Proponents of Prop. 3 tout impact

PALMER — Mat-Su voters will decide the fate of a proposed $215 million school bond package during the Valley’s local election Tuesday.

Proposition 3 features potential funding for a variety of projects ranging from general maintenance of existing schools to the construction of new schools. A slice of the $215 million bond would cover the costs of athletic facility upgrades of numerous Valley schools. If approved, $3 million each would be allotted to four area high schools — Colony, Palmer, Houston and Wasilla — to help cover the costs of installation of artificial field turf and a synthetic track.

While an idea behind the proposal is to help level the playing field for local student-athletes and provide resources that communities such as Anchorage already have, proponents of the bond stress the value to a wide range of user groups.

“Those user groups go from the youngest to the oldest,” Mat-Su School District executive director of instruction Lebron McPhail said Wednesday.

If passed, the state would reimburse 70 percent of the $215 million bond, McPhail said, leaving 30 percent for local taxpayers. According to information supplied by the Mat-Su School District, the cost to the average Mat-Su property owner would be $12.90 per month.

Judging what the bond would cover, McPhail said this is an opportunity Valley voters should grab.

McPhail said this bond would add state-of-the-art athletic facilities to local schools that would be open for the entire community to use. He said safety concerns would be greatly reduced, with the synthetic surfaces, and the cost to maintain the facilities would also be reduced tremendously.

McPhail said teams, youth to adult, in a number of different sports would benefit from the new fields. Individuals who are simply looking for another way to exercise would also benefit, he said.

“From a community standpoint, we’d have safe fields and rubberized tracks people can come and walk on,” McPhail said. “We’re going to have a walk-in gate. Adults can come in and walk the track.”

Colony High activities director Mike Boyd said the use of Colony’s field alone would increase exponentially with the installation of field turf. Currently, Boyd said, just to keep the school’s grass field in manageable condition, Colony has to limit the use of that field.

“Right now it gets maybe 60 hours of use a year. That field does not get touched from the last day of soccer until the first day of football,” Boyd said. “(With turf), I think a very minimal estimate would be way over 400 hours.”

The school’s football and soccer programs are primary users of the game field.

“But don’t forget about the baseball and softball (players) being able to be out there fielding ground balls,” Boyd said.

Boyd also said the school could welcome back youth programs, such as the Mat-Su Youth Football Association. Boyd said the school does not want to say no to these programs, but under current conditions, school officials must.

“We could let them practice out there,” Boyd said. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see four or five MYFA games every Saturday (with turf).”

Currently, volunteers maintain the grass fields at the four high schools. Local booster clubs help fund the cost of equipment and materials to maintain the fields, and volunteers at the four schools combine to volunteer hundreds of hours to maintain them.

With turf, local programs could save the money currently used to maintain the grass fields. McPhail said even in the early spring if the snow is still falling, the snow can simply be brushed off the turf, and the field would be ready for use.

Local schools could also save transportation costs for sports such as soccer. Now, if local soccer teams wish to schedule games before the Valley’s grass fields are ready, schools have to schedule games in Anchorage, and incur the cost of busing students to and from Anchorage.

Proponents also argue the potential economic impact on the community. With the upgraded athletic facilities, local schools could host more high school championship events, which potentially could bring an influx of thousands of people to the community.

“What the community has to understand is this puts money into their businesses,” McPhail said. “Both hotels and restaurants, all the retail stores that are out here.”

Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau marketing and communications manager Casey Ressler said any time the Valley can draw people from outside the community for these types of events it impacts the community economically.

“Any infrastructure development is a positive thing for the Valley. It gives people opportunity,” Ressler said. “You may not think of these as tourism projects, but overall, it helps enhance the Valley. You host more events, you generate more (hotel) room nights. Generate more room nights, and that affects direct and indirect spending in the Valley.”

Boyd said Colony High will certainly throw its hat in the ring in terms of bidding to host more state events. Colony High has hosted the ASAA state baseball championships at Hermon Brothers Field for the last three years. CHS has also co-hosted the ASAA state soccer championships in the past, and hosted the state wrestling championships at the Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla last year.

When an artificial track was installed at Palmer High more than a decade ago, it opened the door for PHS to host the state and regional track and field tournaments. McPhail said the upgraded facilities would have the same effect, but this time, Valley-wide.

“We could bid for (state) football games, bid for track and field,” McPhail said. “Any one of the schools would be able to do that.”

He said the bond also would provide more opportunities for good paying construction jobs close to home.

Boyd said this also is a way to support Valley business.

“We depend on all those businesses to help support our activities. It’d be a way we can give back to those businesses for helping us with our activities,” Boyd said.

McPhail said he sees a lot of positive things happening in the community, and the bond would help support the overall growth of the community.

The big ticket items on the list include more than $65 million for a new middle and high school and more than $26 million for a new elementary school, both in the Knik-Goose Bay area. There would also be $25 million for the replacement of Iditarod Elementary and $22.5 million for a new Valley Pathways School.

“In 1984 we had only 5,000 kids in our schools, now we have over 17,000,” McPhail said.

The school bond proposition also includes $2.3 million for an artificial track and a warming hut at Susitna Valley Jr./Sr. High School and $2 million for an artificial track and Palmer Junior Middle School.

The bond features $75,000 for athletic facilities upgrades at 18 local elementary schools, and $25,000 for a 19th school, Machetanz Elementary. A sum of $500,000 each would be allotted for Glacier View School, Iditarod Elementary and Showshoe Elementary.

“A lot of the schools would receive funding from this,” McPhail said. “This is hitting every community out here.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.