Downtown parking, lighting on Palmer City Council agenda

August 8, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman

The Palmer City Council is set to hold its regular scheduled meeting tonight at 7 in City Hall. Several issues, including downtown lighting and parking, are up for a vote or public hearing.

The complete agenda for the meeting is available online at www.cityofpalmer.org, but here's a summary of expected action:

Downtown lighting

contract set for vote

City lights and downtown sidewalks are scheduled for discussion tonight, when Palmer City Council members weigh an action memo on whether to enter into a contract with Dowl Engineers. Under the proposed agreement, Dowl would provide engineering and design for a combined sidewalk-streetlight project in the downtown area.

The actual construction project, which the council approved last month, includes replacing existing streetlights on South Alaska Street and South Colony Way with more decorative Victorian-style streetlights. In addition, the project entails sidewalk replacement in several areas, as well as a new sidewalk from Fireweed Avenue to Key Bank Plaza. Construction on the project is expected to begin in summer 2007.

Downtown parking plan up for public hearing

A modified downtown parking plan is set for public hearing at tonight's Palmer City Council meeting. The proposed changes define the boundary of a Central Business District and reduce the number of required parking spaces for new businesses in the CBD.

The plan also removes the requirement for businesses to create a landscaped buffer along all property lines. A main goal of the proposed changes is to permit redevelopment of downtown property to its highest commercial use.

The council is also scheduled to consider a related resolution Tuesday night that would designate the Palmer Depot parking lot as a community parking lot. The move is intended to reduce the number of new parking spaces needed for new businesses locating downtown.

The depot parking lot is also intended to provide a central parking area to promote a walkable downtown shopping area.

City to consider

purchasing more land

The Palmer City Council is set to vote on whether to begin negotiating a contract to purchase 19.1 acres adjacent to Academy Charter School on the Old Glenn Highway. Initially, council members considered asking city residents to approve a $900,000 bond for the property. Council members nixed the bond idea, however, in favor of purchasing the land outright with city funds.

In recent meetings, council members suggested a number of possible uses for the property, including: soccer fields, a public safety building and a performing arts center.

‘Emergency Operation Plan' up for vote

The city of Palmer hired a consultant last year to write an emergency operations plan to prepare the city for responding to natural and human-caused disasters. Tonight, council members are set to vote on whether to accept the proposal.

The plan spells out the city's chain of command in the event of a disaster as well as its relationship to the Mat-Su Borough, state of Alaska, and the federal government.

If approved by the council, the emergency plan would activate whenever an actual or threatened disaster significantly threatens human life, property or the environment.

The plan spells out how the city should respond to civil disorder, earthquakes, power outages, fire, terrorist attacks, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather and other potentially disastrous events.

Under the proposal, the city manager would assume control during a disaster, unless the city mayor decided to take over leadership responsibilities.

The proposed emergency plan is available on Palmer's Web page at www.cityofpalmer.org.