Roads top Wasilla’s wish list for state funding priorities

WASILLA — When the state Legislature reconvenes in January, the city of Wasilla has a short list of funding priorities it hopes local lawmakers will push.

Along with $214 million in Mat-Su Borough School District bonds, Valley voters approved $32 million for a package of road improvements and construction in the October municipal election. Now, it’s time for the Legislature to step up, Mayor Verne Rupright said.

The top legislative priority the city council will discuss at a special meeting on Monday is putting Wasilla’s support behind the road bonds, which call for 50 percent funding from the state. Although the bonds are technically a borough issue, the improvements are critical for Wasilla, the mayor said.

“This city, and I’m sure the borough and Palmer as well, is pushing the Legislature to match that money,” he said. “It’s all about connectivity out here and improving these roads. We need it. Here we are in this 13-square-mile patch in this huge (growing) population, and this is the crossroads.”

That’s why roads figure prominently in the short list of city priorities, which also includes funding for the Clapp Road to South Mack extension and asking the state to address a growing concern over the unsafe conditions at the Fern Street and Knik-Goose Bay Road intersection, the mayor said.

“That road is pretty much in there except for a traffic light,” Rupright said of Fern Street/KGB. “Although it’s outside the city, it gives us more access from the city to KGB. That’s the one coming around the corner into the city that’s just a nightmare.”

The Clapp/South Mack extension will give commuters another route through the city other than the overloaded Parks Highway, he said.

Addressing transportation issues in and around Wasilla is also the top priority for Councilwoman Colleen Sullivan-Leonard.

“For me, the biggest priorities are roads and infrastructure,” she said. “The Mack Road extension has been a long time in the process. We’ve been working on that since I was on the council in 2003, so it’s a long time in coming. With our increasing population, that’s one of our biggest priorities.”

Another project that’s been on the city’s drawing board for some time is a replacement for the Wasilla Public Library. Although it’s been talked about for nearly 30 years, the city is now on the verge of realizing that goal, Rupright said.

“They’ve been fighting with this thing for 28 years and prior administrations have had no interest,” he said.

Recent developments, however, make a new library more than just a pipe dream, he said. The city is working with the Mat-Su Borough School District to obtain four acres of land.

“As soon as we get this property deal settled with the borough, I’m hoping to get ground broken on this,” he said. “It’s desperately needed. There is no core borough library. The trick is to secure as much funding as possible.”

The city will ask the Legislature to come up with about half of the $14 million it estimates is needed to build the new facility, which could also be large enough to be used for other purposes, like a charter school, Rupright said.

A new library would be a great addition, Sullivan-Leonard said, but only if it doesn’t come at the cost of other infrastructure priorities.

“We do talk about the library, and for me that’s more of a want and not a need,” she said. “But we’re pushing for the project and the community has said they want it, and we’re probably closest to a starting point for a library than we’ve been in previous years.”

Rounding out the five-point punch list for the city is about $500,000 for a new dam to replace the crumbling dam on Lake Lucille, and about $75,000 for the Mat-Su Youth Court system.

“We asked for half a million, but we know it can be put in for a couple hundred thou,” Rupright said. “Then, we can take ownership of it. What’s in there now is a temporary patch. In the long run, that’s no fix. We need one of those sheet steel dams put in.”

A dispute with the state Department of Fish and Game over who is responsible for replacing the dam has held up making any kind of permanent fix for the dam, Rupright said. Over the summer, gabion structures were placed downstream from the dam and sandbags were installed to help shore it up.

As for the youth court, although it’s a service that’s used borough-wide, Wasilla has contributed the bulk of the funding for it in the past, Rupright said. It’s a request he’s confident the Legislature will accommodate.

“They’ve ponied up in the past $50,000,” he said. “We’re asking for $75,000 this year.”

Wasilla City Council will discuss legislative priorities at a special meeting beginning at 5 p.m., Monday. Its regular meeting follows at 6 p.m.

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.