Groups battle for same land

WILLOW -- In a sign of this Parks Highway community's growing pains, two groups are vying to develop the same plot of borough-owned land near the downtown core.

Willow Fire Service Area wants to expand onto 4.6 acres adjacent to its current fire station. However, the Willow Area Community Organization also wants the land to help build senior citizen housing.

Both groups say the location is key to their future plans -- the fire department because of proximity to its present facilities, and WACO because a senior housing development could use the kitchen at nearby Willow Community Center instead of building a new, costly kitchen elsewhere.

The two sides met at fire and rescue headquarters last week but no decision was reached. Instead, Mat-Su Borough Manager John Duffy said a borough committee will study the issue and determine which use is most appropriate.

The study will focus on the needs for fire and rescue as well as for senior housing, he said, and whether there is other land available that would satisfy those expansion plans. The process should take about three weeks, Duffy said.

Willow Fire Chief Lori Wiertsema noted that an agreement giving the land from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to the Mat-Su Borough specifically stated it would be used to expand borough public safety.

"It's stated in that transfer of title," Wiertsema said. "We're trying to fund this right now."

However, members of the Willow Fire Service Area board of directors said they were surprised to learn WACO had asked the borough for management of the land to help Willow Area Seniors develop housing.

Fire officials point to the Willow Community Development Committee action plan as support of their quest for the acreage. The document says its goals include assisting the "Willow Fire Service administration, inclusive of emergency services, to develop and maintain facilities, equipment, and apparatus for fire, ambulance, and rescue as follows: upgrade and expand current main station [and] build a training facility."

A capital improvement proposal for Willow Emergency Services, issued in July, said emergency responders operating out of the Willow Public Safety Building need more space and improved facility conditions. Headquarters are now contained in a portable building without water. There is a lack of parking space, public safety officials say, particularly in winter when snow storage takes us significant space.

A three-phase construction project is proposed. Phase 1 would include a new building for fire and emergency vehicles while phase 2 would turn the existing public safety building into a training room, conference room and offices. Those phases could be completed within two to four years, according to the proposal.

Fire service area board chairwoman Laurie McCutcheon said population growth in the Willow area has made it mandatory that fire and emergency services expand. However, she emphasized that senior housing also is needed locally.

"We are not against senior housing," she said. "We support senior housing."

Dee Pralle, chairwoman of Willow Area Seniors Inc., said 60 percent of the community's year-round residents are seniors. They tend to need emergency services, she said, urging the two groups to find a friendly compromise.

"I don't want to see the factions fighting against one another," Pralle said. "We are the community, and we need to work together for the good of the community."