School site questioned

Feb. 11, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - With its access roads full of sharp turns and its location more in Wasilla than Palmer, is the Nelson Road site the best for South Palmer's new elementary school?

The Mat-Su School Board decided it needed more time to answer this question. During its meeting Wednesday, the board unanimously rescinded its Jan. 10 vote to approve the Nelson Road site as the preferred location.

&#8220There hasn't been an adequate and full investigation,” school board member Jim Colver said. &#8220We need information.”

Recently, several school board members drove to Nelson Road, Colver said. Sharp turns along the route convinced the board that it would take too much time to drive and be unsafe for buses.

Gary Gearhart of Turner Construction Company, the developer that donated the Nelson Road site, said that prior to school selection being completed, or even started, new access into the area was already under consideration to be revamped. Trunk Road extension south and Nelson Road west will be upgraded, he said. Borough officials have already put out a request for proposals for the project, he said.

Another complaint about the Nelson Road site is it has been described as less in South Palmer than in South Wasilla.

&#8220It wasn't what the public had voted on,” said Laura Gooch of Palmer, referring to the special election in May, which specified bonding for a Settlers Bay-area school and another for the South Palmer area.

Laura's son, Brian, attends Swanson Elementary. Gooch's daughter, Casey, will attend Swanson soon. The new South Palmer school was proposed to help ease the stress of overcrowding at Brian's school. Gooch grew up in the Valley an said it has changed a lot since her youth.

&#8220New homes are being built all the time, and they are all owned by families with young kids, and so it is only reasonable to believe these families will need a new place for their kids to attend.”

However, Gooch said &#8220I feel like the idea of South Palmer that the assembly chose doesn't fit the definition of South Palmer,” she said. &#8220Nelson Road doesn't fit that geographic area.”

The process to build a new school in South Palmer began when Mat-Su voters approved a $39.7 million bond package in May's special election.

The school board tasked the borough with identifying suitable construction sites. Four locations were initially considered for the South Palmer school site. But after a visit to each site by the selection committee and borough staff last September, the options were narrowed to two, Nelson Road and Inner Springer Loop Road.

At a public meeting on Jan. 10, the site selection committee selected Nelson Road as the preferred site. The committee also recommended acquiring the Springer Loop site for possible future school construction.

The school board will deliver a final decision on the Springer Loop and Nelson Road sites at its Feb. 21 meeting.

&#8220We need to scratch below the surface and decide what is best for the kids, best for the taxpayers,” Colver said.

The board has time to make its decision, since the new Palmer school is not scheduled to open until the fall of 2009.

Turner Construction Company, owned by Palmer developer Rex Turner, wants to donate to the borough the 15 acres at the Nelson Road site. The land is in the name of Rex Turner's wife, Ingeborg Turner. Nelson Road is adjacent Turner Company's 800-home subdivision, The Ranch. The development's first phase started last year, and it has 25-30 homes already under way, said Turner Company's Gearhart.

&#8220We'll be up to 100 to 150 homes by the time the school opens, possibly,” Gearhart said.

Assembly member Kvalheim said she is not convinced of Turner Construction's intentions.

&#8220If I had the money to put in a development, having a school in the middle would be a great asset,” she said.

Turner Construction is negotiating with the city of Palmer to put a sewer line in at The Ranch.

The Springer Loop Road site is owned by Kevin Sorensen. Ron Swanson, the borough's director of community development, is in negotiation with Sorensen to purchase the Springer Loop site for possible future school construction.

&#8220Currently, there is a significant difference in value between the appraised price contracted for by the borough and the asking price by the property owner,” Swanson said.

Both the appraised price and the asking price are greater than the $320,000 approved by the state for site acquisition.

The Nelson Road site was described in a school board memorandum as the best location to ease the enrollment at the over capacity Snowshoe and Cottonwood Creek elementary schools and the near-capacity Pioneer Peak and Swanson elementary schools.

Borough attorney Nicholas Spiropoulos said it is up to the assembly to decide the school's final location.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com