Palmer to put $1.5 million ice arena bond to voters

EOWYN LeMAY IVEY-Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- City residents will get to vote twice on whether or not to build a municipal ice arena.

The Palmer City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to put a $1.5 million bond before city voters this October to help fund the construction of an ice arena. This is in addition to a separate Mat-Su Borough bond for the same amount that would also go toward the project and will appear on the borough ballot during the same election.

"This is good for the community. It really is," Councilman John Combs said before voting along with the rest of the council to put the city bond on the ballot. Council members Kathrine Vanover and Brad Hanson were absent.

Combs and other council members said it was unfortunate that Hanson was not at the meeting, as he has worked especially diligently to bring an ice arena to town.

"He has done a tremendous amount of work on this," Combs said.

This spring Palmer made its first significant commitment to building its own arena when it spent around $300,000 to purchase a used ice refrigeration system, scoreboard, skate sharpener, Zamboni and other equipment from the shut-down Bonnie Cusack Memorial Ice Arena in Anchorage. The facility had been sold and is no longer being used as a hockey rink.

With this equipment in hand, Palmer officials are estimating they can build the ice arena for around $2.1 million. This would include site development, a concrete slab, a $665,000 building, installation of the used ice arena equipment, interior and exterior finishing, asphalt, landscaping and lighting. Although the city bond is not site specific, the council has discussed building the ice arena on a 14-acre parcel on Cope Industrial Way that the city already owns.

If both the borough and city bonds are approved, city officials estimate some of the $1.5 million in city funds might be left over after the ice arena is constructed. To allow Palmer to put this money to use elsewhere, the ballot proposition will be worded in a way to that the funds can also go toward trails, parks and other recreation-related projects in the city.

While Palmer has a list of other parks and recreation improvements it would like to make, the current council has made the ice arena one of its primary goals.

"We're going to get this thing done one way or another," Councilman Hanson said this spring. He described the ice arena as an important anchor to what could become a multi-use area for youth and families in Palmer that could grow to include running tracks, BMX bicycling areas and other facilities.

With the ice arena bond set to appear on October's ballot, city council members wanted to know Tuesday night what they could do to promote it during the next few months. City staff informed them that it is illegal for a municipality or other government agency to promote a ballot proposition, but the city can distribute objective information about the bond and the project it will fund.

Councilman Tony Pippel said he wants to do more, such as send letters to the editor and speak at public functions in favor of the project.

"I like hockey. I want to watch hockey. Can I go next door and say please vote for this?" Pippel asked.

City Manager Tom Healy said he would research the legalities of the council publicly advocating for the bond.

The Mat-Su Borough's separate $1.5 million bond for the Palmer ice arena is part of a $5.75 million boroughwide parks and recreation package that will go before all Mat-Su voters. If the package is approved, the borough will own a portion of the municipal ice arena but can have a management agreement with the city that would leave Palmer in control of its operation.