Year in review

JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- Landscapes constantly evolve. Mountains crumble, rivers shift and human beings stake out pockets of civilization. While many places on earth are fairly settled, with old neighborhoods and established parks, the Mat-Su Borough is experiencing impressive developments.

The forces are powerful, both natural and human, and drastic changes occur -- sometimes overnight.

Surrounded by two mountain ranges and carved from gradually receding glaciers, the Valley has become an increasingly popular place to live. As people settle the land, they alter it. During the past year forests were cleared and farm fields converted, as developers paved the way for thousands of people who want homes in the Valley.

Nature also had a say over the summer. The Matanuska River, once again tore into the river bank, washing large chunks of earth into the water and threatened nearby homes. State and local officials scrambled to find solutions, while homeowners watched backyards erode and a neighborhood road crumble into the river.

Whether it be nature or civilization, the landscape of the Valley promises to continue its evolution in the years ahead. Here's two stories reflecting the forces of a community, that is carved from the earth.

Ancient river unpredictable

From the July 18 Frontiersman

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- The Matanuska River is an ancient, unpredictable force that has woven lasting impressions in the river basin and in the minds and hearts of those who live and work along its unforgiving banks.

As populations explode in the Valley, more lives are affected by the river's winding and often overpowering movements.

Mat-Su Public Works Director Don Shiesl continues to work on the river erosion problems but he doesn't see the problem ever going away permanently.

Most recently the river began tearing into surrounding banks near Circle View subdivision along Bodenburg Loop. As of Friday morning, large cottonwood trees, boulders and a dirt road were crashing into the muddy waters and washing out into Knik Arm. Ever-concerned property owners watched and measured the erosion this week as the river crept closer to their homes.

Ron Thornsley has owned land near the river for more than 30 years and has compiled pages of research about the river. Thornsley said that from July 10 to July 16 the banks had eroded 73 feet near Brian Drive, just off Bodenburg Loop.

Mat-Su Borough Director of Public Safety Dennis Brodigan said the borough closed Brian Drive in Circle View subdivision earlier this week after inspecting the area. Brodigan confirmed that parts of Brian Drive had already washed into the river.

Time is of the essence and as July heat continues melting the Matanuska Glacier, causing the river to swell and consume the banks, the main power line, which sends power across the river into Palmer, was in danger of potentially falling in.

The power lines are located a couple hundred yards from Brian Drive. Matanuska Electric Association officials were out Wednesday to inspect the 150,000-volt main transmission line that brings power to Palmer. The river was less than 100 feet from the power lines on Wednesday and continuing to inch closer.

Springer Loop

Alaska's best farmland is also a great place to live

From the July 25 Frontiersman Profile Edition

By DANIEL SPOTH

Frontiersman reporter

Nowhere is the feeling of being in the heart of the Valley stronger than on the Springer Loop system south of Palmer.

Roads that stretch along old farmland and Colony barns give way to unparalleled views of Pioneer Peak, Lazy Mountain, Matanuska Peak, and even Hatcher Pass. On clear winter days or waning autumn evenings, the scene could be taken directly from a John Van Zyle print.

During Palmer's colonial days, the area provided an attractive prospect for living and farming alike, providing the roots from which the city's branches would later grow.

Today, the rich odor of manure and hay still permeates the air during a drive around the loop, but quite a lot has changed. Piles of earth for new housing projects lie here and there, golfers hit rounds under the midnight sun and trucks filled with gravel compete for road space with old tractors and other farm machines.

The crowded roads are a metaphor for the changing face of the Springer system -- once the Valley's busiest farmland, it is now an attractive prospect for new Valley residents' homes and gardens.

"There's no question that the Springer area is the best farmland in Alaska," said Wayne Bouwens, longtime Palmer resident, former dairy farmer and son of one of the original Mat-Su Valley colonist families. Bouwens named the Springer system as one of the Valley's hottest spots for new residents and subdivisions.

Mountain Rose Estates, on S. Eklutna Street off Springer Loop, provides panoramic views of both Lazy Mountain and the surrounding Talkeetnas, but also Pioneer Peak and Bodenburg Butte. "It's wonderful," said Susan Sevilla, director of Sales and Marketing for Mountain Rose. "The views are the best."

Mountain Rose contains 68 total units, housing 105 residents on-site. It has been in existence since 2001.

Sevilla said the majority of future developments in the area, however, will be seen on Springer Loop itself, where land previously empty is beginning to sprout homes.

Jess Hall with Hall Quality Homes is currently at work on Majestic Hills, a new subdivision on Inner Springer Loop. The Majestic Hills lots are being sold according to demand, so there's no static completion date for the project, but Hall said that if demand stays constant, all should be completed by the end of next summer's construction period.

Breaking Ground, cutting ribbons

"Big Dig" kicks off two years of construction for Valley Hospital

From the May 21 Frontiersman

By DANIEL SPOTH

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- A long-awaited ceremony brought local dignitaries and interested citizens alike to the future site of the Mat-Su Valley Medical Center at the junction of the Parks and Glenn highways. Golden shovels bit the earth and shiny, white hard hats reflected the unexpected fair weather as a crowd of local and state dignitaries threw the first shovelfuls of dirt onto the building site.

Christened the "Big Dig," the event drew not only top executives from Valley Hospital and Triad Hospitals Inc., the Texas-based hospital management company which Valley agreed to partner with in late 2003, but politicians such as Sen. Lyda Green, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Lt. Gov. Loren Leman.

"After years of planning, it's exciting to see the spades going into the ground to bring a new hospital to the Mat-Su," said George Larson, CEO of Valley Hospital, in a press release.

The cost of the new building is projected at $87.7 million. The hospital is expected to create 1,200 to 1,800 new jobs, pay $1.3 million in property taxes annually and generate approximately $106.5 million in revenues each year, according to a fact sheet circulated by the hospital.

Plans for the new hospital include a nearly 200,000-square-foot facility with 74 beds total on the 30-acre plot off Trunk Road. These beds will allow the hospital to take care of 40 percent more patients, patients who currently seek care outside the Valley, according to the press release.

"I'm excited to commence this long-planned project," said Clyde Boyer, head of Valley Hospital's Board of Directors, adding that he and his colleagues were groundbreaking not only for a new hospital, but for the Valley's health-care needs for years to come.

Boyer complimented Valley Hospital's many faithful employees in particular. "These people are what got us here," Boyer said. "Today, as in the past, it's employees that make Valley Hospital what it is."

Several longtime hospital employees joined the collection of dignitaries in shoveling the first clods of dirt out of a prepared bank near the new hospital site.

Boyer said he believed the hospital was fulfilling its mission statement by enhancing the health of those it serves.

New SBS Palmer store hosts opening extravaganza

Week-long celebration includes NASCAR, dune buggy giveaway

From the April 18 Frontiersman

By DANIEL SPOTH

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- The grand opening of Spenard Builders Supply's new Palmer store off of Inner Springer Loop on Thursday proved that, in addition to being experts in all matters involving home construction and improvement, the store's staff knows how to treat its customers right.

Free refreshments, colorful decorations, live music and shelves filled with brand-new merchandise greeted visitors to the new Palmer store. A fountain bedecked with National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing paraphernalia acted as the centerpiece for the celebration, which catered not only to dignitaries from the company and the city of Palmer, but also local mushers DeeDee Jonrowe and Martin Buser.

"Make no mistake about it, we're here to wow you with the store," said Joel Lynch, manager of the new branch.

The ceremony featured speeches by SBS workers and officials, and culminated with a truly Alaskan ribbon-cutting that featured two teams cutting through ribbon-wrapped logs with old-fashioned two-handed draw saws. This longtime tradition is performed at the opening of every SBS store, and features a lighthearted competition to be the first to slice through the log, thus symbolically opening the store for business. The team of Jonrowe and LoAnn Larson, vice president of Human Resources for SBS, outpaced the muscular and heavily favored Buser-Lynch team and won the contest by rapidly cutting a thin wooden dowel concealed underneath their log.

Buser and Lynch good-naturedly conceded the victory.

This grand opening is only the beginning of a week-long extravaganza, lasting up until April 23, celebrating the arrival of the store. Visitors to the store during this time will have a chance to win a trip to NASCAR's Checker Auto Parts 500 in Phoenix this November. A two-seater Kasea Kart dune buggy also will be given away during the grand opening.

SBS president Ed Waite said at the opening that, after SBS acquired Homesteader's Lumber and Hardware in Wasilla, leaving the business with two Wasilla stores, it simply made practical sense to make the move to Palmer. The business had been thinking about a move to Palmer for more than 10 years, he said.

A grand vision for Grand View

Twin brothers open Wasilla's largest hotel

From the Aug. 8 Frontiersman

By JOHN DAVIDSON

For the Frontiersman

WASILLA -- Amid the frenzied freeway construction along the Parks Highway, between mazes of ever-changing gravel lanes and loud earth-moving machines, the largest hotel in Wasilla has quietly opened its doors for business.

The Grand View Inn and Suites are owned by John and Ernie Emmi, twin brothers from upstate New York who moved to Alaska 16 years ago. This spring and summer they built the Grand View, now one of the larger and more prominent buildings in Wasilla, and on June 10 they opened the 79-room hotel for business. This weekend they opened the Trophy Room Bar and Grill downstairs and went fully operational.

"It's been in the works for two years now," Ernie Emmi said during a break from the chaos of last-minute preparations. "We saw the need. There's just so many more people moving out here and there's no land left in Anchorage. Everybody's coming this way."

The Trophy Room was a swirling scene of activity on Thursday morning: chefs, painters and carpenters bustled about the dining room and bar area hooking up speakers, assembling pool tables, installing light fixtures and making countless other last-minute preparations.

The Trophy Room will operate a full-service bar and restaurant featuring an exotic menu of wild game, from alligator and crocodile to ostrich and zebra, although for the first week the restaurant will only serve off the bar menu. The Emmis have hired professional French- and Creole-trained chefs and plan to try a variety of exotic meats on a rotating menu to see what people take a liking to. The owners promise something different each week.

In the inn itself, all 79 rooms are open and ready to go. Each suite has a microwave, fridge, ironing board, hair dryer, coffee maker, big-screen TV with cable and HBO, high-speed Internet and air conditioning. There are also six Jacuzzi suites.

All patrons of the inn have access to an indoor swimming pool and hot tub, an exercise room with weights and treadmills, laundry and housekeeping services and a breakfast bar next to a deck that looks out on Pioneer Peak.

Fred Meyer opens doors

From the March 5 Frontiersman

BY JEN RANSOM

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- The much-anticipated Palmer Fred Meyer opened its doors Wednesday. To celebrate, the company not only had sales to benefit shoppers that visited the new store, but also donated $5,000 to local organizations to benefit the community.

From underwear to fresh Alaska Grown produce, the 70,000-square-foot Palmer Fred Meyer celebrated its grand opening with a 350-pound cake-cutting ceremony where the store director, John Mayer, and the corporate community relations coordinator, Judi Luchsinger, presented a donation of $2,500 to the Mat-Su Miners for a cart to transport disabled and elderly fans from the parking lot to the games, a $1,500 donation to the American Red Cross of Alaska to help install carbon monoxide detectors in low-income Valley homes and a third donation of $1,000 to the Palmer Little League to further support baseball in Palmer.

"I guess I am speechless," said American Red Cross of Alaska Mat-Su branch programs manager Tanya Larrabee after accepting the donation. "I love how much they have done for the community and their employees."

Long-time Palmer resident Mary Combs of Combs Insurance performed the ceremonial cutting of the cake during the grand opening celebration, a job done by Miss Alaska during the openings of Alaska's other Fred Meyer locations. Combs said she was honored to be chosen. Palmer Mayor Jim Cooper suggested Combs when Fred Meyer was planning the celebration.

"I'm really pleased with what they've brought to Palmer," Combs said. "I think it is wonderful."

Cooper, who has already purchased his first Fred Meyer packet of underwear, said he thinks the store is a success. Much has been made of the fact that the store will sell undergarments, which have previously not been carried by a retail outlet in Palmer. The fact that Palmer residents will now be able to buy underwear close to home has even made the national news.

"This is a long time coming," Cooper said of the grand opening. "If you've ever seen the movie 'Good Morning Vietnam' this is 'Good Morning Fred Meyer.'"

Brad Hanson, the treasurer of Palmer Little League, said the Fred Meyer donation will help tremendously, as the league needs upwards of $50,000 a year to operate. Unlike the CO donation, which was requested by Cooper after a family of five perished in Anchorage from CO poisoning, the league donation came as a surprise out of the blue.

Not so fast

City Council passes box store ordinance

From the May 14 Frontiersman

By DANIEL SPOTH

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER -- The Palmer City Council unanimously passed an ordinance placing regulations on the growth of box stores and other businesses in excess of 20,000 square feet on Tuesday during their regular meeting.

Under Ordinance No. 606, new large businesses moving into Palmer will be required to design their stores to "promote architectural variety, access amenities, site improvements, and mitigation of community impacts." These businesses will have to hold a public meeting and obtain the approval of Palmer's city manager before making their move into the city.

The council heard several testimonies from concerned citizens before addressing the code itself. Dave LeClair with Carr Gottstein came forth in support of the ordinance, saying that his organization, which handles a number of large business affairs in Palmer, would like to see regulations on the manners in which land is put to commercial use in the city.

"We feel that this ordinance is a step in the right direction," said LeClair, who said, as Palmer continues to grow, corresponding big business growth is inevitable.

"Whether you like it or not, development is coming," he said.

LeClair also provided the council with a list of suggested changes to the ordinance, including both minor typological changes and simple alterations to the code itself. The council reviewed the prospective changes during a recess and took the advice into account.

In response to a question from Council Member Tony Pippel on whether this ordinance would dissuade other businesses from coming to Palmer, LeClair said, "This is not an overly onerous ordinance. If they want to be in this market, they'll get in this market."

Noise, vibration rule passes

From the May 21 Frontiersman

By RINDI WHITE

Frontiersman reporter

MAT-SU -- If you're a fan of earth-shaking bass, you'll have to get your fix in a six-hour window of time under the new noise and vibration ordinance passed unanimously by the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Tuesday.

More than 30 people testified before the assembly Tuesday evening, most of them intent on convincing the assembly to pass a boroughwide noise ordinance that would limit vibration and noise generated by amplified music, television or radio.

The ordinance is the borough's response to a problem brought forward by several Mat-Su property owners. The property owners live in the subdivision at the corner of Seward-Meridian Parkway and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, on a bluff overlooking North Bowl, a bowling alley and dance club that opened in October. Four homeowners from the subdivision filed complaints in February about the noise and vibration generated at North Bowl, and shortly thereafter, the assembly directed borough staff to work to prepare an ordinance that would address the homeowners' concerns.

That ordinance, now finished, was the topic of a public hearing Tuesday, and those who testified outlined numerous reasons to pass or fail the ordinance.

Residents who live above the bowling alley told of frustrations over sleepless nights, children frightened by the window-rattling sound and lives upset over the past seven months.

"If you are somewhere and it's really loud and noisy, then you have a choice to go home," said Melany Messinger, "but we are home."

Bob Stevens, owner of North Bowl and Fishheads Bar, said he's spent about $15,000 to get a spectrum analysis done to identify the bass emanating from the bar, moving speakers to deflect the sound away from the homes, and installing heavy doors on the bar, aimed at blocking the sound. He downplayed the sound, urging assembly members to visit the homes on the hill before passing the ordinance, and said he had made an honest effort to reduce the noise and, when that didn't work, he offered to purchase at least one home on the bluff.

"Had I known there might be any way I can't play music in a dance club, I wouldn't have invested more than a million dollars in it," Stevens said. And then he cut to the chase. "I'm kind of famous for fighting ordinances in the city of Anchorage, and I have cost the city of Anchorage hundreds of thousands of dollars [in lawsuits]. I've never paid for more than paper and stamps … and I've never been fined."