Wasilla trail project links local amenities

WASILLA — A new proposal could mean happy trails for Wasilla residents wanting to walk off the motorized path.

The Southwest Trail Group, a collection of property owners, Wasilla Rotary Club members and others from the community, is working to build a 3.5-mile trail system to the Wasilla area. Once built, the system would be donated to the city. The plan includes constructing new trails and connecting some existing trails. Facilities and amenities on the trail route include the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex, Lake Lucille Park, Iditarod Headquarters, Smith Ballfields and the Wasilla Senior Center.

In areas of high dry ground the trail would be paved and 10 feet wide, said Bill Kramer, one of three property owners who would donate parts of their land to the trail system. Eventually, residential housing is also expected to be built around the system and include the trails.

“Currently, what we have are three like-minded property owners who see a community benefit in a multi-use non-motorized trail system,” Kramer said.

Kramer’s desire to create the trail stems from similar developments in which his parents were involved in the Lower 48. After noticing the benefits and usefulness of a community trail system, he decided to apply it to a parcel of land he acquired in the Valley.

“When I saw this piece of property, I was already thinking trails,” Kramer said.

But Kramer wasn’t alone. Steve Miller, a Southwest Trail Committee and Wasilla Rotary member, said the creation of the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Run ultimately led the Rotary Club on a hunt for a better venue. Traditionally the event includes having to run along and across major highways in Wasilla.

With that in mind, the club began looking into developing a trail system and focused efforts around the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex.

“I looked at the sports complex and I asked myself one simple question,” Miller said. “Where would you want to go if we used the sports complex as a starting point for the run?”

Some of the obvious destinations seemed to be Lake Lucille Park and Smith Ballfields. That’s when property owners and Rotary came together to form the Southwest Trails Group, Miller said.

“This is a trail that nearly anyone in the Valley, regardless of age, can use,” he said.

Although the proposed trail system is still in the planning and design stage, Kramer said he wants to begin construction next summer. At that time, he expects to complete 3,500 feet of trail on his land.

A hard cost estimate has yet to be completed, but Kramer said he expects it to cost at least “several million dollars.” Primary funding for the project will come from private sources, supplemented by grant requests to the City of Wasilla and the Mat-Su Borough.

Along with Kramer, property owners Steve Renner and Brad Laybourn own 300 acres of land through which the trail will run. As proposed, the group wants to light as much of the trail as possible, Kramer said. In areas of lower, wet terrain the trail will include a boardwalk-type walkway to minimize impact. The plan also includes viewing areas and an ice skating pond and a gazebo.

Renner said he was happy to join the project. From a development standpoint, the group is striving to produce high-quality housing and a beneficial trail system.

“I do know our intent is to make it an aesthetically pleasing area and not just a cookie-cutter development,” Renner said.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.