Residents withdraw petition for Big Lake incorporation

BIG LAKE — Residents circulating a petition to form the city of Big Lake say they didn’t get the number of signatures needed to go forward.

“A review of the proposed boundaries by the (state’s Local Boundary Commission) resulted in a requirement of more signatures than expected. The Commission required 60 more signatures than we anticipated and in addition they rejected 41 of our 234 signatures, leaving us short of the number required to move forward,” Jim Faiks, petitioner’s representative for the would-be incorporators said in a Monday e-mail.

Faiks said that because the petition didn’t have enough signatures, the petitioners withdrew it.

“Supporters are still convinced that incorporation is in the best interest of Big Lake residents,” Faiks wrote.

Incorporation supporters have said that Big Lake is poised to bear the brunt of the effects of major state of Alaska and Mat-Su Borough projects like Port MacKenzie, the Knik Arm bridge and a rail spur to Point MacKenzie.

Incorporation is a way to have a stronger voice as decisions regarding those projects proceed.

Though no major opposition had coalesced into an organized group, the signature gatherers have said that the arguments against incorporation usually revolved around fears of increased taxation and distrust of extra layers of government bureaucracy.

Organizers said both were overblown, saying residents would have to vote to give a new city more powers. They also pointed to lower taxes in Wasilla than in the borough surrounding it and numbers showing it would be feasible to run a small city government with the money Big Lake residents already pay in taxes.

This is at least the third time the question of incorporation has been raised in Big Lake since 1974. That year a vote of 76-65 favored incorporation, but failed after 14 votes were disqualified from the count. Big Lake mulled the idea of incorporation again in 1987.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.