Assembly briefed on Port McKenzie farm parcels; borough weighing hold-vs.-sell options

Land management staff told the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly on Dec. 17 that two farm parcels outside Port McKenzie purchased for a planned rail extension are active hay operations but face legal and financial constraints that complicate long-term borough ownership or sale.

The presentation by Suzanne Riley of the borough’s Land Management Division described the parcels as roughly 600 acres each, with houses and large pole barns, and hay permits that the borough has extended through the 2025 summer growing season. “The rent revenue for both properties and the hay production is a total of $34,000 of revenue in the calendar year 2024,” Riley said. She told the assembly the borough estimates about $24,000 in expenses over that period, producing roughly $10,000 in net cash flow excluding major repairs.

Why it matters: the parcels were acquired to preserve a transportation corridor for a proposed Port McKenzie rail extension. The corridor includes a 1,300-foot-wide strip (about 200 acres) where the borough already holds terminal reserve easements; outside that corridor the land remains under agricultural covenants that limit uses and subdivision. Any sale or subdivision will be constrained by those covenants and by the borough’s desire to preserve future rail options.

Key facts and options

- Acquisition and rail status: The farms were purchased in 2013 as part of land acquired for a rail extension project that has paused.…