By JOHN R. MOSES
For the Frontiersman
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Photo courtesy JOHN R. MOSES Three-year-old Finn Benischek gave his mother Karey Larson the inspiration to talk to other parents and people in the community, and eventually to put together the first meeting of the Talkeetna playground committee. |
Nearby communities have playgrounds, but Talkeetna resident Karey Larson noted that there's no playground in the area for kids younger than 5 and just a small play area for ages 5 and up at the local elementary school.
An ad-hoc committee of 15 people met at the Talkeetna Roadhouse bakery and restaurant on Feb. 7 and narrowed down initial sites to five properties owned by the borough. Committee members have been researching, interviewing and fund raising ever since and are waiting to hear if the borough will award them seed money from the bed-tax program grant fund.
The group's goal, as stated in its minutes, is to create a playground that can eventually expand to also fill the recreational needs of resident and visiting teens.
After Thursday's meeting with Ron Swanson, the borough's community development manager, Larson said one site by the Talkeetna Library may be better for a playground, while services like a teen center and even a skate park might eventually be better placed in the yet-undeveloped Talkeetna Lakes Park near Comsat Road.
Swanson “was really in favor of seeing a playground being built here,” Larson said.
Talkeetna's kids - and visitors, too - should probably thank Larson's son, 3-year-old Finn Benischek, if the park gets built.
She said Finn was her inspiration to talk to other parents and people in the community and eventually to put together the first meeting of the playground committee.
The 13-year Talkeetna resident owns Talkeetna Travel and she and her family have done quite a bit of traveling.
“As a tourist you come into town and wonder, ‘Where is the park?'” she said.
She also said she couldn't take on a project like this and run the travel agency without the help and full support of husband Ross Benischek, so the park drive is a family affair.
She said the local need is great.
“A lot of the people who moved to town the same time I did are having children. It's a baby boom,” Larson said.
One of the committee's resources is Ruth Wood, the town council chair, who facilitated the first meeting and went to Palmer with Larson to meet with borough officials.
Wood, who is “termed-out” and off the council as of October, said her goal is to get organizers started and ready to stand on their own if they decide to incorporate, or to help them get things going through the council should they decide to use the council's nonprofit status to build the park.
The council was supportive of the park grant at its last meeting.
Swanson said last week that the borough's role would be to help find the most appropriate site for a community park and help facilitate the public process leading to its design and implementation.
“We don't just throw darts at a wall,” he said.
Swanson said he looks forward to working with Talkeetna's town council, which he said is well-organized.
Swanson's department also oversees grants from the bed-tax fund, a 5 percent fee charged to borough hostelries to offset the costs of tourism.
The playground group sought a $95,000 grant, and its application is being screened by a panel that will send its picks to another panel before any decisions are eventually made. April is the most likely month for selections, Swanson said.
While the town council backed the grant, many at that meeting suspected any actual grant from the fund would be small, if awarded at all.
The committee will have a lot to talk about at its next session. One site on the group's discussion list is at the new Talkeetna Lakes Park, an undeveloped park parcel at the corner of Comsat Road and the Talkeetna Spur.
Organizers would like to see any kind of facility built there right on that corner in a visible spot to make it easy for visitors to find and to cut down on potential vandalism.
A likely playground site is near the Talkeetna Library, but Larson and Wood both noted that library land needs a borough site plan, as library expansion is also likely. But that is just one hurdle, and does not take that parcel off the table.
Another proposed site is near the town fire station, and a fourth is at Christiansen Lake Park.
A fifth site, near the restrooms at the end of Main Street, may be too small, Larson said.
Although the plans are ambitious, there's no pie in the skies this committee is navigating. The group's first meeting included formation of subcommittees to approach the borough for free land and insurance coverage, raise money from cruise firms and the developer of a major lodge and even seek financial help from the huge Home Depot chain.
Other members are researching a leading design firm, while others are looking into safe playground materials and wood treatments.
The next committee meeting is Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. in The Roadhouse on Main Street in Talkeetna. Call Larson Monday through Friday at 733-8728 for more information.
Comments
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