Mayor shares her opinion of Church Road deal

A Spectrum, by Mayor Sarah Palin

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) owned several parcels of land near our airport, which it received from Dow Chemical many years ago. The city negotiated in good faith with TNC for purchase of two parcels and for a right-of-way to build Church Road South to provide better access to our Wasilla Municipal Airport, to undeveloped land near the airport, and to eventually allow Mack Road to connect to the Parks Highway via this new road. Better, safer road access to help alleviate traffic problems in downtown Wasilla will result with this new North/South corridor.

TNC offered to sell their parcels to the city. With approval from the Wasilla City Council, Wasilla entered into a valid and binding purchase agreement with TNC. The agreed-upon purchase price was $146,500 for Parcel D-2 and $21,750 for Parcel B1-3. TNC paid half of the appraisal costs. As part of the purchase agreement between the city and TNC, the city agreed to clean up an abandoned homestead dump that was located in part of the property.

Our negotiations were conducted with Randy Hagenstein, the representative of TNC in Alaska. The purchase proceeded in the ordinary course of business, at a schedule set by TNC. At the same time, unknown to the city and unknown to Mr. Hagenstein, a Virgin Islands land speculator (Gary Lundgren), bypassed TNC in Alaska, went to TNC officials in Washington, DC, and negotiated a separate deal to buy the same property that TNC had agreed to sell to the city.

When time came to close transactions, TNC refused to convey the property, unless Wasilla agreed to comply with a demand of Lundgren for special treatment that his properties wouldn't be subject to the city's zoning laws. The city cannot give special treatment to Lundgren and exempt his properties from the law. Accordingly, the city of Wasilla had to refuse this demand. TNC then refused to convey the properties as it had agreed.

When Wasilla got wind of the Lundgren deal our city council directed that we take action via a lawsuit to stop the land title transfer to the land speculator. On July 25, 2000, Judge John Sedwick of the U.S. District Court for Alaska entered judgment in this civil case, in favor of the city. The city of Wasilla won the lawsuit. The judge also ruled that we were entitled to receive attorney fees and costs. Lundgren appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Lundgren has a constitutional right to appeal the court's decision that favored the city. We were looking at a court date sometime in 2003. To conserve resources and not have to wait to resolve this issue until next year, the city agreed to remand the case back to Alaska's Judge Sedwick, and get it out of San Francisco.

The most important point that needs to be clarified in the Frontiersman's article, "Wasilla lawsuit revisited" is that the dispute before the court deals only with legal access to Parcel B1-3, a small wetlands tract. The original parcel had to be subdivided as part of the purchase agreement with TNC. There is no legal access issue with respect to Tract D-2. The lawsuit should not affect or delay the construction of any public facility.

Contrary to what was stated by Lundgren's attorneys, we are not "back to where we were." The city is now in an even better position. We know what will be built on Tract D-2. The construction of a railroad crossing to provide access to Parcel B1-3 south of the railroad is close to being a reality. The city is securing a blanket permit from the ARR that will cover all city road crossings, including the Church Road South location. They should approve this crossing by Friday, per the ARR attorney. Finally, a preliminary plat has been submitted to the borough. Once this plat is approved, the conveyance of Tract B1-3 south of the railroad may be made to the city.

One of the reasons the City of Wasilla was interested in purchasing the B1-3 parcel was that it consists of a significant amount of wetlands, and the city was interested in protecting the land. We felt that was appreciated by TNC, as they claimed they had an interest in conserving wetlands as well. We knew this purchase was a win-win situation for Wasilla and TNC, and that was expressed by TNC's state chapter.

The acquisition of this property is beneficial to our valley. Access and travel corridors are improved for residents and visitors, wetlands are protected, and public amenities will be developed to improve our communities. We are thankful we won the lawsuit and now have title to the large parcel that we need.

For more information, contact Wasilla City Hall at 373-9055.

Sarah Palin is the mayor of Wasilla.