Willow's future

September 8, 2006

By Jodi Snyder

Frontiersman correspondent

WILLOW - As local residents filed into the Willow Community Center on Thursday night to participate in the Willow 2020 community planning education workshop, the first information table most of them visited was manned by Skip Davenport.

Davenport, a longtime Willow resident, addressed the crowd just inside the main room. The sign on his table read &#8220Why Plan?”

&#8220We want your ideas,” Davenport said. &#8220We want to know how you want the community to look in 20 years. Growth is coming, and we aren't going to change that. But we can help decide how it shapes this community.”

Davenport's sentiments were echoed at the other dozen or so booths, staffed by representatives from local groups and government agencies. Each booth addressed a different planning topic, such as tourism, trails, railroads, parks and commercial development.

Participants in the workshop were encouraged to visit the booths and ask questions. They also were asked to write their questions down and post them to the comment board.

Dozens of questions were posted, ranging from &#8220How will these plans be enforced?” to &#8220How can we plan and develop more public areas like baseball fields and parks?”

In one corner of the building, a small group participated in an open discussion with Murph O'Brien, the Mat-Su Borough's planning director, and Kathy Wells, executive director of Friends of Mat-Su, a nonprofit organization that advocates planning and responsible development in the borough. Throughout the three-hour event, questions from the comment board were hand-carried to the discussion group and addressed.

Several major developments could occur in the next 10 to 20 years that could affect the Willow area, including the development of a visitor center south of Denali National Park and a railroad corridor from Point McKenzie to Willow. Planners say the area can expect huge growth if a nearby Houston site is selected for construction of a large state prison, or if the bridge over Knik Arm is built. Because of these and other potential developments in the area, community leaders want to see a plan in place, and soon.

Bonnie Quill, executive director of the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, identified the South Denali development as something that would affect tourism in the Willow area.

&#8220Willow will be getting a lot more day traffic, and you will need to decide if you want to invite this traffic to your town or move them through. Either way, you will want to do some planning,” said Quill. &#8220Willow should prepare. It's a quality-of-life issue. Visitors will come. It will happen. They will be looking for a day experience, and it will be up to you if you want them to stay or move along.”

Steve Charles recently spearheaded an effort to pass the Willow Trails Plan, which is being incorporated into the borough's trails plan. A proponent of the planning process, Charles has seen first-hand how it can protect the interests and desires of a community.

&#8220I know some people are concerned about planning, some have said the borough will change our plans. But talking to others who have helped with their community plans, it doesn't work that way,” Charles said. &#8220And it's certainly not what I've seen when working with the borough on trails planning. They are only looking to assist and guide us. The plan is ours to develop.”

Although most people in attendance seemed to be in favor of the kind of planning being proposed, some residents remain opposed to the idea. Local businessman Doyle Holmes has long been against a community comprehensive plan. He was not present at the workshop but said the idea of a local plan concerns him.

&#8220I was on the (borough) assembly when we wrote the basic concept of these community plans, and the one thing I've found over the years is that a small group of individuals think they know the mood of the whole community,” Holmes said.

&#8220What I have seen is that it falls short of the public process. A few people write this very restrictive plan, then the public gets wind of it, and all hell breaks loose. I say we are better protected under the borough's comp plan,” he added.

Holmes suggested an alternative to more plans - becoming a city.

”Maybe we can do that someday. But a plan? We are talking 600 square miles here. How can we write a plan that takes everyone's interests into consideration?”

Erv Dedeker, Willow 2020 Chair, was pleased with the community participation in the workshop, which organizers estimated at 150 people.

&#8220It's all about educating the community so they understand what comprehensive planning is about,” Dedeker said.

Pat Madigan, of Willow Area Community Organization, agreed.

&#8220So many people see this as just land-use planning,” Madigan said. &#8220There's that eternal cry - ‘You can't tell me what to do with my property!' But a comprehensive plan is so much larger than that.”

Madigan referred to the successful passing of the Willow Trails Plan at the last WACO meeting.

&#8220People had no problem passing the trails plan unanimously,” Madigan said. &#8220If we can all agree on the trails plan, surely we can agree on other things.”

The group will introduce a motion at the Sept 11 WACO meeting to seek support for a letter asking the borough for assistance in developing a community plan. Members plan to ask for a vote on the motion at the Oct. 2 meeting.

And if the motion passes?

&#8220The vote is just the beginning,” said Madigan. If it passes, then the real work starts.”

Frontiersman correspondent Jodi Snyder lives in Willow. Contact her at jodi@

kashwitna.net.