Trail controversy ignited

A group of neighbors with homes east of Lake Lucille attended a Wasilla city council meeting on Monday to speak out against a multi-use trail that would connect Wasilla Lake with Lake Lucille and route snowmachine traffic through their neighborhood. Mayor Sarah Palin said Tuesday that their opposition won't change a decision by the city council to construct the trail along the city's right-of-way.

The trail will be used by pedestrians, but the ordinance designating the trail -- which the city council passed unanimously in July 2001 -- includes a section that defines "pedestrian" as including "snowmobiles, between December 1 and April 1 when the trail is snow covered."

That language seems to have created a sticking point for people who own property or live along the route. The ordinance doesn't mention snowmachines in its title, and city advertisements and agenda notices contain only the titles of agenda items.

"The snowmachine traffic along that route will pass 25 feet from the living room window of one of my houses," said Kim Robinson, who owns three rental homes in the area. Robinson claimed the council had passed its plan without adequate public notice -- and that, Robinson said, "creates suspicion and mistrust between the citizens and the government."

Robinson's husband, Palmer-based attorney Andrew Robinson, told the council there will be a lawsuit if his family's investment properties lost value due to the trail.

"I want to give you more notice than you gave me. There's going to be a lawsuit," Andrew Robinson said.

Palin said Tuesday the plan has been in the works for years -- at least since 1996 -- and has been discussed at public hearings of the city's parks and recreation commission, planning commission, and council, as well as at various meetings with state transportation authorities and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

"We don't want snowmachines to be tooling around in downtown Wasilla," Palin said. "The whole purpose of this has been to get snowmachiners out of town."

The Park Avenue trail is part of the city's effort to plan for snowmachines without having to ban them, according to Palin, who also believes that it's possible to keep garage-to-trail snowmachining legal in Wasilla.

"We don't want to have to trailer our machines in order to get out of town and into the great outdoors," Palin said, "… and how we do that is to designate a safe corridor -- we kind of corral [the snowmachines] for our own safety and the safety of others."

The trail was first protested by Alice and Dallas Massie last November. The Massies own Guys and Gals Hair Designs, a salon on Knik-Goose Bay Road. At the time, Dallas Massie said he would volunteer to help find a new route, and the Palin administration stopped trail construction.

But if Monday's meeting was any indication, further cooperation between city hall and the Massies is unlikely.

"It was basically a stalling tactic on the part of the city to keep me from going out and organizing the neighbors [against the trail]," Dallas Massie said of his previous dealings with city hall.

The city's grant-funded trail work started up again earlier this month. The route leaves Wasilla Lake at its west end, uses a DOT-planned crossing to get south of the Parks Highway, and connects unimproved city-owned rights-of-way on Wasilla Street and Park Avenue East to get to Knik-Goose Bay Road. At Knik-Goose Bay, DOT has another crossing in the planning pipeline. On the west side of Knik-Goose Bay, the trial will parallel the existing Park Avenue to Lake Lucille.

None of the city council members discussed the trail directly with citizens during or immediately after the meeting. None of the citizens approached the council members after the meeting either, although they talked amongst themselves and some talked to city workers.

During the meeting, Palin did enter into a brief dialogue with Dallas Massie, but only said that the city had spent time studying other trail routes.

Council member Dianne Keller said Wednesday she has spoken with the Massies about the trail. Keller said she believes a solution can be found.

"We need to keep in mind that it is a city right-of-way. However, the city needs to keep in mind how we are impacting those people, so we need to talk to each other," Keller said.

Some of the trail's critics point out that when land owners apply for zoning changes, notices are mailed to owners of neighboring property. When asked if the she thought similar notices should be mailed during trail planning, Palin said she didn't think any municipal government did that.

"I think the assumption is that if the city needed to build a road there, it could, and I think that would have a much bigger impact," Palin said.

Like Palin, Keller believes the city ought to pursue planning for snowmachines.

"I was born and raised in Anchorage and became basically an outlaw if I wanted to ride a snowmachine in the city," Keller said. "I believe in outdoor recreation and I don't want to see what happened in Anchorage happen to Wasilla."

Keller said the city's construction grant for the trail requires that snowmachines be included -- a fact that public works officials confirmed. Keller warned that building the trail and banning snowmachines later could be expensive.

"It's something that we can certainly discuss, but people need to be aware that we will have to pay back the $30,000 grant," Keller said.