Amended trapping ban near trails passes

PALMER — What otherwise might have been a relatively dry and non-controversial docket at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting Tuesday night, got a little extra spice after assembly member Randall Kowalke asked the matter of banning animal traps throughout the borough near hiking trails be reconsidered.

Back on March 7, the assembly not only went so far as to require animal setbacks of traps from a limited number of trails, they voted to expand it to six locations and forbade them in those areas entirely.

This passage came on the heels of 61 people coming to the podium to speak during public comment and 59 of them speaking passionately about how trapping is a threat to their pets and even possibly, to their children.

A sizeable crowd turned out Tuesday night to see what revisions Kowalke had in mind. It was a large enough audience to compel the assembly to move it forward toward the front of the agenda.

Kowalke offered three amendments to the ordinance, the first requiring that should the borough ever wish to add to the locations it first go through the parks board and the second removed Matanuska Lakes and Reflections Lake from the list of affected places because much of the land in those locations is not owned by the borough. The third repeated that language in another portion of the ordinance.

The motion passed 7-0, with Steve Colligan, the only dissenter in the March 7 vote, now going along with it, again in absentia.

Most of the audience clapped in approval at the passage, and then left the chambers.

A once contentious issue on the Fishhook Community Council came to an agreeable conclusion Monday night as the borough accepted the council’s comprehensive plan for its neighborhood.

Assembly member Dan Mayfield was complimentary of the council’s work.

“I was quite involved in the comprehensive plan for Big Lake,” Mayfield said. “I know it takes a lot of dedication from citizens to move that forward. I reviewed your plan and thought it was great.”

Assembly member Jim Sykes echoed that praise.

“It’s a real joy to observe the process happen in an open, fair way to try to work things out,” Sykes said. “You did it in a thoughtful way… thank you for the work you’ve put into it and I call for unanimous consent.”

The Fishhook plan passed 7-0, as did OR17-010, authorizing the borough manager to proceed with improvement plans in a portion of the McKinley Avenue Natural Gas Local Improvement District No. 592, as well as OR 17-011, doing the same for the West Ord Lane Gas Local Improvement District No. 394.

By unanimous consent the borough accepted $21,580 funds from the State Department of Health for emergency operations; accepted $104,620.34 from State Homeland Security and FEMA for damage from the 2015 Sockeye Fire; a resolution authorizing the borough manager to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation to deal with air pollution; and a resolution to approve the Talkeetna Community Council’s boundary revisions.