Talkeetna residents ask Mat-Su commission to oppose Front Street water tank site

Talkeetna's borough wells carry more arsenic and manganese than federal limits allow, and the water has to be treated before it reaches anyone's tap. The Mat-Su Borough's proposed fix is a 375,000-gallon storage tank and a new well on Front Street, on a parcel that would be cleared of 1.4 acres of trees.

Two residents told the borough Planning Commission on Monday to recommend against it and expand the existing water facility instead.

Andrea Larson, who owns one of the lodging businesses bordering the parcel, said the project would eliminate "the 1.4 acres of Front Street bear trail woods" and should go to the current water site, where she said there is room for all of it. She said the lot sits between two businesses with private septic systems, leaves barely enough clearance to handle contamination rules, and carries a floodway diversion channel and a trail connecting East and West Talkeetna. She has been working on the issue since December, and said a petition against the site has 300 signatures.

Wade Long said the state Department of Natural Resources told opponents the decision now rests with the borough, and that Public Works Director Tom Adams told him in a 45-minute meeting the project is headed to bid. He said the Talkeetna Sewer and Water Board recommended in 2024 that the borough drill a test well at the existing site rather than move. He also said he believes the borough shaped its clearing and cost estimates to make alternatives look worse, and noted that was his opinion rather than a finding.

The borough did not respond at the meeting. Its utilities and engineering records support the Front Street site, on the grounds that it would secure a reliable source with acceptable arsenic levels and add several days of storage for household use and firefighting. DNR has separately found that transferring the Front Street lots to the borough meets the requirements for handing state land to a government without a competitive sale, despite the objections raised.

No solicitation for the tank or the well appears on the borough's list of open contracts. The commission took no action Monday. Larson and Long said they plan to take it to the Assembly on Tuesday.