Gazing into the future of Seldon Road

When we look down the corridor that the borough is eying on the west side of its Bogard/Seldon project we think we can see the future.

A lot of people probably feel the same way; they see a future in which a person could drive from Houston to Butte without switching roads and without using the Parks Highway, in which traffic congestion on the highway is alleviated with locals using this new, alternate route.

That long-term view is still years in the future, though. More immediately we are distracted by the short-term realities of navigating crowded local roadways.

And, at first blush, considering the homes along the route between Church and Pittman, we worry that this short-term future is one filled with well-attended public meetings that seem likely to be contentious.

People don’t generally like big road projects moving through their front and back yards once they’ve settled into a place. We saw the same phenomenon on that corridor’s east side when the borough moved forward with plans to extend Bogard Road to meet up with Arctic Avenue and the Old Glenn Highway.

Those public meetings sought out bigger venues and were held in places like high school theaters rather than in the traditional Mat-Su Borough Assembly chambers. It was a long conversation that spanned over multiple meetings strung out over months.

Are we likely to see the same on the other side? Maybe. Certainly the area is more sparsely populated, so the meetings are likely to be smaller. And the borough says it doesn’t have to buy any homes, just land.

We think the borough has also learned a few things from the Bogard Road extension. We say this not because we’re a bunch of cockeyed optimists, but because we have evidence.

In the Butte lately we’ve attended a lot of public meetings. For those who don’t know, the Matanuska River is chewing away at its banks in the area, claiming multiple structures over the years. The residents are in the middle of buyout talks with the Mat-Su Borough.

This process has the potential to be as contentious as any and maybe even more so because of the years-long duration of this problem for area homeowners. Time is of the essence here and government, as always, moves slowly.

But, so far at least, Casey Cook and the Department of Emergency Services have managed to navigate this process with residents’ cooperation. It’s been kind of impressive to watch, really, knowing just how bad it could get.

How did they do it? We’re not sure. We think it probably has something to do with Cook’s constant presence there and his willingness to listen to residents and help when he can. He’s built personal relationships with residents. They know him and seem to trust what says, even if they don’t really trust government in general, or even the rest of the borough administration.

When we look into the future we are cautiously optimistic about the public process that is beginning for the next phase of the Seldon Road extension between Church and Pittman roads.

We hope the conversation happening in the Butte now will offer a model for how we can have productive community conversations about the difficult issues facing the Mat-Su Borough.