Developer defies borough order to open gate

DENALI STATE PARK — A month after the Matanuska-Susitna Borough released an order requiring a public road to Denali State Park be opened, a private gate still blocks access to the road.

Byers Creek Landing is a 34-lot subdivision at Mile 144 of the Parks Highway. A road runs through the subdivision, ending in a cul-de-sac surrounded by private lots. But before the end of the road, Chulitna Trail branches west to the property line and the state park.

The gate was installed before Chulitna Trail by the homeowners association of Byers Creek Landing. As previously reported by the Frontiersman, developer Paul Nangle said the gate is to keep people and the trash they bring off the private property.

Roy Robertson, an engineer for the borough’s Public Works Department, said the road was dedicated to the borough when the subdivision was first platted.

“Any sort of blockage is an encroachment. Any sort of encroachment must have a permit,” Robertson said in a previous interview.

Julie Bell, a resident in nearby Trapper Creek, said the gate has been locked for two years. She had never bothered to complain about the gate, choosing instead to park at the gate and walk to the park down the road she knew to be public.

In July, Bell went fishing on Byers Creek. She accessed the water via a trail running through the state park and beginning at the end of Chulitna Trail. After a short time on the water, she was run off by a guide who said she was on private land.

“I used the state park easement to access the creek so I wouldn’t be on anyone’s land. They still ran me off even though I was on park land,” Bell said. “I live in Alaska. It’s Alaska land. I can fish on it if I want.”

This is a common occurrence for Michael Stevens’ guests. The owner of Byers Creek Lodge said pressure exerted on his guests by a local guiding outfit to get off the river has taken a serious toll on his business.

Unabashedly, Nangle claimed he can say who is allowed to fish on Byers Creek, at least inside the subdivision, because he owns the land the creek flows over. He gives out easements to the property owners allowing them to fish on the creek, and the easements are only for use by the property owners.

Not true, said Kathy Sheehan-Dugan of the state’s Department of Natural Resources in a prior interview. The land inside the ordinary high water mark of most water bodies is owned by the state, usually marked by the vegetation line, she said. The public is allowed inside this line, so long as they don’t access it through private property.

Wayne Biessel, the state parks superintendent for the Mat-Su/Valdez-Copper River area, confirmed that there is a public access easement through the park at the end of Chulitna Trail.

“It’s not an official trail, but it is signed and was brushed out recently,” Biessel said.

Public access to the park, and the trail head consequently, was the intent of the agreement made with DNR in 1990. The developers had to secure rights to build across a small portion of parkland to connect the subdivision to the Parks Highway.

The letter from Biessel’s predecessor granting permission for the road says DNR is not allowed to grant private rights-of-way across parkland. However, they would be willing to assist in developing a public access into the park through the subdivision. Hence, Chulitna Trail and the dedication of the road to the borough.

“(The agreement) was to facilitate public access through the subdivision to the west,” Biessel said.

With this in mind, and after Bell complained of the gate on Aug. 1, Robertson issued the order on Aug. 12 to take the gate down. The gate was to be removed within two weeks receipt of the letter.

The gate still stands, and Robertson said the homeowners association has submitted a letter asking for an extension to allow them time to write an application for an encroachment permit. The borough has not indicated a decision on the extension yet.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.