Skeetawk gondola tops Mat-Su's $3.33 million list of community projects

The Mat-Su Borough Planning Commission on Oct. 19 recommended a $3.33 million list of community projects for the 2028 budget year, led by $1 million for a mile-long gondola at Skeetawk, the ski area at Hatcher Pass.

The gondola would serve Skeetawk's planned Lift 2 and give skiers access to about 500 acres of terrain, according to the staff report. Skeetawk's current triple chair reaches 30 of the 1,100 skiable acres in its lease area. On its website, the ski area says a gondola makes the most financial sense because summer rides would bring in money, and that buying any high-capacity lift will require "a large amount of debt." It is also selling gondola sponsorships. The $1 million estimate is the most the borough's program allows for a single project.

Skeetawk is run by Hatcher Alpine Xperience, a nonprofit, on borough land under a 40-year lease signed in 2020, according to the ski area's history page.

The Assembly takes up the list in November and December. Approval "does not guarantee funding," the staff report says; approved projects become available for the borough's annual budget and its state and federal legislative priorities. All nine could be built over the program's six-year cycle if the borough put $500,000 a year toward it, the report says.

Community members and the borough's parks department nominated nine valid projects this year. A committee of staff from five borough departments ranked them using 10 weighted criteria, including public support, outside funding, economic benefit and public health. In order, with rough cost estimates:

• Skeetawk Mid Mountain Gondola, $1 million.

• About 6 km of new Nordic and summer trail at Talkeetna Lakes Park, growing the system from 9 km to nearly 15, $775,000.

• An addition to the South Knik River Community Council building to store emergency supplies, $100,000.

• A vault toilet at the Matanuska Peak trailhead, $75,000.

• A concrete skatepark on the former library site in downtown Talkeetna, $406,000.

• A re-route moving the Chulitna River Bluff winter trail out of a state gravel pit and a borough gravel pit, $112,000.

• A vault toilet at Jordan Lake Park in Big Lake, where community events draw hundreds of people, $115,000.

• A pedestrian and bike path along Beaver Lake Road, serving Rocky Lake Campground and Meadow Creek, $500,000.

• A storage building for park equipment at Meadow Lakes Community Park, $252,000.

Two people testified, each for a project on the list. The South Knik River Community Council's president said the council has put about $33,000, mostly volunteer labor, into the addition's foundation, concrete and floor joists, and is installing a propane generator for power outages. Michelle Heun said growing use of the Matanuska Peak trailhead brings parked cars that block private property, and suggested the toilet could go in once drainage problems at the parking lot are fixed. Commissioner Ivan Fonov, who moved the resolution, said he uses that trailhead and supports the toilet. The commission adopted the list without objection.