Bailey Hill enclave remains

PALMER -- Property owners on Bailey Hill seem to have held off an annexation attempt by the City of Palmer and although Monday's meeting of the Alaska Local Boundary Commission lacked vitriol, it did have its dramatic moments. Not the least of which was the sight of Bailey Hill property owners John Nystrom and Larry Vasanoja leaning over the dais to assist the LBC chairman Kevin Waring in drawing a line around their neighborhood to keep it out of the city.

The property owners are residents of what the annexation petition labeled "Area A" -- the part of the annexation that Mayor Jim Cooper would later say "got wrapped around the axle" during the meeting. Although some Bailey Hill properties have been annexed in the past, other property owners have resisted.

"They've asked us through the years. This isn't the first time we've had to fight city hall," Vasanoja said after the LBC meeting.

City leaders expressed surprise at the amendment to exclude Bailey Hill, in part because it leaves an enclave within city limits and the LBC itself has been critical of Palmer's past history of surrounding non-city enclaves when the city increases its boundaries.

"It is hoped that the City of Palmer approaches annexation in a more proactive manner in the future, rather than repeatedly reacting to requests for utility extensions to areas that are so modest in scope," the LBC wrote in a decision from May 2000. Since its incorporation in 1951, Palmer has completed 44 separate annexations -- seven took place in 1984.

That piecemeal approach led to sort of an endgame between the city and the residents of enclaves within city limits. The state wants the enclaves eliminated -- in 1992, the LBC rejected an annexation because it would have created another enclave -- so the city has responded with an annexation plan that eliminates enclaves.

Once the LBC entered into the decisional phase of its meeting, there were no more arguments for or against the annexation heard. But the commission did ask questions about geography. Then they drew a line on the map around approximately 50 acres of Bailey Hill property. The line isn't official yet, but it roughly follows a description proposed by Nystrom in a letter to the commission last summer.

The vote was four to one to exclude the Bailey Hill property. Waring, the commission chair, was the only commissioner who voted against the exclusion of the Bailey Hill properties.

"The city does have a stake in that area, and that area does have a stake in the city," Waring said, then noted that the question will likely come back.

"Rather than postpone [the annexation], it is probably time to go ahead with the entire area."

After the meeting, Vasanoja was asked if having the City of Palmer immediately south of his property benefited him.

"No, it really doesn't -- other than being close to the shopping area," Vasanoja said.

City council members touted a better homeowner's insurance fire rating as one benefit of city utilities. Asked specifically about that, Vasanoja pointed out that there is already a fire hydrant -- a city-owned one -- near his house.

"We have a fire hydrant on Albrecht Street," he said. "I get the reduction in fire service rating because of the proximity to the fire hydrant."