May 1, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman MAT-SU - Whether it is land-use ordinances, million-dollar school access construction or Matanuska Electric Association's future plans, political aficionados and the casual voter can find a topic of interest at Tuesday's Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting.

The borough Planning Department has requested $943,632 for road improvements for the Knik-Goose Bay Elementary campus. The funds will come from interest on a $2 million school bond.

The bond will be used for on-site improvement to the campus. The road improvements, to be done on state-owned Hollywood Road, are considered off site.

With only one entrance and exit, the overflowing elementary school has traffic problems. But to make the situation worse, the borough and the school district have decided to open a second school on the Knik-Goose Bay site.

The second elementary school will alleviate the congested hallways and common areas in Knik-Goose Bay and Snowshoe Elementary schools.

Because of severe overcrowding at the elementary schools, the borough asked to fast-track building the new school.

“It is a ridiculous situation. They can't even add more portable buildings because the libraries and common areas can't hold anymore students. So the staff had to expedite this,” said assembly member Cindy Bettine, who represents that area of the borough.

Bettine said the school district agreed to open the new school in the fall of 2008, if the borough completed the building in time.

The planned road improvements would expand the entrances to the campus from one to four and change the shape of a nearby Hollywood Road hill.

“It is to shave off that hill, to improve the line of sight from traffic coming from Big Lake to the schools,” Bettine said. “The hill is already dangerous, the [Department of Transportation] knows it is dangerous even with one school, and DOT will only allow the traffic plan if Hollywood Hill is fixed.”

Bettine said that while Hollywood is a state road with an existing problem, if the borough wants a school now it has to be the one to fund it.

“Already there is a backlog of state-funded road projects,” Bettine said. “If the state wants to reimburse us for this already existing problem, we would be very appreciative.”

Animal lovers will find interesting an update on a proposed animal shelter early in the meeting.

During manager comments, Gary Wolf, of Wolf Architecture, will give an update on the design of the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation shelter. The proposed animal shelter was part of a failed October 2005 ballot. The project is up now for funding.

For borough residents who do not have a voice in the debate over Matanuska Electric Association's planned coal-fired generator, Valley watchdog Bill Erickson has a new petition for them. Erickson has lived in the Mat-Su since birth.

Erickson's petition is not on the agenda, but he said all the assembly members know about it and have been thinking about it. Erickson said he plans to speak during the “persons to be heard” section of Tuesday's assembly meeting.

Even people who are not MEA ratepayers, who may not be named on an MEA bill, would still be affected by the co-op's new generator, Erickson said. MEA is planning to poll its members soon about where to locate the proposed power plant. Erickson thinks anyone who lives in the Valley should be involved in the decision, since it will affect more than just ratepayers.

“I'm going to open the door to give everybody a voice,” Erickson said. “This is the people out here, the general public, everybody. The issue [at MEA] is only the person's name on the bill gets a voice.”

Erickson is asking the borough to be his voice. He decided to approach the borough assembly when MEA rejected his previous petition. His petition was a request that MEA provide a special meeting to allow ratepayers a chance to ask about renewable energy alternatives to coal.

“It is my grass, it is my water, and I don't have a voice,” he said.

Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com