Keep sewer lines off our trails, residents say

PALMER -- Valley residents came through loud and clear at an open house held by the city of Palmer Thursday addressing the issue of where the city's future water and sewer line to the new Mat-Su Valley Medical Center should go.

Scott Hattenburg, project manager for the line extension, presented two possible alternatives for the route of the new line.

The south route connects to the existing Palmer water main near the Alaska State Fairgrounds, then runs along the Glenn Highway. Variations on this plan call for the line to veer north through the area surrounding the Kepler-Bradley lake system, while others have it hugging the highway all the way.

The north alternative extends a future Helen Drive water line westward across land now owned by the city of Palmer, the University of Alaska and the Mat-Su Borough. That land contains part of the Kepler-Bradley and Crevasse Moraine trail and recreation systems. According to Hattenburg, Department of Natural Resources officials are willing to integrate the water and sewer route, which would require a 40-foot wide construction corridor and an 8- to 12-foot-wide maintenance path into the existing trail systems. But residents who live near and use those systems are less than enthusiastic about the project -- they're dead-set against it.

Peter Burchell said that, in his estimation, the highway was the only feasible route for the pipe.

"If [you decide on] anything other than down the highway, there's going to be trouble," he said. "We have to think about the future, and the future is now."

"I'd like to see the route contained to as small an area as possible," Mike Janecek said, adding that the land to the north of the Glenn and south of the Palmer-Wasilla highway was the only green space remaining in the heart of the Valley area, and that years down the line it could be a central park for the burgeoning cities. "It seems to me that access is certainly better on the southern route," he said.

Allen Butts added that routing water and sewer pipes through the Kepler-Bradley area would also be a mistake, and he would like to see construction follow the highway instead.

Ralph Baldwin, a Wasilla resident, emphasized the importance of protecting the sensitive wilderness by obtaining dedications for the trails.

"Whatever alternative we choose, we need to make sure those trails are preserved," he said. "I'm really concerned about the fact that this area is currently used for nonmotorized recreation."

Baldwin's concerns were shared by many others at the meeting.

"We really have a pristine system out there," said another advocate of the southern line. "But if you put in any kind of easement trail, the four-wheelers will come."

Kathy Wells with Friends of Mat-Su advocated for avoiding cutting across the wilderness now, and preserving it in the future.

"This is the last green space we have in a huge growing area," she said. "We need to find a way to dedicate these trails."

Kathi Baldwin, an area resident, said she agreed wholeheartedly with the preservation efforts, but wished there was a way to stop the necessity for perpetually rescuing the ever-threatened area from development.

"We don't want to do this all the time," she said. "We don't want to keep fighting over this little piece of land."

An impromptu show of hands among the residents gathered at the meeting showed only one person in favor of the northern alternative, with the rest of the crowd of 50 or so opposed.

Hattenburg responded to the feedback with a statement that the route along the Glenn is already the preferred alternative from an engineering standpoint, but that he had to include all possible considerations in his plan.

"We have to look at all reasonable alternatives, both the good and the bad ones," he said. "And it sounds like it's unanimous in this room that the southern route is the better route."

According to Hattenburg, these two options are derived from a process that analyzed many possible plans and routes before drawing the lines.

"We've explored every conceivable route between the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and the Glenn," he said. "We've tried to anticipate the development that will happen there in the future."

Eventual plans for the new line include expanding to include more customers west of Palmer, and constructing a reservoir near Trunk Road.