Borough set to take over Butte ownership

WASILLA — When climbers take the last steps to the top of a popular local hiking spot this summer, they’ll be setting foot on old ground that’s in new hands.

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly is set to consider on March 16 whether to approve acquiring the pinnacle of Bodenburg Butte from the Great Land Trust. Borough officials have sought to secure public access to the land since at least 2012. In 2014, the trust bought the 40-acre parcel atop the roughly 800-foot butte from the state for $296,726, about six times the assessed value of $49,000, according to borough property records and an informational memorandum submitted alongside the resolution approving the sale. In exchange for the land, the borough will pay $10,000 and agree to a conservation easement restricting the uses of the land and preventing private development.

The funds approval is among the final steps in the process of donating the land to the borough, said assemblyman Jim Sykes, whose district includes the popular recreation destination.

“It is one of the crown jewels in the Borough’s trail system that promotes fitness, wellness, and awareness of the gifts in our Valley,” he wrote in an email to the Frontiersman.

Great Land officials thought the borough already owned the land atop the Bodenburg Butte, in part because the borough maintained a trail leading up to it, said Kim Sollien, Great Land’s Mat-Su program coordinator. However, when the trust was examining lands for purchase in 2014, it discovered the top of the Butte belonged to the Alaska Mental Health Trust. After reaching an agreement on the sale price, Great Land approached borough officials about the possibility of a donation, Sollien said. More than 300 borough residents contributed funds to help complete the purchase, as did Conoco Phillips, the Rasmuson Foundation, and others.

“It’s great to reach out to so many residents and have them want to help,” she said.

Since purchasing the land in 2014, Great Land has raised about $230,000 to cover the loan used to buy the land, Sollien said.

Borough officials had $10,000 remaining after $75,000 improvements to the hiking trail on the west side of the Butte came in under budget last summer, and decided to contribute to help the Great Land Trust cover part of the original purchase, said borough community development director Eric Phillips.

Even though the borough is paying some money for the property, officials still consider the property donated, because of the huge difference between the sale price and the borough’s donation, Phillips said.

“The property was purchased by the Great Land Trust,” he said. “We had said that we would try to help the trust because we’re getting such a good deal for the people.”

With the title in hand, borough officials could consider some recreational development at the top of the Butte, within certain boundaries, Phillips said.

The property will be covered by a conservation easement, meaning any potential development would have to fit within the guidelines established by the easement. That could potentially mean raised viewing platforms and pavilions, not subdivisions and houses, Phillips said.

For now, no specific recreational development is in the works, Phillips said.

“We don’t have anything like that planned right now,” he said. “Anything we do will have to fall within the guidelines of the conservation easement.”

Sykes said he was open to the possibility of expanded development at the top to accommodate what will likely be increasing numbers of hikers on the Butte. For now, that means re-seeding and erosion control, but could mean additional projects in the future, Sykes said.

“Like all parks, the goal is to accommodate people using the place without destroying its reason for being a special place,” he wrote. “More people are usually part of the equation and future developments will be made to accommodate the additional hikers.”

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.