Original Settlers Bay site preferred

June 16, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Developer Chuck Spinelli feels like everything has gone awry in his attempt to donate property to the Mat-Su Borough for a school site.

&#8220I feel like I tried to do something the community asked for and it kind of backfired on me,” he told members of the Mat-Su School Board Wednesday.

Last fall, Spinelli responded to the borough's request for individuals and developers to consider donating land for the construction of a new school. Spinelli met with borough officials, who agreed to accept his land near the Settlers Bay subdivision.

Since then, the borough and Spinelli have been unable to agree on a cost-sharing arrangement to build a road to the school, and recently, the borough's planning department recommended not using Spinelli's land at all. Instead, it recommended the borough build a new elementary school on the same grounds as Goose Bay

Elementary.

On Wednesday, Spinelli offered to do &#8220everything

possible” to make sure his land was the top choice for a new school.

Spinelli offered to build the road to the school on his own dime and then sell the site to the borough for $750,000.

When Mat-Su voters approved a $39.7 million school bond package in May, many were under the impression that Settlers Bay subdivision was the preferred site for one of the two elementary schools included in the bond, Paddy Coan told the school board. The borough's proposal to build a school elsewhere is misleading, she said.

&#8220The voters wanted a neighborhood school,” she added. &#8220The issue is credibility.”

Coan was co-chair for the &#8220Schools Yes” bond committee, which urged many Settlers Bay residents to vote in favor of the school bond package. She said the bond committee visited more than 100 homes in Settlers Bay, urging them to support the bond package.

To build on the current site of Goose Bay Elementary would be wrong, she said.

&#8220I don't believe that is the site voters voted on,” she told the school board.

In a 5-1 vote, the school board voted in favor of putting the Spinelli land as top choice for a new school. The final decision, however, lies with the borough assembly.

School board member Linda Menard sat on a school site selection committee, which was charged with finding a suitable location for a new school. The site selection committee was comprised of a combination of borough assembly and school board members, and private individuals.

The committee recommended not using the Spinelli land due to concerns about the cost of building an access road to the site as well as concerns about the suitability of the area's soil. Menard, however, said the Spinelli spot is still her first choice, partly because it is an opportunity to set a new precedent for how the borough can work with developers to build schools near growing subdivisions.

With borough land in short supply, Menard said cooperation from developers warrants public support.

Fellow board member Pat Purcell agreed, saying she hopes the borough assembly will follow the school board's lead.

&#8220We should press forward on this site, and I would hope that our decision would have some weight on this,” she said.

Gary Gerhart, a representative from Turner Construction Company, also attended the school board meeting. Gerhart urged the board to consider the Spinelli site, as it would set a precedent for Turner Construction and other developers to set aside school sites in future developments.

School board member Larry DeVilbiss supported the Spinelli site, but warned there could be construction delays if the borough has to purchase the land rather than receive it as a donation, as originally proposed.

Contact Joel Davidson at 352-2266 or joel. davidson@frontiersman. com.