Susitna Council nominates capital improvement projects

In a well-attended Susitna Community Council meeting, Caswell residents requested and received the council’s support for various road and fire service area projects near Caswell Lakes and the Hidden Hills subdivision.The Mat-Su Borough is currently seeking nominations for capital improvement projects for a six-year program from 2012 through 2017. The council spent most of the meeting on Thursday night discussing various nominations to be submitted to the borough.

The Susitna Community Council voted to submit nominations for several projects. One project is to build an over- or underpass across the Parks Highway to allow safe passage of pedestrians or bikers to the Su Valley High School building on the west side of the highway. Another nomination asks for turn lanes off the Parks Highway on to Hidden Hills Road. Residents testified that it is dangerous to turn off the highway into the Caswell Lakes area because no right turn lane exists that would allow drivers to slow down without having traffic backing up behind them. The same holds true for making a left hand turn when driving southbound. The third nomination calls for trail improvements and to connect the Talkeetna area with the Willow trail system for multi-purpose use and dog mushing.

The council unanimously voted to support several other Caswell project requests. They include the request from the Caswell Fire Service Area for a fire station, a fire engine and a spillway to maintain the area’s lakes at an adequate level to allow water be taken in case of a fire.

The council also supported the Caswell road service area request for improvements and upgrades to Caswell Lake Road.

In other business, council president Robert Coleman announced that council member Wade Bartell resigned because of time constraints. The council will appoint a replacement.