Borough plan to auction Willow land tracts deferred to June after objections raised by local residents

A plan to sell borough-owned lands along Long Lake Road near Willow ran into stiff opposition from from residents at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s assembly meeting last Tuesday, Feb. 21. Local people want the lands protected.

The matter has been deferred to June 18 to allow time to solicit offers from a land conservation foundation to protect the land, or for local residents to arrange to purchase it themselves.

The immediate concern is over six tracts along the road and adjacent to the state’s Nancy Lake Recreation Area. Three other tracts would be included, if the sale it held, one in the Talkeetna area and two other parcels near Willow.

This isn’t the first time these lands have been embroiled in controversy. An earlier plan to sell timber harvesting rights in the area also raised objections from residents who want the land protected.

The proposal now, in the borough’s proposed OR-24-028, is to auction the acreage in a competitive on-line sale, the first of its kind to be done by the borough. It would be a general-use sale, meaning the buyers would be free of any restrictions.

There were some strong reactions at the assembly meeting. The land involved is forested and healthy, not beetle-killed as in other borough lands. It is also near the Nancy Lake State Recreation Area, a 22,685-acre park set aside for recreational use.

There were complaints that the proposal has been poorly advertised, resulting in many local people being caught off-guard, but at the Feb. 21 meeting the borough said the assembly had given preliminary approval to the sale of six the parcels last summer and that a 30-day public notice had been issued, advertised locally and with notices posted in Willow and Talkeetna.

There was little response to the public notice. Mat-Su’s Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the plan in January and approved it, the assembly was told.

Robert Hancock, of Willow, said he had gotten a notice of the pending action in mail but it was not clear that it involved a sale of land. It appeared be a reclassification of the land, which borough officials said was a step needed for a sale.

Hancock said he was under the impression any disposition of land would come later, as a separate action. If a sale takes place Hancock said he has no problem with the classification being “residential/recreation” as this would be in character with what local residents want.

However, the “general use” category would allow development of a large gravel pit that Willow residents have heard about as well as logging by private owners. “If you want to sell it, put the classification back to residential and recreation,” he said.

Greg Jones, a Willow resident who previously worked in planning and zoning in Anchorage, and then privately in property development, said the proposed action does not align with the borough’s comprehensive land plan or Willow’s comprehensive land plan. “You would be in violation of your own code,” he told the assembly.

Also, mailing out “boiler plate” legal notices to residents, “after you’ve made a decision,” is not consultation with residents, he said. By not following the local plan Mat-Su is making the same mistake Anchorage made years ago, Jones said. “We’re becoming Anchorage as fast as we can,” in Mat-Su, he said. The goal of Willow’s plan is to preserve the rural character of the community.

Several people speaking at the meeting said they would support purchase of the land by a conservation land trust like the Great Land Trust or another nonprofit like the Mat-Su Health Foundation.

Mike Brown, the borough’s manager, said he was in contact earlier with the Great Land Trust but was told the Willow area land was not on the Trust’s priority list. Brown also said he has heard no expression of interest from Mat-Su Health Foundation.

Assemblyperson Rob Yundt made the motion to defer action until June 18. There was no objection from other assembly members.