Willow seniors win land plan battle

WILLOW -- It's an issue that appears to have split the Willow community, but a near-tied vote taken Monday will move the matter to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly's hands.

The Willow Area Community Organization, Monday evening, held one final discussion regarding the land use plan for the Willow Community Center, including 17 acres of land held by WACO and the Mat-Su Borough.

The community plan includes space for a pool or tennis court, a meditation garden in front of the old log cabin that once housed the community center, as well as a nursing facility, a city hall and even a satellite Mat-Su Borough office. The old log building is being considered as a potential museum site, and the plan includes an expansion to nearly double the existing community library. At the north end of the planned area, on property currently owned by the Mat-Su Borough, a new public safety building is planned, along with six units of senior housing.

It's the shared use of the borough property that has the community divided. On one side is the Willow Fire Service Area, with the intent to use about 4.5 acres to build a training facility. On the other are the Willow Area Seniors Inc., who intend to build six senior housing units.

The vote passed 33-32, with the majority in favor of including senior housing. There was one questioned ballot, and one person was allowed to vote after ballots were collected. Two people who arrived several minutes after voting had ended and asked to vote were refused, because the votes had already been tallied. Audience members who said they knew the late arrivals said they opposed the plan. Doyle Holmes, vice-chair of WACO, said after the meeting that the ballots had already been tallied, and voting had to be cut off at some point.

Before the vote, members of the Willow Fire Service Area sent statements to the borough, strongly opposing a plan to deed the property to the community organization. The opposition was based on historical intent for the property, according to information from a letter signed by three fire service area supervisors and sent to the borough.

"This property was secured by Chief Brian Taylor for the expansion of the Willow Volunteer Fire Department facilities," the letter states. "… on the application for purchase or lease of state land that was filed on Feb. 1, 1985, the stated purpose of the land acquisition is to 'provide adequate parking and facility expansion for the borough public safety building.'"

The letter also states that all of the nearly 4.7-acre lot would be needed for planned expansion of the area's emergency services. The group would like to build a "smoke house" for fire training, along with a two- to three-story, open-ladder facility, with space around the facility to allow fire vehicles and ambulances access. The letter indicates the board worked in 2001 and 2003 to find funding for the expansion. Those efforts have not yet been successful.

According to Willow Fire Service Area Chief Lori Wiertsema, the land was originally owned by the state, but was transferred to the Mat-Su Borough in 1997. It was transferred as general use land, not public-safety use land, and that loophole has allowed it to be considered for use by the seniors.

"If people knew the facts to begin with …," Wiertsema said after hearing the results of the vote. "Each meeting, I've tried to give them a little bit of the facts -- but some people didn't want to hear it."

Dee Pralle, the chair of the Willow Area Seniors Inc. board, said the seniors requested the land because it's a good fit -- it's close to community activities and offers access not available in other areas of Willow.

"Seniors don't want to drive after dark, and seniors want to be close to activities," Pralle said. "[This is a] better location -- they're close to doctors, close to other services. This is a logical place to put it."

Pralle said initially plans for the community area included three other phases of development, but those phases were scaled back after some residents expressed concern that too much of the land was set aside for one sector of the Willow community. The first community plan, Pralle said, didn't include senior housing. Community members voted 38 to 18 to include senior housing in a development plan. When the matter came up again, community members agreed that, although they're in favor of senior housing in the area, they didn't want it to be within the area now owned by WACO. By selecting the borough land as a potential site for senior housing, Pralle said some felt it was an appropriate compromise.

"We want to compromise -- we want everybody to have what they need," Pralle said. "Seniors are not greedy, they just want their little piece of the pie. If we don't, we lose seniors to Palmer, to Wasilla and to the Lower 48. It's the seniors who built Willow."

When asked why other borough-owned land up for sale in the area was not considered as potential senior housing, Pralle said a lack of improvements made other areas less inviting for seniors. Borough parcels are currently available near Crystal Lake and near Deshka Landing, but Pralle said those parcels have no power, no telephone lines and no sidewalks or safe trails.

"We'd have to pay to have all that done," Pralle said. "The more money we have to put into providing phone lines and electricity, the higher the rent."

Pralle said as development continues in Willow, future expansion of senior housing will likely be considered on property not owned by the community. But for now, she said, her group is taking the vote -- however narrow -- as approval to move forward. She said the group will begin working on obtaining a grant to build the housing included in the plan. They already have a $20,000 Alaska Housing Finance Authority grant for pre-development work, and that was set to begin this week.

After the split vote over the community plan, Pralle asked the group to submit a letter that stated the community was in support of senior housing in Willow. The motion to write and submit the letter passed unanimously.

The measure moves next to the Mat-Su Borough Assembly. An ordinance to transfer the borough-owned property to the communityhas not yet been scheduled, but must be approved before any action can be taken on the community's plan. Assembly Member Betty Vehrs represents the Willow area and was at the Monday's WACO meeting. She said she doesn't relish the task ahead of her.

"I have to be sensitive to both sides," Vehrs said. "This is hard, because I see both sides. I hope it'll be a win-win situation. I'm very positive about this."

Wiertsema said her job isn't over yet -- she plans to be at upcoming assembly meetings to make sure assembly members are aware the community remains divided.

"I'm going to continue to push the idea that it shouldn't have gotten this far -- it should have been classified as public safety [land]," Wiertsema said.

Pralle said she believes the assembly will decide in favor of the seniors. If they don't, she said, it won't put a stop to their plans.

"If the borough doesn't allow us to purchase this piece of property, then we will look elsewhere," Pralle said.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.