar 13, 2009 12:01 PM:
attendee wrote on Mar 13, 2009 11:56 AM:
Michelle Church wrote on Mar 13, 2009 11:47 AM:
Just stupid wrote on Mar 13, 2009 10:46 AM:
Educate Grow weeds wrote on Mar 13, 2009 10:16 AM:
Sell the land and let the those with brains do there thing. "
JUST STUPID wrote on Mar 13, 2009 8:28 AM:
Ladyfarmer would be. wrote on Mar 13, 2009 8:26 AM:
Whining farmers abound here wrote on Mar 13, 2009 8:24 AM:
Chuck Legge wrote on Mar 13, 2009 8:18 AM:
bms wrote on Mar 13, 2009 8:09 AM:
pat wrote on Mar 13, 2009 7:21 AM: