MEA picks preferred route

WASILLA — After years of deliberations, forums, debates and votes, the Matanuska Electric Association has cut its list of possible power line routes through Wasilla to three.

Officials submitted applications to the city planning commission and the borough planning commission for the three alternatives connecting the Lazelle Substation near Hays Street to the Herning Substation immediately south of downtown Wasilla. The cooperative, which serves customers from Eagle River to the northern section of the Mat-Su borough, has also identified a preferred route for the first time since the city planning commission voted to require transmission lines along the Parks Highway to be buried, effectively scuttling the cooperative’s Plan A.

If permitting continues without obstacle, construction on the lines could begin as early as summer 2017, said MEA spokeswoman Julie Estey.

“We’re hoping this is the final step in the process,” she said.

All three routes would have some impact on houses along the routes. All three would travel down Hay Street, cross the Parks Highway and then hug the existing railroad bed as far as the intersection of Old Matanuska Road, Shannon Road and Fairview Loop.

At that point, MEA’s preferred route diverges, and follows Old Matanuska Road to the Seward Meridian Parkway, where it runs between Walmart and Valley Cinema, follows vacant lots immediately behind the movie theater, then between the city water treatment plant and about 100 feet from houses on the north side of Jude Street. The route then runs up into a less densely populated gully, then cuts south behind Valley Side Circle in the woods behind the houses there, before cutting across Bayview Drive about a block north of Koyuk Circle. At that point, the preferred route turns 90 degrees and heads north along a corridor paralleling the end of Althea Street, crosses the Palmer-Wasilla Highway spur just west of Glenwood Avenue and runs behind the Benteh Nuutah outpatient center and strip malls east of Knik-Goose Bay Road and into the Herning Substation.

The preferred route would cost an estimated $9.1 million for right-of-way acquisition and construction, according to a decisional document outlining the process. That places the route in the lower end of a cost range stretching between $8.7 million and about $9.3 million, according to the document.

The document represents months of public forums and consultations.

The two preferred alternatives would hew closer to the railbed, or move to the south of the water treatment plant, according to maps provided by the cooperative.

Some alternatives evolved through a series of meetings and open houses, Estey said. For example, all of the alternative routes use an existing low-voltage distribution corridor along the Alaska Railroad (designated line segment 380), which did not appear on any of the original corridor maps.

Meetings with property owners in the Glenwood Avenue neighborhood also added another segment (designated as line segment 376) to cut through some undeveloped lots and a strip of dense trees along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, Estey said.

In other cases, the Valley’s rapid development required amendments. For example, segments of the route originally extended much further south of the Lazelle station, until MEA residents went back to those neighborhoods to meet with homeowners and discovered houses not evident on their aerial photographs, Estey said.

“Six new houses had popped up along the route,” she said. “As the Valley quickly evolved, our plans needed to be changed too.”

Even assuming the permitting process goes off without significant opposition, additional route changes could emerge, Estey said.

“We hope that is the final step in the permitting process,” she said. “Once we get the nod through the planning commissions, we’ll start conversations to do more detailed design.”

The planning commission and the cooperative are taking public comment through Nov. 9. The routes will officially go before the Wasilla planning commission Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. in the Wasilla City Council chambers.

Ratepayers also have 21 days to appeal the decision to the MEA Board of Directors at the next regularly scheduled board of directors meeting. The next board meeting will be held at 4 p.m. on Nov. 9 at the MEA Headquarters, 163 Industrial Way in Palmer.

More information about the project is available online at www.mea.coop/wasillatline.

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