Palmer moves forward with brewing company

PALMER — Despite three hours of deliberation at Tuesday night’s regular meeting, Palmer City Council members needed a little more time to approve one item on the agenda: the development of a new industrial brewing company downtown.

“I just have two words — cool and awesome,” said council member Steve Carrington, in response to the idea.

Tuesday marked the first and only public hearing for Ordinance 16-016-Z-1, which, having been approved, will amend the city’s zoning map to reclassify a parcel of the old Matanuska Maid property from “general commercial” to “industrial with special limitations.” This change will ensure the parcel is only used by the new Matanuska Brewing Company, LLC for brewing and bottling beer.

The rezoning came recommended by the Palmer Planning and Zoning Commission after a 4-2 vote in favor of the ordinance at a July 16 meeting, four days after the ordinance was first introduced to the city council.

Five people spoke in support of the ordinance at Tuesday’s meeting, beginning with Matanuska Brewing co-founder Matt Tomter, who also owns the Palmer and Eagle River alehouses.

“This place is perfect,” Tomter said. “Its potential and the location are just tremendous.”

The intention, as detailed in the planning commission minutes, would be to take advantage of the buildings already on site, using the grain elevator and bottling plant for production and turning the silo into a tasting room and retail store.

“There’s some really cool buildings back there that need someone to care for them,” Tomter said.

“Cool” as those buildings might be, Tomter wasn’t the only one to remark that the current facilities are in need of some serious TLC.

“That whole section looks like heck. If I was in a different room I’d use a different word,” he said, to knowing chuckles from the audience.

Alaska Farmland Trust Director Amy Pettit, whose office is right next to the Palmer Alehouse, across the street from the Mat-Maid property, called the area an “eyesore,” with pieces of twisted metal and chunks of concrete strewn about the overgrown land.

“It’s such a wasted space, and the idea that Matanuska Brewing is gonna revitalize that block would be incredible,” she said.

Ben VanderWeele, with the Division of Agriculture’s Board of Agriculture, said the brewery would be a “win-win” for the business owners and Palmer’s farmers.

“A brewery, to the Board of Agriculture, means agriculture. Beer is made from grain, Palmer is the capital of Alaska agriculture, so it fits right in,” he said.

The Division of Agriculture has owned the Mat-Maid property since 1985, and has been trying to sell the land for nine years, VanderWeele said, with no luck until now. Matanuska Brewing will buy the property and associated buildings for $825,000, which will go into the Division’s Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund created for Alaskan farmers to make capital investments.

“We’re actually tickled pink that we have found a buyer, and the board is unanimously very excited about what these fellas are gonna do,” VanderWeele said.

Gary Wolf of Wolf Architecture in Palmer and Division of Agriculture Director Arthur Keyes said they also were in favor of rezoning the property for the brewing company.

Council members were agreed on the brewery’s potential to boost Palmer’s economy and spruce up that area of the city, though councilwoman Edna DeVries did raise questions about the city’s earlier intent to purchase the property itself and relocate surrounding businesses.

In 2010, voters agreed to let the city sell $3.3 million in bonds to buy the Mat-Maid land and contiguous parcels for public use. However, due to the individual property owners’ unwillingness to sell, the city never spent the money to make the purchase.

“If this (ordinance) passes,” DeVries said, “(will) there be some pressure from the public to fulfill that mandate of what the vote was in 2010?”

Deputy Mayor Brad Hanson and councilman Richard Best claimed it would not be an issue because the goal of that 2010 proposition was to repurpose the Mat-Maid buildings and clean up the property, which the brewery will do.

“We were hoping that private industry was gonna come in there and save the day, and I think that day is here,” Best said.

The ordinance passed 5-1.

Discussion was also had on three resolutions regarding mayoral and council member term limits, wastewater expenditures and the city budget, all of which have been put off for further consideration.

Regarding term limits, the first of two public hearings was held Tuesday on Resolution 16-020, which would place a charter amendment on the regular city ballot this October to limit the terms of the mayor and city councilmembers to two 3-year terms commencing in October of 2017.

Councilwoman Linda Combs moved that the resolution be tabled indefinitely, which Best seconded.

“We just haven’t discussed this enough,” Combs said.

Councilman Pete LaFrance argued that the council had had plenty of time for discussion, having brought the matter up two meetings prior.

DeVries suggested terms be limited to three 3-year terms, since only two current council members (Best and Hanson) have been on the council for more than 9 years, but Best claimed that any term limits at all would be detrimental to members’ ability to serve the City of Palmer.

“I think it’s actually a disservice to voters,” Best said.

The council voted 4-3 not to table the resolution and 4-3 to accept DeVries’ suggested amendment of three, 3-year terms.

A second public hearing will be held at the regular meeting on Aug. 9.

Regarding wastewater expenditures, the council agreed to move forward with Resolution 16-018, authorizing the City of Palmer to issue utility revenue bonds not to exceed $5 million to finance water, wastewater and related capital improvements. However, the council agreed to hold a third public hearing on Aug. 9, seemingly in part to appease one particularly vocal Palmer resident.

At every opportunity, routine meeting attendee Eugene Haberman chastised the council for not providing adequate notice to engage the public in discussion of the ordinances and resolutions. The council dismissed these complaints verbally and in action, with the apparent exception of the wastewater resolution.

As far as the budget, City Manager Nate Wallace presented amendments that would raise the city’s unassigned fund balance to 19.7 percent of total budgeted general fund expenditures — 3 percent more than the recommended share.

The increase raised red flags with several council members, but Wallace and Mayor DeLena Johnson held that, with overall spending under budget thus far, the amendment was nothing to worry about.

“The budget is a direction document,” Johnson said. “It’s not telling the manager ... don’t spend money here.”

The resolution passed 4-3.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.