‘New beginning’ sought for Hatcher Pass project

Frontiersman

MAT-SU — Plans for a Hatcher Pass ski area could have new legs, Mat-Su Borough officials report.

“My read of the [Mat-Su Borough] Assembly is they would like to see that happen and they’re waiting for me to come back with a little more,” said Ron Swanson, who retired last year as the Borough’s community development director and is now a consultant contracted to work on the project.

Swanson presented his plan, titled “A New Beginning,” Tuesday to the Assembly. He plans to return soon with three options — a $17 million plan, a $40 million plan and one in between. The goal is to have a ski area up and running by November 2010.

The $40 million plan basically follows a plan the Borough and state drew up in 2004 but adds a Nordic ski component, Swanson said. The $17 million plan is a rough sketch he drew up after figuring out what size project could see the Borough breaking even in a ski area’s third year. Adding $11 million to the $6 million in federal funding the Borough has for the project would accomplish that goal, he said.

The $40 million plan includes Nordic trail lighting and warming huts, ski lifts, a lodge, and various other components. Swanson said he hasn’t had a chance to look at what he would cut from the project to bring it down to $17 million.

He suspects, “It’d be eliminating one of the lifts and cutting back on some of the road system in the Nordic area,” as well as cutting back on lighting, he said.

Swanson said that in more than 20 years of attempts to build a ski area, four companies have taken a swing at the project. This time, though, the situation is different. Whereas before the Borough put out requests for proposals and private companies responded, this time the Borough is considering building the ski area itself.

Swanson’s plan calls for cooperation with private-sector companies and possibly selling the facility.

The plan is not without its critics.

Alvin Johnston, who lives close to where the ski area would go, said he opposes the project, but will abide by whatever borough voters decide. He added that voters have previously decided that the Borough shouldn’t have park powers.

Borough Manager John Duffy refutes that. He said the vote in question was a 1984 advisory vote with no actual power to remove park powers from the Borough. After the vote, the Borough’s powers to oversee and manage parks were not repealed.

“It’s a non-issue,” Duffy said.

Johnston also disputed Borough claims that a ski area will pay for itself.

“If it was a paying enterprise, private enterprise would have been out there in a heartbeat,” Johnston said.

That’s part of what the plan seeks to address, Duffy said.

“Getting the private sector involved, it’s the up-front capital costs that are creating the big hurdle, so we need to figure out how we can take care of that,” he said.

Duffy said he believes the ski area will pay for itself. On his end, the project is in its very first stages. March 18, the Borough assembly will put together an ordinance creating a special use district in the area at Hatcher Pass. That ordinance, Duffy said, lays out the ground rules.

“Are we protecting the viewsheds, are we protecting the watersheds, all of that,” he said. “Can you have a gasoline station, retail, all those kinds of things.”

The assembly is considering an ordinance forwarded by the Borough’s planning commission. One of the historically more contentious issues — whether to create residential housing in the area — is not entirely precluded in the ordinance, which calls for a ban only on single-family housing, Duffy said.

Swanson said his plan doesn’t include any real estate development; however, he would recommend to the assembly that members “don’t foreclose the option for real estate. … Real estate is one of the ways to approach lowering the debt service.”

Duffy said he and Swanson have been directed to look into possible funding sources that would not increase debt the project would incur.

“In reality I think that the project is going to come in at somewhere between [$17 million] and $40 million,” Swanson said.

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