Top site for new Wasilla library would require buyout of longtime resident

WASILLA — When you’ve lived in the same spot for 41 years, you tend to get a little attached.

That’s why it would take a nice chunk of change to convince Ray Carter to sell his 8.36 acres across from Iditarod Elementary School for a new Wasilla public library.

Although the property just 600 feet off Wasilla-Fishhook Road has an assessed value of $407,900, Carter said he’d need about $1.2 million to give it up to the city.

“Other people have wanted to buy my land over the years, usually for commercial projects, but when I tell them what it would cost, I usually don’t hear from them again,” Carter, a 72-year-old retired school teacher, said Monday.

Carter’s property at 251 Danna Ave. includes a 1,200-square-foot home with a 1,200-square-foot walkout basement. It is currently at the top of the list of possible locations for a new library.

The Library Needs Committee submitted its top four sites for a new facility to Wasilla City Council Dec. 13 after narrowing its list down from 14 possible sites.

Looking at cost, parcel size, location and access, the committee’s other three sites are on vacant land and include a 3.9-acre site behind Wasilla Middle School and two parcels on Carpenter Circle between Wasilla High and Iditarod Elementary of 7.08 acres worth $177,000 and 13.4 acres assessed at $522,000.

The site behind Wasilla Middle School, which is ranked No. 3 on the list, assumes the Mat-Su Borough would be willing to donate a portion of its parcel on the corner of Crusey Street and Swanson Avenue, according to the Library Needs Committee.

Wasilla City Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff said recently that the only action the council took on the issue was to pass a resolution supporting seeking funding from the state that would cover 50 percent of the project’s cost.

“We needed a new library 15 years ago,” Woodruff said. “The current library is 8,000 square feet and we need 24,000 square feet. Usage has gone way up over the last several years. We have some great pictures of kids smashed between book stacks.”

Woodruff said there are some sticky issues if the city ends up having to partner with the borough on the new site.

“The city thinks the borough should pay more for our local library since it’s used by more than just Wasilla residents,” Woodruff said, adding that if the borough is involved, there’s the issue of whether library employees would be considered part of the borough’s union and all that entails. “We’re very, very lucky to have the library staff that we have and all the volunteers.”

Jeanne Troshynski, who represents Friends of the Library on the Library Needs Committee, said Monday it’s exciting that the project is getting closer to becoming a reality.

Estimated to cost $10 million to $15 million, it will be another three to five years before a new facility opens its doors, she said. But it’s worth the wait.

“I am really passionate about libraries because growing up, I was one of nine kids and we didn’t have a lot of opportunities to own our own books,” said Troshynski, a Midnight Sun charter schoolteacher. “If we hadn’t had a public library to go to, there would have been a huge impact on my life.”

Plus, libraries represent the basic freedoms of living in a democratic society, she said.

“Having access to information is so important,” Troshynski said. “And libraries are a really good place for people to connect with one another. That’s why programming is so important and why we need a larger facility.”

Troshynski said the goal is to find enough space to enable a new library to grow to 27,000 square feet for future needs.

It’s also important to keep it all on one floor to reduce the amount of staff needed and to make it more accessible for everyone, she added.

Keeping the library in the city’s downtown core is one of the top priorities of city planners since it’s an important part of a city’s social hub. It is currently in its fourth location, having first shared the old school building where City Hall now resides.

“We’ll be celebrating the library’s 75th anniversary in 2013,” Troshynski said. “So the timing of a new facility seems fitting.”

Carter, who first moved to Alaska from Idaho with his wife in 1963 to teach in the Native village of Huslia, said that if he does end up selling his property for a new library he might end up going back to Idaho or possibly only as far as Anchorage.

Either way, he wants to be closer to his 11 grandkids.

“We hadn’t planned on leaving this place, but who knows,” the former high school history teacher said. “At least it’d be a good use of our property.”

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.