Palmer nixes library fee, green-lights zoning change

PALMER — With the prospect of realigning the role of Palmer’s mayor lurking in the background, Palmer City Council was busy this past week, repealing a library card fee for nonresidents and narrowly supporting a zoning change to allow mother-in-law apartments on single-family lots.

Sponsored by a pair of council members, an ordinance to redefine Palmer’s mayor as a part-time position, reducing mayoral responsibilities and the office’s pay by $25,000 a year, is expected to be voted upon at the council’s Nov. 27 meeting. Supporters of the measure argue having a full-time mayor and full-time city manager is overkill for a community the size of Palmer. Opponents say the public elected the mayor to carry out specific duties and city council would be out of line to reverse a public vote.

While the community debates the merits of the office of mayor, council was busy this past week repealing the city’s $20 library card fee for nonresident users. The fee was enacted to help counter a reduction in library funding from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, which is cutting library funding for Palmer and Wasilla facilities by 20 percent a year for five years. Palmer had enacted a fee for nonresident library users and Wasilla was considering a similar proposal, but the Wasilla City Council recently defeated its library fee.

“It makes my life a lot easier, because it would have made a lot of people angry,” Palmer Public Library Director Pat Kilmain said about the decision to eliminate the library fee.

When the Mat-Su Borough announced this past summer it plans to reduce municipal library funding, officials from Palmer and Wasilla came together to discuss funding options, Palmer Mayor Combs said. At that time, both cities decided to move ahead with discussion about establishing library card fees for the many users of the two libraries who live outside city limits.

As talk turned into text on council agendas, Combs said one of the main reasons behind the initial decision to charge for a library card was to grab the Borough’s attention.

“We put the $20 fee out there and the Borough finally wanted to talk to us,” Combs said.

The Borough, cites and library have met to discuss concerns and other funding options, the mayor said. As a result, the Borough has suggested integrating the municipal libraries into the its operations. A proposed transfer of operational control makes the debate more difficult, Combs said.

Palmer and Wasilla have each invested considerable amounts of money to supply its municipal libraries above and beyond what the Borough funds. The libraries have become valuable municipal assets for the cities. Should the Borough take over operations, the cities should receive compensation.

Combs is also concerned the library’s collection of books — especially its prized historical books and documents — could be transferred to other libraries.

“The big issue is that the inventory stays here,” the mayor said.

Kilmain said she doesn’t foresee that happening. With limited space available at other libraries, it wouldn’t be possible to fit any part of Palmer’s 45,000-book collection in other libraries.

“Each of our libraries have as many books as all the other libraries combined,” Kilmain said of the Palmer and Wasilla facilities. Her concerns are that the Borough would maintain the staff and pay structure at the Palmer library.

Palmer City Councilman Tony Pippel said the borough’s interest in municipal libraries creates a curious situation. On one hand it reduces funding, and on the other it suggests making an even larger financial commitment than before.

“I’m not sure where the goose and golden egg came from,” Pippel said.

Zoning change supported

It was a close 4-3 vote, but the Palmer council approved an ordinance allowing homeowners to build or create accessory dwelling units — commonly known as mother-in-law apartments — on their property.

Mayor Combs and council members Richard Best and Kathrine Vanover voted against the ordinance, arguing that allowing additional residential occupancy on land originally zoned for single-family homes is a major change to the city’s zoning regulations and could be unfair to a large number of property owners.

“Allowing this to go through is taking away the rights of property owners,” Best said, adding that residents bought land in districts zoned R1 expecting large parcels with development limited to single-family homes.

Combs said that this type of development would fit better in R-1E districts, which are single-family estate districts that allow for other living structures on lots. With that in mind, he suggested pulling R1 districts from the possible areas where mother-in-law units could be built.

Council member Brad Hanson voted in favor of the ordinance, but said he understands the concerns of other council members and the concerns home owners might have.

“If a neighborhood wants to remain a single-family home [district], I think we should honor that,” Hanson said.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow-@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.