Wrangell’s Borough Assembly voted against selling a portion of Borough owned property at a reduced cost in exchange for a utility easement on the Torgramsen-Glasner Subdivision, which is owned by Don Glasner. The easement is on just a smaller part of the subdivision property.
Assembly member David Powell said it doesn’t make sense to sell Borough land at less than market value and buy Glasner’s easement site for more.
“Reading through this whole document, I’m not comfortable selling Borough-owned property land,” Powell said. “We’re undervalued, this makes no sense to me at all. I mean, I’m not saying don’t sell him the land.”
The borough’s funding partners, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Economic Development Administration, require the borough to gain control of the site.
Kate Thomas, the City and Borough of Wrangell’s economic development director, said that an easement was previously placed on the property for a now vacated trail. Additionally, an underground utility line also runs on this portion of the parcel.
She said it was necessary for the borough to obtain site control of the easement for the water treatment plant project because this allows the borough to stay in compliance with the federal government.
The current water treatment plant
The current water treatment plant went online in 1999 but has had obstacles – like issues with flow and water quality.
Tom Wetor, the City and Borough’s public works director, said water used to come straight from the reservoir without filtering it. Chlorine would then be added to the water and sent directly to the city without filtration.
These old water distribution lines were abandoned, but Wetor said the infrastructure can be used for the new water treatment project, where the lines will send backwash from the new filtration process.
“The method that was chosen was to try and slip line one of those old abandoned lines and just discharge the backwash straight down the hill that way,” Wetor said. “It was a way for us to try to save on costs and utilize old abandoned infrastructure.”
Backwashing essentially filters water and discharges unwanted things like organic material to the sewer system.
“We do owe Mr. Glasner, in the very least, a consideration for the easement.”
Mason Villarma, the interim borough manager, said the Assembly hasn’t paid for the easement yet, but the agreement has been filed and recorded.
He said that Glasner and the previous borough manager discussed this exchange last year. Glasner wanted to purchase Borough owned property at 50 cents per square foot, but the current market value is triple that amount.
“The easement agreement has been signed and recorded,” Villarma said. “We got site control. We’re all good in terms of our federally funded partners. We do owe Mr. Glasner, in the very least, a consideration for the easement.”
The assembly says they may consider another proposal later but the project will continue despite the rejection on the exchange.
