Wasilla council pulls airport master plan from introduction, delays public hearing

The Wasilla City Council has put off, but not dropped, a decision on a plan that would nearly double the city's airport runway.

The 2026 Wasilla Municipal Airport Master Plan would guide the airport's development for the next decade, and its centerpiece is a major expansion: lengthening the runway from 3,700 feet toward 5,100 and eventually 6,000, at an estimated $279 million. Alaska News previously covered that proposal. The council was scheduled to introduce the plan Sept. 28 but instead withdrew it Monday and directed the clerk to reschedule it to a special meeting paired with an in-depth committee-of-the-whole discussion.

The plan, adopted through Ordinance 26-18, was built with FAA funding, and the city and its consultant, HDL Engineering Consultants, have framed it as the standard federally supported route small and mid-sized Alaska communities use to plan airport growth. Council members wanted more time and more information before signing off on a document that size.

Council Member Stu Graham pulled the ordinance off the consent agenda over how the plan came together. "The only reason I pulled this was to kind of put Eric on notice that I didn't see a whole lot of the process of coming up with this plan in here," Graham said. "Who we reached out to, what discussions there were at what level, what ideas were turned back." The administration said it would prepare a synopsis of the public outreach behind the plan.

Another member asked for a work session, saying the document was large enough that the full council needed time to understand it, with the aim of education rather than amendment. Council Member Tim Johnson, joining by phone and noting he'd be out of town, said he had "a significant interest in this" and several issues to raise, and wanted a forum to do it.

A city official cautioned against reopening the plan now. It's the product of a two-and-a-half to three-year process backed by federal funding, the consultant's contract is complete, and the FAA has signed off on the final costs. Substantive changes at this stage would carry timing and financial consequences, the official said.

The rescheduling passed without objection, leaving the ordinance number intact, though Council Member Ian Crafton pushed for a firm date, warning that further delay could slip the hearing into late October. No date has been set for either the special meeting or the eventual public hearing.

Crafton also made a broader point: handing the council a multi-year planning document and expecting a decision within weeks is a big lift, and he asked that the city's coming water, sewer and parks plans build in work sessions from the start.