Two homeowners hit Seward-Meridian plans head-on

DAWN De BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU - Marie Webb has lavished time and money on her tri-level, four-bedroom home with its cedar exterior, a home she moved into more than 20 years ago. She hangs Alaskan paintings on the wall, pays to have the carpet professionally cleaned and erected an archway above her deck to hang her cedar swing during the summertime.

Now, someone standing on Webb's deck with its surrounding tiered stairway can see Seward Meridian Parkway, just a stone's throw away. But, if preliminary state plans transforming a two-mile section of the road progress, unchanged, the two-lane road in two years will become a five-lane highway running through the place where Webb's deck stands.

"The plan is not set in stone yet. That's why we're making so much noise," Webb said.

She and her neighbor, Dan Aldrich, who owns a home on the west side of Seward Meridian, have been attending planning meetings, writing letters, and studying maps and diagrams to better understand the plans they're trying to change.

"The more we looked at the plans, the crazier the proposal seemed," Aldrich said.

Just what is this plan?

The proposed road design would widen Seward Meridian where it runs from the Parks Highway north to Palmer-Wasilla Highway, according to the www.sewardmeridian.com Web site.

The project, headed by the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities and designed by CH2M Hill of Anchorage, would also extend Seward Meridian for one mile, from Bogard to Seldon roads.

As is the usual practice during road-improvement projects, intersecting roads - the Palmer-Wasilla Highway and Bogard Road - would be upgraded at their intersections only. Pedestrian walkways would be added and the Cottonwood Creek crossing replaced.

According to DOT Project Manager Cynthia Ferguson, Bogard Road would no longer be a three-leg intersection where it meets Seward Meridian; Bogard Road would become a more aligned four-way intersection.

"There are a couple of options," Ferguson said. "One is a roundabout at that intersection. But we definitely have to straighten out Bogard Road to create a better angle for a four-way intersection."

Last summer's construction improved the geometry of the intersection and installed an interim traffic signal.

The proposal to widen Seward Meridian - tentatively scheduled for 2007 or 2008 - is being driven through its planning stage, subject to ideas stemming from public meetings.

The next meeting will give the public an opportunity to provide DOT and CH2M Hill with input, Ferguson said. That meeting is slated for 7-9 p.m., March 9, at Teeland Middle School, she said.

"In my experience with government politics, I've found that the farther you allow the preliminary plans to go, the more entrenched they become," Aldrich said.

Who is affected, and how?

Webb and Aldrich are the only property owners whose homes are built forward, or toward the road, on their lots; the other homes sit far enough back not to be threatened by the road expansion - other than the intrusion of additional traffic noise.

Aldrich's home is the first home north of Whispering Woods; his property lies along Seward Meridian and is situated in the Mat-Su Borough.

Webb owns two lots, located north of the Sears building and west of Seward Meridian. Her property sits within Wasilla city limits.

Her home was constructed at a time when road-improvement proposals entertained the possibility of a four-lane highway. The home builders choose a site on the property that would keep the structure 25 feet from the road should improvements occur.

According to city and borough codes, a structure cannot be situated less than 25 feet away from major roadways.

Mat-Su Borough Code Compliance Chief Ken Hudson said grandfather rights would apply if the homes were less than 25 feet away from the new road. However, if the road were designed as it currently stands on paper, people would almost be driving, or at least riding bikes or walking, across Webb's deck.

The widening of the road would destroy Aldrich's fence, his barn and his well. The lot would shrink so much, he wouldn't have enough room to maintain the distance - necessary to comply with state Department of Environmental Conservation codes - between his septic system and a new well.

Webb and Aldrich fear DOT will use its right-of-way authority to purchase their pieces of property and progress with its road plans.

The thought of DOT purchasing her land and home to finish such a road project upsets Webb.

"I don't want to lose my home. I'm not young and ready to move or travel. I'm older. This is where I've been for 25 years. I like my home. It's paid for," Webb said. "It's an attractive home. It's never an eyesore. My lawn is well-kept. And the traffic noise doesn't bother me."

"I didn't purchase my property as an investment," Aldrich said. "I bought it to have a home."

Making their voices heard

Aldrich and Webb haven't been suffering in silence.

They've not only attended every planning meeting and presented their plight before Wasilla City Council members, but they've made phone calls to DOT and CH2M Hill.

Aldrich's letter appeared on the Frontiersman's opinion page last month. Webb has penned the details of her dilemma in letters to politicians representing the district in which she lives.

Only one person so far, state Sen. Lyda Green, R-District G, responded with a letter written by staff member Lori Weed, whose job description includes communicating with constituents.

The road designs revealed in a mid-November public meeting at Teeland surprised Aldrich. Webb found out about the road-widening plans when she returned from Georgia in November. She immediately began writing to meet a Dec. 3 deadline for public comment to be received by DOT.

Both homeowners attended the most recent public scoping meeting Jan. 24 of the Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission, in Palmer.

After this summer's road construction, which resulted in the overpass at the Parks Highway above Seward Meridian, it appeared to Aldrich and Webb that Seward Meridian would be widened from its current center line.

However, the plans presented by CH2M Hill during the mid-November and late-January meetings showed a much different picture.

Expansion of Seward Meridian would transform the two-lane road into a five-lane highway. Two lanes would run in each direction, with a center lane, also referred to as a "suicide lane," for turning. Pedestrians and bicyclists would be provided with a paved path.

Not only would additional space be required to accommodate the middle turning lane and pedestrian walkway, but rather than expanding from the current center line, the existing lanes would sustain northbound traffic and the rest of the improvement would be made west of the current road.

That's 68 to 75 feet west of the center lane, depending on whether the urban or rural plan is followed, according to Aldrich's calculations.

"I call it a three-mile superhighway," said Aldrich, who has spent months on Internet Web sites doing research and looking at borough maps. "Can't they expand on the more undeveloped land on the east side of the road? The state doesn't want to pay MEA for the power lines to be moved (on the east side of Seward Meridian); DOT said it was too expensive."

Some other alternatives Aldrich suggested were creating a curve in the road away from his and Webb's property, building a retaining wall or redesigning the road as a four-lane byway.

During January's meeting, Aldrich asked two CH2M Hill employees and one DOT representative about alternative routes that would not use homeowners' right of way.

Aldrich did not receive an answer.

CH2M Hill's project manager did not return phone calls from the Frontiersman.

When will the work begin, and what must the state do?

DOT most likely will request authority for right of way this summer.

Expansion condemnation is another tool the state has at its disposal, according to Ken Hudson.

"The state may feel obligated to move the structure," Hudson said.

The letter from Lyda Green's staffer explained what the state would do to compensate Webb in such a case.

"If there is no feasible alternative then the state has an obligation to make you 'whole again.' This means that they must help you find a house on par with your current one," the letter to Webb from Green's staffer, Lori Weed, stated. "In addition, they will pay for your property, pay for the cost of moving, and if the mortgage for your comparable new home is more than your previous mortgage they will pay the difference for the first five years."

The letter added, "I know it is difficult to contemplate the possibility of relocating, hopefully an amicable solution can be found through further conversations."

"DOT tries to minimize the impact to private land owners," Ferguson said. "But it's not always possible."

Webb said DOT employees have been sympathetic and told her the plans were still being worked on.

"Just like in a medical practice, DOT's bottom line should be 'Do no harm,' " Aldrich said.

"I'm not opposed to the five-lane highway. I just don't want it too close to my home," Webb said.

Reverberations are being felt in other areas

One business owner along Seward Meridian isn't opposed to the five-lane highway either, he just can't stand what drawn-out construction does to his business.

"The problem is, it takes them forever to get construction done," said Image Audio owner Donny Dean. "My business and the (homeowner) behind me were the only people who didn't have rear access to their places. I think [DOT] should shut down the road for a month and finish the job, instead of dealing with traffic."

"I'd rather shut down my business for a month than have slow business for three months," he said, adding that DOT crews had been polite, allowing him to place business signs down by the Parks Highway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway.

"I'd like to let them know they should shut the road down and get the work done," Dean said. "But they usually don't do the logical thing."

The costs ahead

Special funding has forced DOT to approach its project differently than usual, Ferguson said.

DOT received $7.5 million for the Seward Meridian improvements and so far has spent $1.5 million on the traffic signal at the three-way intersection, connecting Seward Meridian Parkway and Bogard Road. Funds for this project were provided by a Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicle (GARVEE).

It's like a loan on future grants, Ferguson said. The money can be used but DOT must repay the bonds when it receives road-construction grants, Ferguson said.

GARVEE must be treated according to the same rules as federal money. Also, 85 percent of the money - set aside for the Seward Meridian upgrades - must be spent by April 2006. While other aspects of the improvement project have earlier deadlines, the road widening is actually scheduled to begin in 2007 or 2008.

"All I can hope for is that these people who are talking to DOT when it comes time to fund it, that they will mention there will be infringements on my property. Maybe they can swerve the road a little or built a retaining wall," Webb said.

"Hopefully, summers from now, I'll be able to sit in the swing on my porch with a glass of wine and watch the traffic go by - like I always have," she said.