Settlers Bay Coastal Park officially opens with ribbon cutting ceremony

WASILLA — The Settlers Bay Coastal Park is now officially open to the public, following a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the main parking lot on Monday. This long anticipated addition to the Valley was met with a widespread excitement.

“This is probably one of the greatest projects going that we can have,” Mat-Su Borough Mayor Vern Halter said.

This is the culmination of six years of conservation fundraising efforts for the purchase 295 acres of privately-owned coastal property that sits near the Settlers Bay Golf Course, tucked within the neighborhood.

Representatives from the Mat-Su Borough, Great Land Trust, Settlers Bay LLC and numerous sponsors celebrated with the community to welcome the new coastal park, a major project over a decade in the making.

“We are thrilled because it’s been a few years. We took a while to raise the money to do the acquisition and we had a party last year when we signed the paper, bought the property, gave it to the borough,” Ellen Kazary said.

Kazary said the borough has been amazing to work with over the years. They’ve worked together on projects like the Bodenburg Butte in the past. They bought the private and on the Butte and gave the land to the Borough. They did the same thing with the Settlers Bay Coastland Park.

“We came back and said, ‘How about we do another one?’ and they said, ‘Absolutely!’” Kazary said.

Halter felt the same way about the joint effort between the Great Land Trust and community sponsors.

“Now it’s just a beautiful park for many years to come.The borough always loves to work with the Great Land Trust, and ConocoPhillips, and all the funders, the [Mat-Su] Parks and Recreation Foundation. This is what happens,” Halter said.

Kazary was thrilled by the high turn out, estimating over 75 people from the community showed up. She said there were a lot of Settlers Bay residents and avid park users there.

“The community’s really excited about it, can’t get much better than that,” Kazary said.

The project started in 2013 when Settlers Bay LLC managing member Bob Ackles approached the Great Land Trust, asking if they would be interested in purchasing the land and make it park.

There’s a two-mile designated trail in addition to numerous other “social” trails etched over years of local hikers, according to Kazary. She said they wanted to make sure they had all the essentials like bathrooms and parking to before they opened to the public.

After the ceremony and cookies, attendees walked the two-mile trek to view the coastline. Kazary said the area is home to numerous wild attractions like bald eagles.

She said it was nice to celebrate a protected land that will always be dedicated to nature and those who love strolling through it.

“I love my job. I mean, this is what we get to do,” Kazary said. “Let’s go out for a walk. Let’s go enjoy a new park.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com