Water tower for sale -- how high is too high?

PALMER -- Standing tall and shining in the center of town with "PALMER" emblazoned across it, the city water tower has become a symbol of community pride since it was first raised in 1936.

So how much is this symbol worth? That depends on whom you ask.

According to the sellers, Heritage Properties, the water tower is priceless, but the company is willing to sell it to the city for the price of its outstanding street assessments -- $69,000.

Too high, city council members said at last week's regular meeting. While the majority of the council seemed to agree the water tower is a valuable historical asset, and one that should be protected, they weren't enthusiastic about Heritage Properties' offer.

"They're sort of trying to hold us ransom … to get our water tower back, and that bothers me," Palmer Mayor Jim Cooper said.

Several council members said they were concerned that there wasn't a way to appraise the actual value of the tower and the property it is on.

"Is there like a used water tower catalog or something we could look in?" joked councilman John Combs.

With no such catalog available, city staff said it would be difficult to estimate the tower's value because to build it new could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the water tower hasn't been used in years and isn't needed for its original purpose.

Public Works Superintendent Rick Koch advised the council to get a structural analysis and environmental assessment done on the tower and its surrounding property before agreeing to anything. The testing could cost a few thousands dollars, he said.

"But I think it could be worth a lot," Koch said.

Councilman Brad Hanson pointed out that according to Heritage Properties' proposal, the tower comes "as is," and he suggested a $30,000 price tag might be more reasonable.

Whatever the final deal, Hanson agreed with others on the council that the city should take it over.

"We need to take care of the water tower permanently," Hanson said.

Palmer Historical Society President Gerry Keeling agrees. She attended last week's meeting and later told the Frontiersman the tower may be the only one of its type in Alaska. Keeling said in 1988 the Palmer Historical Society organized a fund drive and repainted the water tower.

"I would like to see the city adopt it and take care of it forever more," she said. "It's just such an integral part of Palmer and what Palmer is all about."

Because Grace Pleasants, director of Heritage Properties, couldn't be at last week's meeting, the council chose to postpone further discussion until its next meeting on March 11, which Pleasants is expected to attend. According to the written proposal Pleasants gave the city manager Feb. 3, the $69,000 offer expires March 31.

This is not Heritage Properties' first offer on the water tower. In August 2001 the private company proposed trading it to the city for $100,000 in unpaid city taxes.

"A symbolic element like a water tower might be better of in public hands," Pleasants said in a Frontiersman article at the time. She went on to say, "The water tower to us is a liability. We look at it as something we would have to barricade."

The city, she said at the time, could renovate the tower and even install viewing decks inside the tower's reservoir.

The response from the city council then was similar to now.

"I think it is an important symbol for the city," council member Ton Pippel said at the time. "I think it should be city-owned, but I think your price is way too high."

Heritage Properties acquired the historic Matanuska Maid site, which includes the water tower, December 2000.

Before the recent fire that destroyed one of the old buildings on the property, the company had plans to turn the site into a housing development.