Private funding could keep the Fox Spring in state ownership. The Alaska Department of Transportation has pursued sale of the Elliot Highway property to an adjacent land owner, as a cost saving measure, but a local group working to keep the longtime water source in public hands, has an alternative plan.
Friends of Fox Spring chair Patrice Lee said the group plans to raise money to cover well upkeep.
”Get busy and raise between $25,000 and $50,000 to pay for the routine maintenance,” Lee said.
Lee said the Fox Spring task force has come under the umbrella of the local non-profit North Star Community Foundation, to raise the maintenance money. DOT norther region spokeswoman Meadow Bailey says the state has paused sale of the property to explore the alternative option.
”I think it’s a real unique situation,” Lee said. “We are definitely… we applaud the efforts of the Fox Spring task force for coming together and trying to solve this and to help us because really, ultimately we’re all in this together.”
Bailey said the state is asking the Fox Spring Task Force for maintenance money by July first, when the state will no longer have funds in its budget for the water site. She noted that general maintenance of the well runs about $25,000 a year, but major repairs can double that.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
