By Roger Baty II
Turnagain Times Correspondent
October 16 brought together a diverse group of Girdwood community members in Glacier City Hall with one greater goal in mind, to form a South Townsite Subcommittee. Their purpose will be to provide a broad range of public opinion in the plotting of the future of the squirrel cages, the land behind the fire station.
“A process like this needs to include public opinion,” said Ellen Nelson, Planner and Project Manager at Agnew Beck. “A great way to do that is to find a small group that represents a broad spectrum of community members.”
This spectrum includes business owners, property owners, a school principal, fire chief, and chairmen for other various committees in town.
Agnew Beck, The Boutet Co. Visual Assessment & Urban Design Standards, and Transportation & Circulation Analysis have been hired to work with the community to prepare an area master plan for approximately 220 municipally owned acres in Girdwood’s New Townsite Commercial District.
Initial planning steps will include assembling an overview of past planning and projects, compiling information regarding land-use and market trends in the Girdwood valley, and preparing a set of environmental maps and data for the project area.
Through this planning process, the Girdwood community will prioritize its development needs, determine how appropriate the land is for different development types in both ecological and economic terms, agree upon uses for the land, and adopt a master plan.
Developmental needs and desires are wide ranging in light of ecological, economic, and legal constraints. They are as complex as building within floodways and less complex like determining the direction of the road through the area and at which point it will connect to Alyeska Highway.
“I have an objection to the rerouting of the road by the fire station,” said Girdwood Fire Chief Bill Chadwick. Should the fire house get a call, Chadwick said, 40 cars will be arriving in that area within a matter of minutes. A rerouting of the current path of the road would inhibit these first responders arrival.
Property owner and realtor, Sam Daniel, objected to the connection of Alyeska Highway to the main road—Cottonwood. He is an owner of property near where the initial schematics laid a connecting road. Though there are other options for the area at the connection, the road, however, cannot be included.
“Any road longer than 450 feet must have dual road access,” said Jim Galanes, Planner with the Boutet Company.
Placement of businesses on the land is another concern of business owners. Which businesses will be placed there, and in which direction will they be facing? Both are questions of concern. Parking for all of these businesses and community facilities could become a problem as well, given the limited amount of space available.
Ecological constraints are also a concern.
“These are high value class A wetlands that boarder the western edge of the study area,” Galanes said.
The floodways of California and Glacier Creek, which flow through the study area, create easements which cut the original 220 acres to approximately 97 acres. That is staying within the 100 year flood plane, which as shown by the already existing New Townsite, is workable land, but still legally questionable by current zoning ordinances for that area.
“Right now, legally, the only thing that can happen in these easements is trails,” Galenes said.
Within the land allotted, the local representatives envision many community buildings and businesses, including but not limited to, the library, a camping and RV park, a recreation and community center, a cultural and media center, a health clinic, a charter high school, parking lots, a soccer field, and a commercial district with such businesses as a bank, dry cleaners, hardware store and a dentist.
Public workshops will be held to review the research done in the project’s initial phase. In the next phase, the project team will develop a set of alternatives and identify a preferred alternative, which will be reviewed at a second public workshop.
The team will build from this work to assemble a preferred master plan and an accompanying impact assessment, which will be refined before being submitted for formal approval and adoption by the Girdwood Board of Supervisors, the Heritage Land Bank Advisory Board, the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Anchorage Assembly.
“Right now, we’re just doing master planning,” Galenes said. “It is all conceptual.”
Girdwood community members are asked to weigh in on this conceptual planning Thursday, Nov. 1 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Girdwood School gym, Friday, Nov. 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Glacier City Hall, and Saturday, Nov. 3 from 9:30a.m. to noon at Glacier City Hall.