Hatcher Pass suit finally resolved

PALMER -- A year-old lawsuit challenging the state's conveyance of prime Hatcher Pass real estate to the Mat-Su Borough was resolved last month.

Under the settlement agreement, the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will still convey the borough 3,000 acres of land expected to be developed as a ski resort on the condition the borough follows stringent guidelines.

An Oregon-based environmental group, Cascadia Wildlands Project, sued DNR in February 2002 challenging DNR's land transfer as not being in the public's best interest. In particular, Cascadia argued the transfer would undermine the state's own Hatcher Pass Management Plan (HPMP), which offers a host of environmental protections and development guidelines for any construction on the land.

The borough has always maintained it would follow the management plan. However, now the borough will get title to the selected land, subject to the plan's protections, the settlement agreement says.

The head of Mat-Su state parks, including Hatcher Pass' Independence Mine, sees the settlement as a positive move.

"Before there was nothing binding on the title," said Mat-Su Area Superintendent for state parks Dennis Heikes.

Now, the borough or its agents can only develop the popular skiing and hiking area for recreational use, rather than, for example, deciding to chop it up into a subdivision, he said. Some residential housing could be built as long as it is closely related to the recreational development.

Further, the HPMP requires a developer to perform an environmental assessment of any proposed use and open the plan up for public comment, according to state Division of Mines, Land and Water's Mike Sullivan.

"It really has a host of conditions, guidelines and criteria that have to be followed," he said. "It's unprecedented in the amount of detail it goes into to make it a development that doesn't mar the landscape up there."

Cascadia's Alaska representative Gabriel Scott gave the borough credit for signing onto the agreement.

"The borough promised all along that they'd obey the plan, but those were legally empty promises," Scott said in a prepared statement. "This patent condition is legally binding, and represents an impressive commitment on their part to protect the land."

The 3,000 acres is located on the south side of Government Peak, along with a narrow corridor of land to Mile 11 Hatcher Pass Road that might serve as a base for a ski lift operation, Heikes said.