City gets green light to pay Lowe's $150K

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - With the Wasilla City Council deadlocked in a 3-3 tie, Mayor Dianne M. Keller cast the deciding vote Monday night that finally allowed the city to give Lowe's $150,000 of taxpayer money, to help the home-improvement giant with the cost of constructing a traffic light near its store entrance.

Keller's vote brought an end to the hotly debated issue, which spanned two months and four city council meetings while attracting large crowds and dozens of impassioned public comments.

Originally the city considered giving Lowe's up to $350,000 to pay for the traffic light at the corner of Hermon Road and the Parks Highway. After whittling off $200,000 from the original proposal, three council members and the mayor agreed it was only fair for the city to financially assist Lowe's.

Lowe's was under legal obligation with the Alaska Department of Transportation to pay for the entire cost of the light but a senior site development director for Lowe's, Roger Bernstein, said Lowe's only agreed to pay the full cost after failing to negotiate a cost-sharing deal with DOT.

Bernstein said Lowe's had originally planned to pay roughly $200,000 for the traffic light that DOT mandated, due to the considerable traffic increase on the Parks Highway that the Lowe's store generates.

When Lowe's discovered that the actual price of the signal was closer to $600,000 and DOT was unwilling to offer financial assistance, the company turned to Wasilla for help.

Everyone on the council and nearly all the public commentaries, over the last two months, agreed a traffic problem existed in that area before Lowe's ever came to town. Many of the comments cited the danger and difficulty of crossing multiple traffic lanes just to get onto the Parks Highway. The disagreement was over whether the city should offer payment for the light, even though Lowe's had already agreed with the state to provide the money.

DOT spokesman Rick Feller on Monday told the council that regardless of whether Wasilla offered financial assistance, Lowe's would still have to fulfill its agreement with the state to pay for the light. He went on to explain that businesses normally incur the cost of traffic lights when they are the entities responsible for causing the need.

According to national criteria, Feller said the intersection did not warrant a traffic light until Lowe's arrived.

"We are not required to install stoplights until thresholds have been met," he said. "Lowe's came into the picture and that was the trigger."

Council Member Noel Lowe addressed Feller and argued that regardless of DOT's national formulas, DOT had some responsibility to help pay for the signal because there were traffic problems beforehand.

While Council Member Rob Sande agreed there was a pre-existing traffic problem, he felt Lowe's should seek reimbursement from DOT.

The city should not be a middleman, shuffling money, he said.

Council Member Ron Cox disagreed.

"If Lowe's did not go there, we would still need a traffic signal there," he said. "The city has to make some overtures to these businesses."

Council Member Mark Ewing weighed in as the discussion wound down Monday night.

"I feel sorry for Lowe's, in a way," he said. "I'm really torn here. I don't know if the people who support me can support this. I have a feeling I'd get a bunch of phone calls."

In the final tally, members Straub, Sande and Ewing voted against giving Lowe's city money, while members Lowe, O'Neil and Cox voted in favor.

Keller broke the tie, to support the city giving Lowe's $150,000 by cutting the store a reimbursement check for 20 percent of the sales tax it pays the city each year.

"I think that is appropriate," she said.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.com.