Mush on

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has voted unanimously to do something possibly unique in the country — create a special district for mushers and their dogs.

The Knik Sled Dog and Recreation Special Land Use District is an attempt to protect sled dog trails. The ordinance also covers multi-use trails and kennels in the area.

At a meeting this past week, residents of the area testified in support of creating the district. Some mentioned that kennels in the area had been set up after land-use rules squeezed mushers out of Anchorage and other more populous areas.

“I think it will preserve our area and kind of keep some of the things that we don’t want to see go,” resident John Brautigan said. “Today is my birthday. If you pass it, you will give me a real good birthday present.”

Knik has been the scene of explosive growth lately. The borough cites census statistics showing 35 percent growth in the area.

The area has traditionally been one used for dog mushing. The borough estimates that 20 trails crisscross the area designated in the Special Land Use District, some linking up with the Iditarod National Historic Trail. A map of the area attached to the ordinance appears to designate a roughly 30-square-mile spot, bordered on one side by the Knik Arm.

Borough Attorney Nick Spiropoulos said he was concerned about one piece of the ordinance that seemed to give priority in formalizing trails to those identified in the borough’s trails plan.

“Some trails out there are identified as trails without a legal basis for the public to use them,” Spiropoulos said. Formalizing them would be problematic, he said, because, “when we do that we have just bought it, if we didn’t own it previously.”

He proposed a slight tweak in the language — changing “trails identified” in the plan to “trails dedicated in the plan.”

The problem, he said, is that some of the trails are shown in maps in the plan without actually having been formally dedicated as trails.

Assemblywoman Cindy Bettine questioned Spiropoulos about the change but didn’t object. She said she was concerned about those trails that are identified but not formally dedicated.

She asked Borough Manager John Duffy to come up with a list of trails in that category, “so this area can maintain the heritage that they’ve had before the explosive growth in their area.”

The ordinance does not prohibit new construction in the special use area, but it will require developers to build a trail equal to or better than the one they would displace.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.