Assembly discussing Jonesville management plan

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly will consider Ordinance 21-006 at their meeting on Tuesday to adopt the Jonesville Public Use Area management plan after years of work by members of the community in Sutton.

The Ordinance would amend Mat-Su Borough 15.24.030 to include the plan and could be subject to reapproval by the Assembly if passed, and forwarded to the state for further amendments. In 2016, members of the Sutton community formed a citizens action committee leading the charge to reduce lawless behavior and wanton destruction on state-owned land at the old Jonesville mine site. The committee drafted a project management plan and in 2018, the Alaska legislature approved a designation of the Jonesville Public Use Area.

“Basically what you're going to do with this is if it’s passed it then goes to the state that you have supported the contents thereof and that will help the state of Alaska not have to put as much time into starting over from the beginning and they already have a working partner that will agree to support it being the Mat-Su Borough,” said Representative George Rauscher.

Rauscher represents Sutton in the Alaska House of Representatives in District 9 and called in to the Assembly meeting on January 5 to voice his support. Rauscher applauded the citizens, community members and tribal members who volunteered their time in removing bullet riddled cars and drafting the management plan.

“The state has indicated that, while it does not have sufficient time or funding to participate in the planning process, the commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources can adopt the Jonesville management plan once it’s been adopted by the Assembly.The plan was drafted following the outline and planning process of the state’s Knik River Public use area management plan,” reads Ordinance 21-006.

The management plan went before the Borough Parks, Recreation, and Trails advisory board and was passed on September 28 of 2020 and was also adopted by the Borough Planning Commission on December 7. Former Assemblyman Jim Sykes also voiced his support for the management plan at the January 5 meeting.

“It will make an area usable for families in the same way that the KRPUA has done for the Jim Creek area,” said Sykes. “I too support it. It’s a great project and gives both the state and the borough some good options.”