Plan to expand delayed

Aug. 12, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - The furor over a potential annexation plan in Palmer can cool down a bit - at least for a year.

The council, at a work session last month, had discussed the pros and cons of bringing more land into city boundaries, and possible areas to annex, including property along the Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

On Tuesday, Palmer Community Development Coordinator Sara Jansen presented the case to

the council for delaying implementation of the project. She said the city is still negotiating with an economic firm to do a feasibility study and needs

a comprehensive plan

and zoning codes for the areas slated for possible annexation.

Jansen stressed the importance of meeting with residents, and addressing their most frequently asked questions.

"I think we can do a better job from a public affairs standpoint if we wait a year," she said.

Council members voted unanimously to change the timeline, and asked Jansen to present them with monthly progress reports.

"Just because we push the date forward doesn't mean we take the pressure off," Council Member Tony Pippel said.

"I thought the March deadline was 2007, not 2006," Council Member Kathrine Vanover said. "I hate running into it unprepared."

She said if the council presents an ill-prepared plan, the public won't accept it.

Already the city has been fielding calls from residents asking if they'll be forbidden from doing certain activities on their land - such as using burn barrels, shooting guns, and keeping horses - if the annexation puts some landowners under city ordinances instead of municipality codes.

"We, as a city, need to accommodate the land-use issue," Council Member Brad Hanson said. "This is going to be a very, very, very difficult annexation, with contentious issues. We're not playing the Risk game, we're making a better community."

Pippel suggested adding a few more very's to Hanson's statement.

"Once we inform people of the services and costs, they'll be happy. We have a good product to sell here," Pippel said.

Like his fellow council members, Pippel said it would be prudent to present the public with a well-thought-out annexation plan, which will take more time to prepare.

But, he said, the longer the council waits, the more concrete will be poured and the more land will be developed in a manner that could be distasteful to the city.

In other business, the council decided to grant $1.3 million in funding requests to supply water and sewer extensions for the Palmer southwest utility.

In a move to fund a 250,000-gallon water reservoir near the future Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, the council opted to apply for a state Department of Environmental Conservation's municipal-match grant. That money - $350,000 - could be used to select a site and design the reservoir, but would not go toward land-acquisition costs, said Rick Koch, Palmer's director of public works. An appropriate site would be between the new hospital and the college.

"It's absolutely necessary to get water in there for a viable, strong utility," Koch said.

If a catastrophic event shuts down the well or pipes bringing in water, there would be a safety net, he said. Koch added that the 250,000 gallons of water would be a sufficient supply during the interim, while crew are busy fixing the problem.

"That's a reasonable amount of water insurance," Pippel said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk@ frontiersman.com.