Wasilla resident gets gas station to study sidewalk on school bus route

A convenience store and gas station approved on the Parks Highway in Wasilla will have to study traffic and ask the city whether a sidewalk can go in along West Nicola Avenue, after a resident told the Planning Commission that children walk that street.

Jamie Bliss said West Nicola is a 25 mph school bus route where pedestrians already have to work around traffic, and that she worried about young kids once the store starts drawing cars. The commission agreed, adding the traffic analysis and sidewalk question to the store's approval on a 5-0 vote. The store's architect said the traffic study was already underway at the state's direction.

The commission also approved a 21,700-square-foot outpatient youth behavioral health facility on North Lucille Street, for Denali Family Services. The organization's JJ Harrier said it serves 70 to 80 Mat-Su youth a year and turns away about 10 a week for lack of space. No one testified against it.

The commission adopts the written decisions Aug. 11, and either can be appealed within 15 days.