Park upgrades on the way in Talkeetna

The Talkeetna Community Council addressed a number of issues concerning parks and public spaces during its regular meeting at the Talkeetna Elementary School on Monday, October Third.

Approximately one-hundred-seventy-thousand dollars are designated for Talkeetna parks through the Borough’s 2012 Community Improvement Program. On Monday, Mat Su Borough Community Development Manager James King and Borough Assembleyman Vern Halter visited three parks to become familiar with which improvements would be most useful to park users. A public meeting was held Monday evening prior to the Community Council meeting, during which King took suggestions about priorities for park improvements.

The three parks slated to receive improvements are Talkeetna Lakes Park, Christiansen Park, and Talkeetna Downtown Park.

King will use the results of Monday’s meeting to redraft the Community Improvement Program items, at which point the park upgrades may then be returned to the Community Council for approval.

As a separate item of business, the Council passed a motion to request adding bathrooms in Talkeetna Downtown Park to future Community Improvement Program.

The council also passed a motion authorizing the Talkeetna Parks Advisory Committee to begin the process of renaming X, Y and Z Lakes. The lakes are frequently confused because they aren’t labeled the same on all maps. Sometimes a Map will call X lake Y lake by mistake, and the problem can making locations more difficult to plot, and rule enforcement more confusing. Changing the names of the lakes will be a lengthy process, and the Council will seek public input on what the lakes should be called. The motion passed with a vote of three to zero, with two Council members abstaining from the vote.