Meadow Lakes recreational area begins to take shape

MEADOW LAKES — It’s been more than a decade in the making, but the Meadow Lakes Community Council is finally getting to first base on its local master plan as ground is broken on new sports fields on about 20 acres east of Pittman Road off Karen Street.

What will eventually be a soccer/football field, two baseball diamonds, a basketball/tennis court, a community center and a 250-space parking lot, among other amenities, is all part of a 40-acre development that first began with the construction of the first of three nine-unit senior housing projects off Kim Drive two years ago.

Located about 200 yards and down the hill from the back doors of Birch Creek Villas senior housing, the project received about $230,000 from the state of Alaska to clear the land, put in a road and begin building the ballfields, Meadow Lakes Community Council President Tim Swezey said.

“We also received $50,000 from Mat-Su Borough for playground equipment for youngsters ages 2 to 5 and we also plan to put in hiking trails along the stream, so this will meet a variety of community needs,” Swezey said. “It’s going to take a few years to put everything together, but in the end it will be a nice recreational area for the community.”

Swezey said the Meadow Lakes Community Council hopes to have the area opened for light use by spring 2012 and then full use of the fields and courts within the following year or so.

Eventually, an alternative access road to the site will come off the Parks Highway near Mile 46 as a residential street is extended behind the QAP gravel operation east of Pittman.

Sherri Rusher, president of Meadow Lakes Seniors who also serves on the Meadow Lakes Community Council, said it feels good to see this project getting off the ground, but the initial work was done by local visionary Ferman “Strick” Strickland.

Strickland, now 85, said Monday he’s lived off Pittman Road since 1980 and has seen the area grow quite a bit in the last 30 years.

“There used to be only one or two houses on this road,” said Strickland, a former gold miner who owned successful trucking and air freight businesses in Anchorage before helping open the first fire station in Meadow Lakes. “It’s pretty satisfying to see the community come together to bring these sorts of facilities to the area. We really need it. I’m sorry to say I haven’t been active in the community council in the past year since my legs stopped cooperating. But I’ve always loved this community and always been involved in helping it grow and get what it needs.”

The recreational area also will include a gymnasium with a climbing wall, a sledding hill, public restrooms and a concession stand. A fitness loop will have fitness stations and there also will be a patio with a rock fireplace, according to a map of the plan.

For more information, visit the Meadow Lakes Community Council website at mlccak.org or call Tim Swezey at 352-3737. The council meets on the second Wednesday of each month.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.