Freebie costs Borough money, credibility

The old adage for business is the three-word mantra: location, location, location. Apparently it is, or should be, the same for schools.

The yet-to-be-built South Palmer Elementary School has already run headlong into a controversy over its location, and from what we’ve learned so far, we have to join those shaking their heads in disbelief over the decision-making process that leaves the Mat-Su Borough building a $15 million access road to a $14 million school, which, though billed as South Palmer Elementary, is really south of Wasilla, not Palmer.

But, hey, the land was free.

Rex Turner, developer of The Ranch, a 1,750-acre subdivision two miles from the Parks and Glenn highways, generously donated the land to the Borough for the school site. The site committee passed up other potential locations, including ones actually south of Palmer, to take advantage of this freebie.

Of the seven top characteristics that potential buyers look for when choosing a neighborhood in which to live, according to the Newspaper Association of America, the No. 1 consideration is good schools. The quality and proximity of local schools is foremost in the minds of many homebuyers. It isn’t surprising that the developer of The Ranch would want to improve the subdivision’s appeal with a nice, new, nearby elementary school. Since we aren’t talking about different school districts in this area, and the Valley is known for its “good schools,” proximity is a larger consideration than the name above the door.

But we also wonder about that name above the door.

As it turned out, by choosing the location off Fairview Loop, the school district wasn’t just fudging on the “Palmer” location, it was obligating the Borough to pay a good chunk of road improvements that are expected to tally more than $14 million. Developer Turner has said he will put up $6.4 million, leaving the borough to foot an estimated $8.4 million for road and bridge building and road improvement, some of which the Borough staff says it would have done anyway — eventually.

While the new road is being built, buses will have to cross railroad tracks and wind through the subdivision en route to the school, also raising safety questions.

At a recent meeting of the Borough assembly, it would seem Borough officials knew more than a year ago that there would be a stiff price to pay for access to the land. However, optimism prevailed and that information was not relayed to the assembly.

Penny wise and pound foolish is another old adage that comes to mind.

While the assembly seems to be ready to move forward down that bumpy road, in large measure because it would derail the project to search for a new location, we think all of Mat-Su’s voters, who approved an elementary in the “South Palmer/Trunk Road area” in May 2006, deserve some answers.

Borough Manager John Duffy was quick to shoulder the blame, but we take no comfort in that. The Borough and school district still remain, forgive another expression, between a rock and a hard place. There may be no good solution for this construction project, but this costly decision needs to be a catalyst for developing a better site-evaluation policy — one that doesn’t include snapping at a freebie without counting the cost.