Historic Willow building may get borough funding

WASILLA — Two Mat-Su borough officials have proposed using $200,000 to renovate a historic Willow community building, rather than relocate it off of borough property.

In a May 4 letter to the Willow Area Community Organization (WACO), borough mayor Vern Halter and District 7 Assemblyman Randall Kowalke wrote that the borough “is prepared to fund $200,000 for the Willow Log Building Rehabilitation Project.” The money would come from the Land Management Permanent Fund, which contains the proceeds of the sales of borough land.

In exchange, the borough would require WACO and the Willow Historical and Wildlife Foundation (WHWF) to sign a quitclaim deed, effectively ceding building ownership to the borough, according to the letter. When the renovations are completed, the building would revert back to WACO ownership under a borough management agreement, but WACO would not be allowed to sell or transfer the building, according to the letter.

“If this is not done, or there is any claim of ownership, then the log building will have to be moved off of Borough property, and the deadline, as stated in previous letters, is September 1, 2016,” Halter and Kowalke wrote.

The building has stood in the area near Willow Lake since the late 1950s, when residents constructed the building on federal land that eventually became borough property. The building was moved to make way for a new community center building to its current location during the construction of the present Willow Community Center. WACO officially signed the building over to WHWF in the early 2000s.

In March, the borough attorney’s office concluded the building wasn’t properly insured — a determination disputed by Jim Huston, WHWF chairman — and set the deadline for its removal.

WHWF never asked for any funding, Huston said. The building currently meets borough and state fire code, and recent engineering inspections have turned up no significant issues with the building, he said. Significantly remodeling or relocating the building could potentially affect WHWF’s ability to garner state and federal preservation grants, Huston said. Instead, Huston has proposed that the parcel of land the building sits on be subdivided.

“In a fiscally short year, they can just instantly grab $200,000 and throw it at the community to remodel a building which could damage its eligibility for preservation funds?” he said. “Without it even being asked for?”

Halter and Kowalke’s letter rejected the possibility of subdividing the land.

“The borough does not intend to subdivide the land where the old log building sits,” they wrote. “This borough property is to be used for upgrading the fire station, upgrading the Community Center with the new library addition, and upgrading the log building.”

Kowalke said in a separate interview the money would be used to add central heating, a bathroom, and a well, which the building currently doesn’t have. Any funding measure would need to be approved by an assembly vote.

Kowalke said his objection to the building’s current state is also somewhat personal. Several Willow quilters, including Kowalke’s wife, were asked to display their quilts in the building during the Winter Carnival. When they saw the facility, they balked, based in part because the building’s musty smell and lack of amenities, Kowalke said.

“Between (the smell), no heat, no bathroom, and the condition of what was essentially a storage area, the gals refused to put their quilts in there,” he said.

Newly elected WACO chairman Harry Banks said talking about the issue without potentially confusing his personal opinion and the opinion of WACO was difficult. Nevertheless, he’d like to see the building both honored and used.

“I’d like to see the building celebrated in its historic value, and I’d like to see it in regular use,” he said. “I think the community values it.”

Banks, like Huston, refers to a 1968 borough assembly resolution that designates the building, along with seven other Mat-Su buildings, as a historic landmark and potential tourism center. Some renovations could make the building into a community asset, Banks said.

“I feel like the tourist center vision has really gotten lost along the way,” he said.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.