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Meeting notes 4-10-2024

The meeting did have a quorum though only 7 people attended. The following items are things I remember that were discussed.

Of course the upcoming Talkeetna RR bridge upgrade that will mean significant times when we will not be able to use the bridges walkway was discussed the following are the notes that our committee chairman made about what was discussed at the recent meeting.

1. Closures of the TW (walkway) will be substantially from October 1 - December 1 - starting right after moose season.

2. Closures will be communicated weekly on Fridays projecting 2 weeks out.

3. Info will be posted at the post office bulletin board, the entrance to the Chase Trail, and probably through Chase Facebook. We specifically requested an online notification and it seemed that Claire’s Chase Facebook page could make the most sense. Someone within the CCC could then email out the schedule as it is posted for those of us that don’t use Facebook. In a sidebar conversation I had - they didn’t want to post updates through the ARRC website citing cyber security constraints. I imagine they have internal approvals for what is posted as well.

4. The TW will be 47” all the way across with 2 - 42” tall bollards at each end and it isn’t changing.. for better or worse..

5. There will be a plate steel toe board 8” tall down each side, at the bottom of the railing, intended to prevent snow machine skis from hooking the railings. This will not encroach on the 47” clearance.

6. The TW will be open generally at all other times with a few short exceptions.

7. The contractor’s contact person, Paul Santi, suggested they were going to do everything they could to be accommodating, and we have his direct email contact info.

8. Closures could be 12, 24, or even 36 hours.

9. The trestle work will be ongoing through winter and completed in April ‘25.

10. Nothing but staging will be done before the end of moose season (September 25 I think)

I’m sure there will be more meetings before work begins in October. It was also stated that the north side of the bridge may get an enlarged parking area to make room for possible extra vehicle parking during the closures.

Also George our committee chairman will e-mail the railroad so they know we are still very concerned about all and any TRR bridge changes and closures.

It was discussed if we should post a sign by the parking lot for absentee landowners who might not know about the future closures and so may show up thinking they can get to their cabins but might not be able to use the bridge walkway. No one was specifically assigned the task so not sure that will happen.

The borough has asked our chairman if we might be interested in taking over the lease of the parking lot we use in town. It was decided to form a committee that will investigate what that would entail and possibly get a borough representative to come to our next meeting and inform us of all the particulars of such a venture.

A lot of discussion was made at the last meeting about writing a grant to do a major upgrade of our trail from the north side of the Talkeetna RR bridge to mile 232 this year. If the particulars of a project that size is to happen this year we will need a special meeting to approve the grant needed to finance the upgrade. If the equipment, plans and manpower cannot be lined up for work this year then interested parties can write a grant during this year’s call for grant applications for our community assistance grant funds for work next year.

There is a tractor with numerous attachments on our side of the river that may be for sale it was decided to further investigate the matter and see how much the individual is asking for said equipment. The tractor has been used in the past to help improve local trails.

The future proposed long trail was discussed and the path through our area is still is question some possibilities are going through Trapper Creek instead or even using the railroad or floating the Susitna to get from Curry to Talkeetna so guess no one knows yet.

Well that is all I remember it was a short meeting.

1-17-2024-  The January meeting was fairly well attended for a winter meeting  a quorum was reached with 4 board members present.

Looks like there will be another round of  Community Assistance grants it was decided to apply for them the amount quoted  was $15,789. Discussion was made about using the funds plus left over funds from past grants to do a major renovation of our main trail from the 232 gravel pit to town.  A lot of desire was expressed for using funds to upgrade this section of trail and plans are being made to investigate expected costs for such things as gravel, needed equipment and manpower.

As of now the railroad plans for the upgrade of the Talkeetna Railroad Bridge and walkway call for a 47” wide walkway. We had requested a 50” walkway with bollards to restrict access to 47” but it was not approved by the RR. The Compact ATV community was approved so Chase is now designated as a small ATV community, the larger side by sides etc. would do damage to our fragile trail system that we as a community work to maintain. Work is currently slated to start Oct. 2024 with meetings prior to the start of work.

Some of the vehicles that have been left stored in our small Talkeetna parking lot have finally been moved which is a good start to opening up more space for the large amount of weekend recreational cabin owners who come up with their vehicles and trailers. It was suggested that we encourage property owners with recreational cabins that come on the weekends but store there snowmachines here all week consider parking their machines  on the side of the trail out of the way of traffic instead of taking up parking spots in the small parking lot.

Couple of notes of interest. 1- Borough employees were sent out to try to find a way to detour the Nodwell trail around the 2 parcels of private land that it now crosses, the employees were unable to find a good alternative for a reroute as they would have to go down a very steep hill and through a swamp to get around the private property so no moving of the trail is expected. 2- As it stand now it looks like the future long trail that has gotten quite a bit of money to put toward construction is slated to by-pass the main part of our community and possible go by way of the intertie in our area hope that doesn’t change. 3- Also with the new legislative season starting and with all the money in the recent clean energy part of the Inflation reduction act our legislature is seriously considering looking into starting the process to revive the Susitna Watana Dam project and so being the first community downstream we are as you can expect are very concerned about this possible future venture.

Out annual elections of new board members have elected Jerry Boutte and Mike Woods to serve 2 terms. The Chairman will be Mike Woods, Vice Chairman will be Tim Cox, Secretary will be Jerry Boutte, Treasurer will be Sarah Hogan and member at large will be Peg  Foster.

10-18-2023

The fall quarterly meeting held at the Latitude was very well attended. Taunnie Boothby from the borough attended the meeting there is now a Northern Planning Dept. located in Willow. I believe she is the sole borough employee at said dept. She is also the flood plan administrator. The fact that the Susitna River where the Chulitna dumps in is getting very close to our main trail was brought to her attention and also the flood gauge on the Chulitna is gone. She is going to look into getting another flood gauge for the Chulitna and maybe one for the Su. She is also looking into damage assessment from the late summer flood and update to the hazard mitigation plan.

A Compact ATV resolution has been written by our committee formed to coordinate with the railroad on the upcoming Talkeetna railroad bridge work and approved by the Chase and Talkeetna Community Councils. The plan as written requests a 50” wide trainman’s walk with bollards 47” apart so as to restrict the size of ATV’s accessing the chase trail (wider machines would do damage to our fragile trail system) this 50” wide bridge would also allow slightly wider snow-machines and as designed by our committee would allow items such as plywood that are 48” wide to be easily moved over the bridge. Currently the engineers have altered their plan from the original 50” wide trainman’s walk to a 47” trainman’s walk. The Chase Community Council requests that the original 50” wide design be implemented with the accompanying 47” bollard to restrict the width of ATV’s. Our committee also asked that all property owners who favor the councils desired design of 50” wide with 47” bollards send in statements that they support the Chase Community Council Resolution requesting “Dynamic Bollards” on the ARRC’s originally proposed 50” wide 227.1 Trainman’s Walk (TW) before Oct. 30th when the final design will be submitted. Send them to   info@arrcbridge227.com

We were informed that if we didn’t get any current Chase Trail supervisors that we would no longer have any borough funds available to us for maintenance. John Murdock, Tim Cox and Paul Bauman applied and have been confirmed by the borough assembly as Chase Trail Supervisors. They held their first meeting a couple hours before our quarterly meeting and as of now have decided to run the committee similar to the way it has been run since inception and to coordinate their activities with the Chase Community Council who regularly get Community Assistance grants funds that can be used to do needed maintenance on said trail. This action would probably keep the current mil rate at 0. They did look into the cost of getting loads of gravel dumped along the trail but do not of yet have any concrete number needed to finance needed gravel piles. They also said they might get a meeting with past supervisors to learn how they have managed the trail maintenance in the past.

The resolution concerning the Chase Trail parking lot was discussed, as of yet the borough has not done anything with the resolution that we wrote and approved to help mitigate the congestion in the Chase Trailhead parking lot. There are too many vehicles just stored there so there haven’t always been enough parking spots for recreational property owner who come visit their cabins on the weekends. The Chase Community Council doesn’t have any authority on the parking lot, it is maintained by our borough as such all we can do is suggest resolutions it might be beneficial if the problem gets worse to go to borough meetings and bring this issue to the front of their minds.

The flooding we experience this summer on our trail was mainly caused by the large culvert under the railroad tracks south of billion slew bridge it was suggested that someone ask the railroad to block said culvert as it does nothing but flood our trail.

A nomination committee was formed to facilitate our upcoming January vote for two vacant seats on our community council board of directors

8-2023 I didn’t attend the special meeting so only have a draft of the minutes to go by but here is a brief outline of what was addressed. It being a special meeting only agenda items were able to be dealt with.

1. Discuss and vote on a Compact ATV Resolution. This item to make Chase a compact ATV community was voted on and approved by the Chase Community Council

2. Discuss and vote on a Resolution to Object. This item meant to restrict the width of the Talkeetna Railroad bridge to be the same width as the existing bridge via bollards was also approved

3. Discuss and possibly vote if necessary on a letter to the TCC. It was voted on and approved to send a letter to the TCC and to set up a meeting with them to discuss the Talkeetna Railroad Bridge future upgrade.

4. Discuss and possibly vote if necessary on contacting Senator Shower and Representative McCabe. It was decided to invite Senator Showers and Representative McCabe to the meeting with the TCC.

7-19-23 - The July quarterly meeting of the Chase Community Council was well attended with 14 people present a quorum was established with 3 board members present John Murdock, Tim Cox and Sarah Hogan. Items that were discussed are the following.

We were informed at the last quarterly meeting that if we didn’t get any current Chase Trail supervisors that we would no longer have any borough funds available to us for maintenance. John Murdock, Tim Cox and Paul Bauman applied and have been confirmed by the borough assembly as Chase Trail Supervisors.

Community assistance grants were another topic that was discussed. We had about 31,558 and will be receiving additional supplemental funds of about 15,345 making about 46,903. At the special meeting we appropriated $11,050 worth of grants which have been distributed to the grant recipients. At the time we hadn’t received 2 outstanding grants and these grants were voted on and approved in the following amounts. The Susitna River Coalition will receive $3,000 for such things as their speaker series, staying abreast of any developments associated with the controversial Susitna Watana dam, west side Susitna road, Recreational Rivers management plan etc. The Talkeetna elementary school’s PTA will receive $895. for a healthy foods program.  A grant for up to $2000. was approved if needed to make sure our voice is considered in the planning of the future Talkeetna Railroad bridge work whose walkway is the only ATV access to our area.

Creating a couple of project accounts with the borough was approved. Excess community assistance account funds will be deposited in the accounts for various items to help maintain our local trails that are too costly to be funded by one year’s grant funds, one account is for trail maintenance and one account is for tractor maintenance. Our current excess community assistance grant funds are just under $32000. assuming the up to $2000 associated with future RR bridge work is not needed.

Whether we should get a DR brush mower: Pro XL30 (22 HP) was brought up but it was pointed out that that would need a grant proposal so that is a possible future item. Also getting the RR to deposit gravel in places was discussed but it was determined that going by past estimated from the rail road that might be out of reach financially for us. Fishing guides and rafting companies have been started for the clear creek area and the trespassing of said companies on private land was discussed with no current resolution.

The only other item is the fact that we  have tried to get a list of current registered voters whose physical address are in the Chase Community Councils boundaries as designated by the Chase Comprehensive Plan and unfortunately the borough hasn’t been able to help us with that issue. So it may be necessary for us to get copies of resident’s voter’s registration cards to confirm their residential addresses is in the Chase boundaries as required by our by-laws.

Well that is about all I can remember .

6/14/2023- The meeting was very well attended. A quorum was established with 4 board members attending. The only official items that could be addressed were the community assistance grants as it was a special meeting and only agenda items may be discussed. The following was what was approved.

The Talkeetna library will get $750. for things like summer programs etc.

The Denali  Art’s Council will get $1000. for summer programs etc.

The Jack McDonald ice rink will get $1000.for maintenance

Back Lake trail improvement grant will get $1800 for trail upgrades

A grant to brush the Chase Trail from Talkeetna to the gravel pit was approved for $6,500.

It was decided to appropriate the remanding funds at our regular quarterly meeting in July. Several grants that we were informed had been written were not received as yet plus we are in the process of getting a project fund set up with the borough whereby we can save excess community assistance grant money to fund future very costly mostly trail items etc (the fund must designate what the fund is being set up for). We also voted on whether to accept supplemental  funds from the borough in the amount of $15729. It was decided to accept them.

The final item was the passing of the job as community assistance grant committee chairman from James Tunnell who has spearheaded it for many years to board member Sarah Hogan who will also become our new treasurer. It was decided to make the change on January 2024 whereby most 2023 items will already be resolved.

Well that is about all I have more will be available after our July regular meeting.

4-12-2023- I didn’t attend the meeting so do not have firsthand knowledge of what was brought up at the meeting and doubt I have everything that was discussed. But here is what I have been told was addressed.

The resolution that was written by our Chairman was approved, it addresses the Chase Council’s approved stance on how we would like the Chase trailhead parking lot resident parking passes enforced among other things.

The Community Assistance grants for last year did not get advertised so the acceptance of grants will be addressed at our next quarterly meeting in July.

The idea of possible working with the borough to start an account where by Chase can save unused grant funds to be used for future area trail maintenance was discussed, trail improvement projects are costly and so may need more funds than the available years grants make available.

I believe there was some discussion about the future Railroad’s Talkeetna Bridge work but I am not sure what was decided. I believe the work has been postponed till next year.

Well that is all I have learned happened at the meeting I doubt it is all that was discussed.

1-26-2023 The Annual Election Meeting was well attended for our sparsely populated council area (about 13-14 folks). We had a quorum with board members Patricia Cox, Johnny Murdock and James Tunnell attending. The meeting was held at the Latitude, our venue the VFW that was advertised as the meeting location was unbeknown to us closed so the meeting location was changed at the last minute.

Our grant committee person was out of town for a couple of months so no requests for grant applications were announced as such the awarding of the grants will be postponed till our spring April meeting.  We have about $31,400. available to fund grants that benefit our local area. We encourage area property owners to solicit grants for improvements on our local public trails and bridges, if this interests you watch for the future grant application announcements.

The Chase trail head parking lot was discussed, previously it was decided to write a resolution to request that the borough tow vehicles from the parking lot that appear to be just stored there (anything that hasn’t moved in 90 days). It was brought up at the meeting that there are several residents that live at papa and mama bear lakes that don’t go to town often enough to move their vehicles in that time frame. Further discussion will be needed at the next April meeting.

An individual has asked if we would be interested in her writing the history of Chase. When the subject was brought up at the meeting no interest was shown in pursuing the issue. People who choose to live in our area don’t tend to want to draw attention to our area. Trying to get the borough to remove trails that don’t really exist that are on some maps was discussed. We often get folks wandering around in our area looking for trails they have found on some map or web site that do not exist.

The future Talkeetna river railroad bridge work was discussed. We have been told that there will be a Talkeetna meeting concerning said work and scheduling of closures. Concern was expressed about future closure of the walkway we use to access town and the width the walkway will be. Several residents work in the Talkeetna area and will need to get to town and back home regularly. Also a wider bridge that possibly would allow bigger ATV’s access to our area could but a strain on our fragile trails so future cost of maintaining said trails could be an issue.

The new facebook page was discussed about 50 property owners have signed up. I don’t personally use facebook but from what I heard at the meeting such thing as trail conditions, grooming, possible suspicious activity ( people scouting vacant cabins for malicious activities) and lost and found items are some of the good things that get discussed.

Someone asked about live streaming our meetings and with most of our meetings being outside meetings at the RR gravel pit and other logistics it was decided it was definitely something we didn’t want to pursue.

Last of all the elections. The new board members are Tim Cox, Peg Foster and Sarah Hogan. The officers will be Mike Woods Chairman, Johnny Murdock vice-chairman, Peg Foster secretary and Tim Cox and Sarah Hogan members at large. It was decided to keep the treasurer duties with our grant committee person.

12-10-2022   The special meeting of the Chase Community Council had a quorum with 4 board members attending.

The first issue discussed was the future re-work of the Talkeetna Railroad Bridge. Communications have already been established with the railroad director of external affairs who has stated that there will be formal meetings in Talkeetna to address the schedule of the work on the bridge that will affect our access to Chase. She also is now cognizant of us as a community council and our interest in the future work. It was decided at the meeting to inform the railroad that the Chase Community Council would like the walkway to stay the same width as it is at present. A new committee has been formed to deal with this issue. Giving larger vehicles access to our area trails would impact our trails maintenance requirements among other things, they were not built to accommodate the larger ATV’s etc. that are available today.

The second issue that the special meeting was called for, the Chase Trail Head parking lot had a lot of discussion about how to handle all the vehicles that are left in the parking lot apparently just for storage, as they do not move sometimes for years but do tend to mostly have valid year long parking passes. It was decided to recommend to the borough that in the future if vehicles do not move for 60 days they get an impound notice on them that gives the owner another 30 days before they are hauled out of the parking lot at owners expense. Our Chairman is amending the resolution that he previously wrote to include this issue which will be voted on at the January meeting.

Well as it was a special meeting so that was all that could be discussed, further talk will probably happen at the yearly elections meeting that is in January.

10-12-2022    The fall meeting had the required quorum with 3 board members Johnny Murdock, James Tunnell and Donnie Billington, plus about 5 other council members.

Our vice-chairman did a walkthrough of the Chase parking lot with public works employees and it was decided to install 3 signs for areas to be used as snow storage during the winter so as to facilitate more timely and better snow removal for our parking lot. Here is a statement from our board member. The sign’s designating snow plowing storage locations have arrived and will be installed this month. Expect violators blocking or parking in snow storage locations to see increased enforcement, including towing. Also, expect increased ticketing of vehicles parked with no parking permit or temp pass. Discussions about controlled access continuing. 

A resolution concerning our Chase parking lot is being written and it may be available for discussion at our winter meeting.

We are getting another round of grants, so far 2 grants requests have been received one for work on the Nodwell and one for work on the back lake trail. It was decided to leave the grant application process open till the first of January so there is still time to apply. We strongly encourage folks to seek grants for work on our local trails and bridges.

There was a motion for someone to start a facebook page for the Chase area as more people use facebook for information than the web. It was decided that Claire would look into creating a facebook page for the Chase area to among other things inform trail users of our actual local trail conditions especially area property owners who have vacation cabins and so are not always aware of trail conditions when they come up to use and or work on their cabins.

I guess the yield to ATV ‘s sign that was just before the Talkeetna RR bridge is missing. Peg has some more and will get up with Tim to see about getting them installed. There is sometimes confusion especially with summer tourist as to who has the right away on the RR bridge walkway and getting all the people off the bridge can be a difficult task when there are people going both ways.

The bridge on the Clear Creek trail that is a shortcut over the beaver dam area is needing some work and it was discusses possibly seeing if someone would write a grant to do the needed repairs.

Trail educates was discussed especially the need to have no unnecessary travel on the trail during the fragile spring breakup period, that is the time that most of the damage is done to the trail. Hopefully the facebook page can help convey this information and let folks know when the trail is finally dry enough to facilitate regular travel. Lots of the weekend traffic are people who have cabins but are from the Wasilla and Anchorage area where snow is gone and things are dried up much sooner than here in Chase. The borough will also be asked if there is anything we can legally do. Signage may be an option to inform people of the problem.

Hopefully getting someone to grade the main Chase trail by the RR tracks before winter was discussed. This can be done with our town tractor. It was graded once this year but had a hard rain right after it was graded so all the gravel was washed out of the holes.

Our next meeting is our annual election meeting we will be needing 3 new board members notices asking for people who would like to run for office will be posted around the first of January. It was also decided to try to get an indoor venue for our winter January meeting, the vets club is going to be asked if we could use their facility.

Well guess that is enough I can’t think of anything else, more may be forthcoming when the official minutes are attached

7-20-2022; The quarterly meeting of the Chase Community Council was sparsely attended, it being an outdoor activity and raining fairly hard. There was a quorum though with Patricia Cox and Donnie Billington in person at the meeting and Mike Woods and Johnny Murdock attending via cell phone.

The following is my take on what was discussed at the meeting it may not in fact be exactly what was decided but is at least a fairly close approximation, official meeting discussion can be found out when the official meeting minutes are approved at the October meeting.

The fact that we are able to get another round of community assistance grants was brought up and the fact that we need to solicit grant applications. It was decided to see if anyone in the area would be willing to write a grant to do repairs and maintenance work on our local trails, local trail maintenance  being one  area that benefits all Chase residents.

The parking lot in Talkeetna that our area residents and non-resident land owners use was also discussed. The parking lot was not plowed in a timely manner last winter and it had been decided at the last meeting to see what could be done to improve the parking lot. A walkthrough with Talkeetna and borough representatives is being planned and a resolution draft is to be written to state the Chase resident’s desires for various parking lot issues. Having more areas designated as winter snow removal areas with signage for these areas is also being planned. The resolution draft will be talked about and can be revised at our fall meeting and eventually be voted on by the council as to whether or not to go ahead with said resolution.

Trail maintenance was also talked about and that it would be advisable to get up with the borough to find out what exactly our community council can legally do in so far as how our trails are used and maintained.

4-13-2022     The April meeting was well attended with all 5 board members present.

Items that were discussed were trail work that is to be done this summer that was associated with part of the recent community assistance grants awarded at the February meeting.

The parking lot that Chase residents use in Talkeetna was also discussed. This winter’s heavy snow fall had the parking lot impassable for an extended period of time. It was decided to get in touch with the borough to try to work out a plan for better maintenance of said parking lot. Numerous ideas were brought up that if implemented would make the lot work better (such as removing abandoned vehicles and vehicles parked in no parking snow removal areas, also getting rid of the center island etc.)

The Su Dam was also discussed as it is always being thought of by politicians as a renewable energy source to meet future renewable energy quotas that they set.

That is all that I can think of there may be more news available later with the official minutes.

 2/6/2022     I didn’t attend the meeting but here is what I have learned so far about what did happen.

The new board members are John Murdock and Mike Woods. The board officers are Mike Woods Chairman, John Murdock vice-chairman, Patricia Cox secretary, James Tunnell treasurer and Donnie Billington member at large.

The community assistance grants were awarded, the following are the recipients.

$6000 to the Susitna River Coalition: $3000 for Local Speaker Series and Workshops, Community Event's, Wild Su Feast. $500 to Educate about Hydro Alternatives and Increase the Efficiency of our Railbelt Electric System. $2500 for Public Outreach, Communications and Materials.

$5039 to Orville James to finish work on Clear Creek trail, from ARR 232 to Snowflake lake.

$750 to the Friends of the Talkeetna Library for teen programs.

$2000 to Kevin and Peg Foster for the tractor maintenance fund.

$2000 to the Talkeetna Elementary PTA for Healthy Life Styles Program.

The web address www.chasealaska.org seems to now be working. Check back at a later date for more information after the minutes are posted following the April meeting.

Meeting notes from the 10-20-2021 council meeting

The meeting at the gravel pit was well attended with all 5 board members present.

We had an up

date by our community assistant grant person. All the money for the clear creek improvement project has been spent and a new grant was received to finish the last few miles of the trail due to running out of funds because of culvert costs. The freeman’s trail improvement project was finished and about half of the nodwell trail improvements were done but work got halted because of the arrival of the rainy season. The rest of the work will be done next year when the trail is dryer.

So far new grants have been received from the library, KTNA radio, tractor maintenance, and the previously mentioned grant request to finish the clear creek trail improvements. More grant requests are expected so the final grant recipients will be awarded at the January election meeting.

We had a guest from the proposed Alaska long trail Chris Beck. There was a lot of local input as to questions mostly about where the project would be going through our community. We have made it clear that we would like to be involved in the planning of the trail as it relates to our community.

An election committee was formed we will need to elect two new board members at the January meeting.

Well that is about all I can remember check back latter when the official minutes are posted.

8-3-2021- The special Chase Council meeting was attended by all 5 board members: Jerry Boutte, James Tunnell, Donnie Billington, Orville James, Patricia Cox. As it was a special meeting our by-laws state that only the issues stated in the call for the meeting can be addressed at the meeting. As such there were two time sensitive grant applications for the community assistance grants that were presented to the council. James Tunnell presented the two grant requests for review and approval by the Board:

One grant was for improvements to the north end of the Freemans Trail ($5,000). The other grant was for trail work on the entire length of the Nodwell Trail ($10,000).

These two grants addressed priority local trail improvement projects. Both would have cost savings if approved this season to take advantage of an excavator in the area. Work this season will save a lot of time consuming travel to/from the trail and minimize stream crossings. The equipment is currently in the area conducting improvements on the clear creek trail, using grant money approved in past years. The grant applicant for this clear creek project has had a lot of trouble getting anyone to do the work at a rate we could afford. Conducting additional trail improvement projects at this time is determined to be very advisable.

Donnie Billington (a board member) made a motion to approve these two grants on the grounds that they align with the priorities for funding established during previous grant review processes. James Tunnell (a board member) seconded the motion. 4 members of the Board and all Council members present voted in favor of the motion to approve the grants. Orville James abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest. As such these two grants were approved.

7/21/2021            The July meeting was well attended and had a lot of discussion about trail maintenance.

Here is what I remember from the meeting.

Dennis Devore (owner of a popular ATV tour company that uses our trail) informed the board members that starting next year he will no longer be grooming the main trail from the RR Bridge to the gravel pit.

The work that was to be done with grant money on the Clear Creek trail has been mostly done. The excavator is now out near the end of the trail with some work to be done on the way back towards the start of the trail.

The improvements to the clear creek trail spiked a lot of interest in improving some of the other trials in the area. There was a lot of discussion about getting money from this year’s community assistance grant program for work on some of the other trails in the area. Grant applications were handed out and it was noted that the advertisement for grant applications would soon be posted on bulletin boards and aired on the local radio station.

Our community partnership committee got in touch with the group that is working on an Alaska Long Trail that is expected to go through our area. A Long Trail representative may be at our October meeting to discuss hopefully where they plan on locating the part of their trail that goes through our community council boundaries. It was decided that it would be best if we were proactive and hopefully part of the planning process of this venture.

Our trail maintenance tractor that has needed some mechanical work done is now being worked on and hopefully will be usable later on this summer.

Well that is all I can remember check back at a later date when the official minutes for the meeting are posted

4-14-2021- Our April meeting was well attended with 4 board members and numerous council members. There wasn’t too much to discuss just trail maintenance, upcoming community assistance grants and a fix that may be needed for the maintenance tractor.

There was some discussion of possible future commercial ventures that may affect our area though nothing definite just stuff to keep in mind.

After the meeting I got an e-mail from our community assistance grant person who said that we are getting two years of grant funds which would be $30,558 instead of the $15,729 that we thought we were approved for. He is currently visiting relatives in the lower 48 but will probably call for grant applicants some time after he returns the applications don’t usually need to be in before October so there is plenty of time.

It was brought up that there is probably no one currently on the Chase Trail Board of Supervisors (I think that is what it is called). Anyone interested can contact the borough for an application it is something like the various road supervisors volunteer positions.

Well other than the upcoming work to be done on the Clear Creek Trail which didn’t get much discussion because the person responsible for said work was absent. That is all I can remember check back at a later date when the official minutes are posted.

2-3-2021 The February 3rd Chase Community Council Annual election meeting was well attended for an outside middle of winter meeting (10-12 deg.) with 12 residents attending. All 5 board members were present. The annual election saw the 3 incumbents that were on the ballot all re-elected. The board officers all remained the same. Jerry Boutte is chairman, Ray James is vice-chairman, Patricia Cox is secretary, James Tunnell is treasurer and Donnie Billington is member at large.

After not having a community assistance grant program last year the borough has decided to offer a new round of grant funds this year I think the amount is $15789. but I’m not 100% sure on the amount. The board voted to accept the grant offer.

 Items that were discussed were the clear creek trail improvement grant work that is to be implemented this coming summer. I believe that equipment for the project will be rented for about a month and the work will go as far up the trail as available funds allow. The maintenance tractor is scheduled to be shipped to Palmer for repair his spring also or at least that is the current plan. At one of the last meetings it was brought to our attention that there was a renewed effort to revive the Watana  Dam project. But at yesterday’s meeting it sounded like several smaller projects were being considered and also the West Susitna Access project which is south of our area. The only other thing I can think of that was discussed at the meeting was a change to our absentee ballot voter eligibility form to better reflect our present absentee voting and said requirements for voting as is stated in our by-laws.

Well that is all I can think of now check back latter for more info after the minutes are posted.

11/10/2020- The Chase area now has plenty of snow for snowmachine travel. Wheeler motorized vehicles are no longer welcome as they tear up the trails  -thanks for your cooperation.

10-14-2020 Meeting Notes

The meeting was well attended. The checks to the recipients of last year’s grants have been mailed. The only grant funds left are for the Clear Creek Trail improvement project. No equipment or operator was available to do the work this year so the project is being postponed until next year.

As it stands as per the borough the community assistance grant program may be over as no more funds are available at this time.

Some work was done on the main Chase Trail along the Rail Road tracks but the maintenance tractor broke down so the trail improvements were halted. The tractor is now scheduled to be transported to Palmer for the needed repairs. I believe that the Chase Trail board of supervisors has gotten money from the borough via past taxes that were collected for maintenance of said trail, which was a requirement per the grant that originally built the trail along the tracks.

There have been rumors of a future replacement of the Talkeetna River Rail Road Bridge sometime in the next 5 years. I do not know how true that is but it would defiantly affect our area as the bridge is an integral part of the main access to our community.

I t was brought to our attention that the conflict between the Rail Road and individuals that have land adjacent to the rail road or land that the Rail Road has a right of way through may someday affect us as any resolution may at some point establish a precedent for possible future conflicts between the rail road and adjacent property owners. As such it would be advisable for us to stay abreast of this issue.

Our dam committee talked about the possibility of a recreational management plan that affects the Talkeetna River being made obsolete and also that there is still a lot of support to reopen the Watana Dam project amongst our legislators.

Well that is all I can remember so check back at a later date for the official meeting minutes when they are posted to the meeting page

July 16 2020- The summer meeting was very well attended all the board members were present.

James Tunnell our treasurer and community assistance grant person said that the borough may finally be going to send the funds for the 2019 grants that were approved. He will mail the checks out as soon as he receives the funds. He also said that he has filed the bi-annual report for our 501C-3 status along with the necessary tax report.

The Clear Creek Trail is still scheduled for some trial improvements this year (some of the money for said improvements will be arriving with the 2019 borough grant funds). Brad the operator contracted to do the work has asked for help running the equipment and one of our board members Ray James has offered to help.

The upper bridge over Wiggle Creek that had been damaged during the last break-up season has been fixed temporarily by JR (I believer that was who James said did it). A more permanent job may be done at a later date. Also R Denny has done some work on the first part of Clear Creek trail.

Kevin Foster one of the borough chase trail supervisors said that he plans on doing about a week’s worth of work on the chase trail this year which ends at the gravel pit. This will involve the town tractor and he asked for volunteers to help him. California-Lawyer Mike along with a few other folks volunteered to help. The trail has lost its crown so no longer sheds water well. He plans on training a few other folks to run the tractor so he doesn’t always have to be involved with the trail maintenance. Peg Foster said that she will ask the RR about the possibility of getting a load of crusher finds dumped down next to the bullion slew bridge so it will be closer to where it is needed for fill.

There had been rumors of possible new commercial ventures for our area but from what was said by folks at the meeting they are just that rumors.

Well that is all I can remember so check back at a later date when the minutes are posted for anything I may have missed.

The 2020 April Chase Council meeting was well attended but brief.

The only discussion was about the future work to be done on the Clear Creek Trail. Mainly trying to locate equipment that could be used for the summer work. Our community assistance grant committee has been having trouble getting information about when the grant money will be distributed mainly because of things being shut down at the borough because of the corona virus.

The legislature is also talking about the Susitna-Watana Dam project again and of course with Chase being the first community downstream of the proposed dam there is local interest in the subject.

The was a rumor of some possible work on a future Curry hotel which is also in our area not sure if it is a go or not there have been rumors of this kind going around for quite a awhile.

The board member who was thinking about moving has decided to stay for the time being so we didn’t end up needing a new board member.

Well that was about it check back latter when the official minutes are posted

Notes from the January 29, 2020 meeting.

There is renewed interest in the Susitna Watana Dam project by our legislature. Our dam committee has sent a representative to Juneau to express our concerns about the project (we are the first community downstream from the proposed dam).

A local Chase resident-Molly Woods is running for an upcoming seat on the MEA board any locals who are members of MEA might consider voting for her as she would have our best interests at heart.

The community assistance grants were awarded they are as follows

Friends of the Talkeetna Library-   $750. Supporting Library Reading Programs for the youth.

Kachemak Bay/ Denali Field Trip- $500. Elementary School Field Trips to foster environmental awareness

Talkeetna Elementary School PTA- $1000. Healthy snacks at the elementary school

 Clear Creek Trail Improvement- $7839, Fund added to last year’s grant for improvements to the Clear Creek Trail

Susitna River Coalition- $4700- Salmon Habitat Education and Improvement’s

Talkeetna Community Radio- $1000, KTNA Local News

The results of our election were that Jerry Boutte and Orville James were reelected to serve another 2 year term. The board officers have not changed Jerry Boutte is chairman, Orville James is co-chairman, Patricia Cox is secretary, James Tunnell is treasurer and Donnie Billington is member at large.

A representative from the Census was present and expressed a desire for more census workers if you are interested I believe you can apply online it pays $28. per hour plus mileage. She said they need 224 more workers for our area, she also gave us some information about the upcoming census.

Well that is all I can remember check back later after the minutes have been posted for further details

Notes from Oct. 16th 2019 meeting

Well I didn’t attend the meeting so do not have much to type about, if you want more info you will have to check back after the minutes are posted which would be after the January election meeting. (The July minutes have been recently attached to the meeting page)

The community assistance grants deadline for application submission has been extended till November 16th; thusly the awarding of the grants will be at the next CCC board meeting in January.

There was some discussion about trails and the old trail drag plus the possible need to fix the crown on the Chase Trail.

The next meeting is our annual election meeting in January there are two board seats up for election. The election committee will be soliciting applicants to serve on the board for two year terms after the first of the year.

Well that is all anyone has told me about what went on at the meeting though I think it was well attended with one of our representative’s assistant and a local realtor attending but not having any particular agenda.

7-17-2019 Meeting notes

The July meeting was well attended all our board members were present. Items that were discussed were as follows.

There is going to be some work done on the clear creek trail in the near future. Fixes as deemed appropriate by our equipment operator will be implemented as far up the trail as our current grant money allows. It is possible that we may obtain more funds out of this year’s grant money to continue this work.

Two staffers for our state house and senate called in teleconference to inform us of the ongoing items faced by our state legislature such as the budget, vetoes of budget items, PFD amount and items that have passed through the legislative process. They also encouraged us to get in touch with them if we had any items that needed addressing or strong opinions on any legislative agenda items. 373-1842 for Eastman and 376-3370 for Showers

The Community Partnerships Subcommittee has been following the progress of the land leased by the RR to Nordlys LLC a company that plans to develop 8 acres of land next to the Talkeetna River to erect yurts to rent to the tourists. This land is adjacent to our only access trail and also land we use to cross the frozen Talkeetna River in the winter time to get loads that are too wide to fit across the bridge to our homes so is important to us as a community. The current rumor (not official) is that Nordlys has decided it is not a viable venture because of all the requirements that they would be required to meet.

The by-laws that were being revised are now the official ones and can be found on the by-law page.

Well that is about all I can think of check back latter for any further information when the official minutes are posted

4/17/2019-   The weather and trail conditions for our April meeting was not the greatest as such it was sparsely attended but we did have a quorum.

Here are the items discussed

The borough sent a letter which stated that we have $15,739. available for community 2019 assistance grants. The board of directors voted unanimously to accept said grant funds.

The maintenance tractor was discussed it needs a new battery, fuel injectors and its back left tire repaired (probably a new tube). The funds for this can be taken out of the tractor maintenance grant. It was decided to train a couple of more individuals to run the tractor and allow the tractor to be used to help maintain other Chase area public trails.

The clear creek trail repair grant was discussed the work will need to be done at the beginning of the summer while the trail is relatively dry.

Our community partnership committee sent a letter stating our communities concerns regarding the recent RR lease to Nordlys LLC. Also several area residents also voiced their concerns. This lease will give Nordlys the rights to 8 acres of Talkeetna riverfront property and the right to construct 28 yurts and cut all trees less than 12” in diameter (approximately all the trees as most of the trees are still young trees). The area to be leased is adjacent to the only trail access for our community and also is an area we use in the winter to access the frozen Talkeetna River crossing that area residents use to transport items too wide to fit across the Talkeetna RR bridge walkway. At this time it appears that Nordly’s has been granted said lease.

The poor trail conditions were also discussed they are worse than the usual spring breakup trail conditions.

At a past meeting there was some discussion about buying an external hard drive to keep a permanent record of all Chase Community Council business. The approval of fund for an external hard drive were approved by our board of directors.

Notes from the January 16th 2019 meeting

The by-law revisions were approved by our board of directors and are now headed to the borough for final approval at which time they will be updated on our web-site. They can currently be found on the website as an attachment on the by-law page.

The community assistance grants funds were awarded they were as follows:

Talkeetna Library                             $500

KTNA Radio                                        $500

Local Food Pantry                            $1,500

Elementary School Field Trip       $250

Clear Creek Trail Improvement                  $10,039

Susitna River Coalition                   $3,000

It was also decided to form a new committee to better coordinate activities or developments that affect our community with entities like the Talkeetna Community Council, Talkeetna  Business Association, Mat-Su Borough, AKRR etc.

The election results were Donnie Billington , Patricia Cox and James Tunnell were elected to the Board of Directors to serve 2 year terms. Jerry Boutte is the chairman, Orville James is the vice-chairman, Patricia Cox is the secretary, James Tunnell is the treasurer and Donnie Billington is a member at large.

Here is some of what happened at the Oct. 17th- 2018 CCC meeting

The question about the future of our Chase Trail head parking lot was solved. We got a letter from the borough stating that we would continue to be able to use the Talkeetna Chase Trailhead parking lot for the foreseeable future it also included some parking lot use stipulations. The letter can be found on the trails page as an attachment.  It was brought up that it would be nice to get permission to obtain a sign stating that the parking lot be called the Chase Trail Head Parking lot and install it in the parking lot.

The Susitna River Dam committee said that there are still employees working on the dam project and that they were going to meet with them in the near future. They should have some news at the next meeting on the future of the project which never did actually get killed. Plus there is the Stand for Salmon initiative that is on this November’s ballot.

Ideas for community assistance grants were discussed. One was to get some hard-drives so as to keep better records from year to year of Chase business. Another was to get a 3-way blade for the tractor so as to be able to scrap some of the gravel from the sides of the trail back into the center. Plus maybe some funds for future council needs as this may be the last year of the grants.

The by-laws were discussed with ideas for changes that make the by-laws and the ways we conduct business align.

Our future borough assembly person attended the meeting Tam Boeve.

A nomination committee was formed. We will need 3 new board members, nominations are being solicited for the January election meeting.

Well that is about all I can remember check back latter for more information when the minutes are attached to the meeting page for further details.

Some of the items to be discussed are the Community Assistance Grants, the Talkeetna- Chase Parking lot, some possible by-law changes and local trails.

Updated 2018 community assistance grant forms have been added to the revenue sharing page in word.

July 2018 meeting notes

The July meeting held in the AKRR 232 gravel pit was well attended.

Items discussed were Stand for Salmon Resolution. The Chase Community Council was asked to sign a statement saying they supported the Stand for Salmon Resolution a vote was taken and members were unanimously in favor of supporting the initiative so a form letter was signed by our chairman stating the fact of our support.

The local cell phone service has lost its signal, the MTA cell phone tower is no longer online. I believe it is being repaired or upgraded and may at an unspecified future date be back in service. A booster can be purchased from Amazon to help increase the signal of our cell phones. James Tunnel has the information on this.

One of our board members who parks in our Talkeetna parking lot had his truck and trailer red tagged for towing. He called the borough and was informed that the borough may be going to try to discontinue selling us parking passes for said parking lot thusly remove us from the parking lot. We have been parking in this area for 40 plus years and it is the only viable alternative for residents and other property owners to park their vehicles to access our area trails. It was decided to write a letter to the borough to find out if there is in fact talk of our no longer being able to park in our parking lot and if so if they can legally pursue such action. The parking lot actually is owned by the RR and the Chase lots were legally sold with the RR being our access.

The culvert that James Tunnel, Donnie Billington and RJ Denny installed on the Clear Creek Trail finally had enough water to test its viability and it was discovered that it does indeed divert the water as was the original design.

One of our long term residents Ruth Marmor recently passed away she had been living with her daughter.

The conflict problem with pedestrian and ATV traffic on the Talkeetna RR Bridge walkway was discussed and it was decided to obtain some more signs informing the mostly tourist pedestrians that the RR bridge walk way is the ATV access for residents up the tracks.

The fat tire bike race held yearly in March was discussed. This year they made their trail on our existing trails did a poor job of grooming it and did not inform their contestants that the trail was in fact the chase residents trail and so they if anyone should be the individuals who should yield the right away to snow-machines. In future years the individuals laying out the bike race trail needs to be contacted and our concerns discussed.

The issue that trails past the 232 gravel pit cross private parcels and some of the trials are privately owned access trails neither of which are thusly public trails for all to use was discussed.

Also the fact that our trail system is advertised in numerous places as an access trail to the old RR depot at Curry was discussed. There is no access trail to Curry except the RR tracks and people who use trails that cross private property are trespassing. A letter to the ADN was sent to try to correct this fact.

April 2018 Meeting Notes

The meeting was well attended with 4 board members present and numerous residents.

Items discussed were the usual trail maintenance items. Also getting more local residents trained in the use of our trail maintenance tractor to share the duty of grooming the trails we all use. The tractor needs a new battery and it was decided by agreement from the board of directors to purchase a good industrial battery that would hold its charge during the winter months (the funds can come out of the tractor maintenance fund).

James Tunnell has done the necessary work to get our tax form in for our 501C-3 account. He has also been dealing with the borough to receive and distribute the funds for the 2017 community assistance grants.

Ideas were solicited for uses for the 2018 community assistance grant funds. Anything that benefits the local community will be considered there is $15,789. allotted for this year’s grants (2018).

By-law changes were discussed to better align our by-laws to address our current community needs. The changes will be formally typed up to be read and accepted or amended at the next meeting before they are sent to the borough employee responsible for such items.

From what I understand (don’t quote me I could be wrong) the Watana-Susitna Dam project no longer has any funds so is officially dead.

Well that is all I can remember check back later for the official minutes for any further details.

Notes from the January 17th 2018 meeting

The meeting was well attended all board members were present. Items discussed were as follows.

2017 revenue sharing grants funds were awarded

Nodwell Trail improvements were funded under two grants. $5,000 for gravel needed to repair parts of the north end of the trail and $2,000 for general Nodwell trail improvements and fixing drainage problems.

Susitna River Coalition’s will received $4650. For local information, public outreach, educate-inform and research long term protection of our main local river and local speakers and workshops.

Talkeetna Public Library’s grant was funded at $750.for tweens and teens programs

Food Bank’s grant was funded at $500. To purchase and transport food to the pantry site.

We were informed by the borough that we were eligible for a new grant program called community assistance. This year’s grant funds for local communities is $15,798. Our board of directors voted unanimously to accept the funds. Following the acceptance of the funds there were some discussions of possible grants that could benefit our area. All were associated with trail maintenance and ideas for our maintenance tractor.

Our updated Chase Comprehensive Plan is now passed all phases and is the current plan for our area the full plan can be found on the borough web site https://www.matsugov.us/plans?cck=plans&plan_type=Comprehensive+Plan&boxchecked=0&search=plans&task=search

The Susitna River Coalition has gotten the signatures they need to but their ballot initiative on the ballot it deals with responsible development. They are also checking into water reservation rights.

We did start to address some by-law changes but because of time restraint it was mainly tabled till the next meeting.

There was a person to be heard who was monitoring our meeting a Eugene H ? (not sure how to spell last name) he seems to mostly be interested in transparent and open government so things don’t get passed without going through a public process giving everyone a chance to have their opinion heard.

Our annual election was also held. James Tunnel and Mike Woods terms have ended and two new board members were elected Jerry Boutte and Orville (Ray) James. The new board officers are Jerry Boutte chairman, Jonathan Durr co-chairman and Josh Klauder secretary with Tim Cox and Ray James as members at large.

Well that is about all I can remember so check back at a later date for the official minutes with anything I might have missed.

10-18-2017 Chase Meeting Notes

The meeting was quite well attended for an outdoor 30 degree evening meeting. Four board members were present so a quorum was met.

The following are the items that were discussed that I remember.

• • The Chase Comprehensive Plan Update is finally in its final stages October 23rd it goes before the borough planning commission for acceptance and November 21st it goes before the borough assembly for final approval.

  • The Susitna River Coalition has been working on an initiative that will be on a future ballot that sets the approval requirements for large projects that affect Alaskan waters (basically protecting our salmon etc). They still need to collect 35000 signatures so please sign it if it is presented to you.

  • The borough has installed trail markers on the public trails that are located on their land and also installed markers identifying where the public trails end and private trail easements begin. Please respect the private easements as they are now legally owned by individuals.

  • The deadline for revenue sharing grants has passed. The Chase Board of Directors needs to review the grants applications that were submitted and decide which of the grants will get funded and by how much. The amount of this year’s revenue sharing grant funds is $12900. Grants were submitted by Upper Susitna Food Pantry, Friends of the Talkeetna Library, Susitna River Coalition, My House, Talkeetna Elementary School arts program, Talkeetna Community Schools, Talkeetna Playground Maintenance, and one for improvements to be made on our local Nodwell Trail. The total grant requests came to $80218. We have just $12,900 in funds so it was decided to further research the grant requests and have a special meeting at a future date to decide which of the grants to fund and by how much so check back later for the final results.

  • Our next meeting will be our annual election meeting so an election committee was formed. Also it was decided to look at our by-laws and see what might need to be updated. Anything highlighted for possible updating will be brought up before the Chase Community Council at the next quarterly meeting.

  • The fact that the state may have our Clear Creek Trail surveyed in the wrong location was brought up one of our chairmen was going to look into it.

  • There are some new bridges being built over streams on Clear Creek Trail, thank James Tunnell and RJ Denny for this work which was funded with one of the revenue sharing grants. Also thank Kevin Foster for the improvements on the Chase Trail from Talkeetna to 232 and Ray James for the new bridges on the Nodwell Trail in the Chase area both also were done with revenue sharing grants.

Check back later after the minutes have been submitted for further details.

7/19/2017 Meeting Notes.

I didn’t attend the meeting but here is what I have been told happened at the meeting.

• • Trail maintenance was brought up and it has been requested that folks ride on the sides of the trail to preserve the crown of the trail. (The crown makes it so water runs off the trail thusly preserving the quality of the trail)

  • The Chase Comprehensive Plan Update was approved and so goes to the next stage of the process getting approval by the borough planning board.

  • The Chase Parking lot proposed expansion is not going to happen the RR is going to enforce a 100’ set back on all new work done on the parking lot. The parking lot as is is grandfathered in so will not require the 100’ set back. So any rework of the parking lot would result in fewer parking spaces, as such there will be no change to the Chase Parking Lot.

  • The borough lands located in Chase now have their trail easements legally established and the private easements have or are in the process of being recorded. Borough employees are supposed to come up to our area this summer and install signage for the private easements.

  • The borough is having another round of revenue sharing in the amount of $12,900. These funds are available via a grant system for anything that benefits the local community. Anyone interested in applying for a grant can find the forms and instructions on our web site at www.chasealaska.org on the revenue sharing page under 2017 grant forms and instructions.

  • Information on the liability for the trail was sought and neither the Rail Road nor the borough claims to have any liability for our trail.

  • There are some new bridges being built over streams on Clear Creek Trail thank James Tunnell and RJ Denny for this work which was funded with one of the revenue sharing grants. Also thank Kevin Foster for the improvements on the Chase Trail from Talkeetna to 232 also done with a revenue sharing grant.

Notes from the April 2017 quarterly meeting.

The meeting was well attended all the board members were present and there was a lot of discussion on several local issues.

• • The proposed Chase parking expansion was discussed. No one seems to know exactly where that issue stands right now. It was decided to send another letter to interested parties conveying our stance and to try to find out what really is happening with the issue not just local rumors.

  • The acceptance of the revenue sharing funds was approved. We well be getting $12,900. that can be used to fund projects that benefit the local area. This is probably the last round of revenue sharing so anyone with something that they would like to see done can write a grant to get funding to accomplish the task (please note that the grant writer is responsible for the work that the grant funds, the council only provides the funds, the grant writer also must provide reports on the progress of the grant project). If you are interested see the grant page of this web-site for the forms and further information. Items that have been funded so far are stuff like trail improvements, bridges, the maintenance tractor etc.

  • The old trail grader that the commercial ATV business has been using to maintain the trail has worn out and they have submitted a bill for the repair work. I believe it is just for material. A council member has volunteered to look into this (possibly a grant could be written).

  • The permit to move heavy equipment to Stephan Lake was never used or possibly never even issued which was old business; there wasn’t any snow in the high areas it would have needed to cross.

  • We were asked via correspondence to write a letter of support for the Outstanding Natural Resources Waters (ONRW). It has to do with tier designation etc. and hopefully if accepted would help further protect the local rivers. It was decided to support ONRW and one of our co-chairmen has volunteered to write the asked for letter of support.

  • HB 199 was also discussed I think it has to do with permitting standards one can find out more about that on the state legislatures web site.

  • The update of the Comprehensive Plan was discussed and it is still a work in progress hopefully it will be done by the next meeting or even before, if before there will be a special meeting to address the acceptance of the update.

  • The borough representative responsible for the Nodwell area (borough land) trail easements has e-mailed and said that they should be complete by the end of the month. People involved with private easements should get paperwork to sign and notarized accepting the private easements.

Well that is all I can remember, check back latter for further information once the official minutes are posted.

The Chase Community Council Board of Directors held a special meeting to discuss the proposed parking lot expansion. See the parking lot comments attached to the bottom of this page for further details of what they discussed.

Parking Lot- I have been recently informed of a new parking lot plan that at least triples the size of the parking lot we use. (See the attachment Chase Trail Parking Lot 4 at the bottom of this page). I guess just the north side of the lot (no road access shown) would be for Chase residents (that is what the maps legend shows though I haven't  talked to anyone at the borough about it). I also believe that they want to have this up and running before this summer’s tourist season so will be a rushed affair. Anyone with concerns or comments should get up with one of our board members listed at the bottom of the page or the borough. I have to admit I don't have all the facts on this so it would be a good idea to research it your self if it interests you.

  Notes from the January 25  2017 Meeting:

This was our annual elections meeting and the Chase Council Board members that were elected are Jonathan Durr, Tim Cox and Josh Klauder. After the meeting was adjourned the board decided on their officers. James Tunnel and Mike Woods are co- chairmen and Josh Klauder is the secretary- treasurer with Jonathan Durr and Tim Cox as members.

Other matters addressed at the meeting were the updating of the Chase Comprehensive plan. At present the plan is just being updated with more current statistical data like a more recent census report etc. the original plan is being left as is (1993 version) in all other aspects. Currently the Comprehensive Plan subcommittee is in the process of getting some editing issues resolved with the borough employees responsible for our update. After these are resolved there will be a meeting with the borough employees assigned to us whereby our Chase Board of Directors will either accept the new plan or reject it. If it is accepted (which I think will be the case) then it will go before the borough planning board for its final acceptance.

The permit that has been requested to transport equipment in our northern council area by folks associated with Stephan Lake Lodge (that we are on record of opposing) has been I believe approved by DNR with the current stipulation of going by way of Gold Creek and also has a date by which the permit expires of March 30 (though that could be extended). A better map of the route that is to be taken has also been requested.

The current status of the trail easements located on the future Mat-Su Borough property is that the borough employee responsible for them has not finished his work and when he is finished he will be mailing his response to all the people who applied for trail easements.

The only other matter that I remember being addressed at the meeting is a possible update to our by-laws to better represent our small community’s interests; a committee was formed to start to look into anything that might fall into this category.

12/17/2016 The Chase Community Council board of Directors had a special meeting to finalize the awarding of the revenue sharing grant funds (they had been previously discussed at the Oct. meeting). Please see the revenue sharing page for which grant applications received funds and how much each grant received.

11-20-2016, I added the 2016 remote parking pass for the Talkeetna parking lot to the trails page. I believe that most of the parking passes are due toexpire at the end of December.

Council Members

The Chase Community Council Address is

PO Box 205

Talkeetna, AK   99676

E-mail address is chasetrail45@gmail.com

Current members of the Chase Community Council Board of Directors are (as of  

2024)

Mike Woods, Chairman

Tim Cox, Vice-Chairman

Jerry Boutte, Secretary 

Sara Hogan, Treasurer 

 Peg Foster- Member at large