By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
At the GBOS meeting Monday, June 21, the board approved waiving fees for Forest Fair.
The vendor fees would be an additional $200 added to the $250 one-time charge that Forest Fair charges vendors for the three-day event (July 2,3, and 4). The $200 fee is an additional charge that the city Parks and Recreation Department administers.
The park fee is based on how many people attend the fair. Last year it was waived.
The board kept in place the alcohol fee that was charged last year, which is expected to raise about $6,000, and the board is expected to use that to pay for the roof on a storage shed by the soccer field.
Last year, the GBOS contributed $5,000 towards security costs, this year they will not contribute any funds. The Heritage Land Bank last year contributed $10,000 towards security costs, but this year they will contribute only $3,000.
So the total cost of fees for Forest Fair this year will be $500 for use of HLB land for camping and about $6,000 for the alcohol fee.
As for the fee waivers, Forest Fair committee members showed up at the meeting to request the waivers.
“We're requesting a fee waiver for the park cleanup we do,” said Forest Fair committee member Shine Herfindahl.
“When you get a park in Anchorage, it is maintained, you get Porta Potties. We get none of that,” said Forest Fair committee member Tommy O'Malley. “The Friends of Forest Park are coming in next week to clean-up the park. Based on the clean-up effort, it's about $6,000 of volunteer labor for two days and $2,300 for cleaning up the park, which we do as a favor. Hauling garbage, maintaining toilets, total about $17,000 for everything. The fees that they're wanting to charge is $11,000 and we're doing about $17,000, so maybe we should ask for $4,000 back. When we ask for a fee waiver, we're asking for a fee that's less than we're putting in.
“Last year we paid $5,000 and GBOS put in $5,000,” continued O'Malley. “You guys have the power to recognize the contribution here.”
The user fee for the park grounds is $1,000 per day and there is an alcohol fee of $250 per day plus 50 cents per drink.
“As a board, we were pretty sure we were happy with our rates,” said GBOS member John Gallup. “I do celebrate the Forest Fair and the building of everything that is back there, and I, as much as any person in this room, want this fair to continue. In terms of the fees, I'd be comfortable with waiving the park fees and the booth fees but not the alcohol fees. While Forest Fair is good at managing the booths and maintaining the park, I think the alcohol fees need to stay the way they are.”
Gallup added that he wanted to come up with an economic model that works for everyone.
The Parks and Recreation director for the city, John Rodda, attended the meeting and addressed Forest Fair members and the GBOS. He must approve any fee waivers suggested by the GBOS, and his parks and recreation department oversees Forest Fair.
“This service area has its own choices to make,” said Rodda. “Special event permit costs are normal for special events. You budget for that. The Bear Paw festival in Eagle River has their own costs. I take alcohol consumption in any park, very seriously, but I will not waive the fees on alcohol. Those funds do go to your service area, they do not go to Anchorage.”
“It won't be that big a deal if you pay 50 cents additional for a beer,” said Zaccaro. “I'll still pay it, and I'm sure other people will to. And maybe people will drink less alcohol, which will be good for the fair.”
A per keg fee was suggested, by Herfindahl, but spillage should be taken into account, she said.
A motion was made by the board for a waiver of two of three fees: the park use fee and vendor fee, but the alcohol fee would be left in place. The vote was unanimous 4-0 to approve waiving the fees.
Following the vote, Rodda reminded committee members of the role of the GBOS and the limited power they maintain in the fee waiver process with the decision ultimately coming down to Rodda.
“Girdwood Board of Supervisors have advisory power,” said Rodda. “Currently we don't have a standard for Forest Fair, and I think it's reasonable to put something on the table, and you have something reasonable to look at and then go into the budget for Forest Fair.”
Forest Fair committee members then raised the issue of a conflict with a disc golf tournament, which was granted a user permit the same weekend as the pre-Forest Fair cleanup on Saturday, June 26.
“For the future that tournament could be scheduled for another weekend,” said Gallup. “There is a surge in Frisbee golf. Their permit was approved two months before Forest Fair paid for their permit.”
“I think what's upsetting is the disregard Parks and Rec has shown Forest Fair and the community,” said O'Malley. “They know when it's going on. We have a history here that is being ignored.”
“I would be very much in favor writing a letter of support that the GBOS would like to provide these times for Forest Fair so that they can come in and do this clean-up,” said GBOS parks and recreation supervisor Dave Chadwick. “We're just saying let us know ahead of time. As an advisory board when somebody comes in ahead of you, you need to be careful.”
“We're two weeks out and we're still trying to figure out the permit here,” said Girdwood resident Debra Croghan.
Alyeska Resort General Manager Di Hiibner told the board that the resort was building a new 18-hold disc golf course on the mountain this summer. She suggested the tournament be held there in the future to avoid a conflict with Forest Fair's pre-fair clean-up day.
As it turns out, there was some conflict the day of the clean up. About 35 participants signed up for the disc golf tournament near the campground area adjacent to where the Forest Fair is held, behind the baseball field on Karolius Road.
One participant, who wished to remain anonymous, said children and adults were walking around the course as players flung their 8-10 ounce discs.
“There were little kids painting trash cans as discs flew over their heads,” said the participant. “It was crazy.”
With the discs reaching speeds of 50 mph or more, the participant said somebody could be seriously injured. He said that one person was hit by a disc and that he felt the clean-up crew was purposefully trying to interfere with the tournament.
Moving on to other matters of the fair, Judd Crosby, owner of the Silvertip, addressed concerns over security outside the fair, especially during evening hours when individual parties sprung up around downtown at last year's fair.
Crosby suggested that members of the community walk the streets at night to advise the little satellite parties that it's not “cool” to have campfires.
“If we could have a trooper that had a cell phone available that may be patrolling the area once an hour, so if we see a problem we can stop it before it becomes a real problem,” Crosby said. “Have a neighborhood watch. Parties that happen outside of establishments like mine are the ones that get out of control in the Bermuda Triangle in Townsquare.”
Anchorage-based Securitas was hired again to patrol the fair this year. They were hired for the first time last year.
O'Malley said Securitas will provide 24-hour security during the fair with six or seven security people on duty. But he said no guns will be carried by security personnel this year.
The budget for security is $18,000 for this year's fair, down from a budget of $28,000 last year.
“Last year we paid for armed security day and night,” O'Malley said. “But this year we won't.”
Campground fees will remain $25 per person this year, but family's can pay $25 for a weekend of camping to make it more affordable and attract more families to the event, O'Malley said.
There are 340 campsites available on Karolius Road during Forest Fair. Last year only 50 campers registered. The fees are used to pay for security costs.
Demolition of Glacier City Hall Planned
The municipality is planning on demolishing Glacier City Hall for a road into the Southtownsite. As soon as a plat is recorded, the former community hall needs to be demolished, said board member Karen Zaccaro. Until then Forest Fair is being allowed to utilize the space for no charge. The board unanimously approved renting the hall to any other organizations or individuals for $5 per hour, $30 per day, $100 per week.
Site Chosen for Proposed Girdwood Cemetery
After a year of deliberation, land was selected for a proposed Girdwood cemetery.
Tommy O'Malley has been spearheading a project to establish Girdwood's first cemetery. He approached the GBOS for a letter of non-objection for the site chosen off Crow Creek Road across from the bus turn-around after the bridge over California Creek.
“This site to be used as a cemetery is dependent on a few things,” O'Malley explained to the board. “It needs to be environmentally suitable. HLB (Heritage Land Bank) offered land for it to be used. The land has already been platted and surveyed, and there's a letter being sent out to people living in the area that there is a plan for the cemetery.”
The cemetery is probably five years from being available, O'Malley said. He said the original site sought was by the airport, but the FAA considered it a homeland security issue.
The land donated by HLB is 22.7 acres and can accommodate 1,500 gravesites, six-feet by 4-feet.
“At our death rate here in Girdwood, that would give us 300 years before it's filled,” said O'Malley.
He said the next step in the process is to have an environmental study completed. Eight sites were available from HLB and after a year-and-a-half of deliberating, the final site was chosen.
“The cemetery will be designed as a park,” said O'Malley. So the parking along Crow Creek Road can be used by Nordic skiers and hikers. We will add trails for hiking and Nordic skiing.”
O'Malley said that 70 percent of people in Alaska are cremated, so a building will be constructed to accommodate the ashes. Otherwise, plots will be available for free, but the plot will have to be maintained by the family, much like the cemetery in Hope.
There won't be a lawn, he said. And the community will be in charge of maintaining it.
Girdwood did have a cemetery at one time, but it was moved back in the 1930s, O'Malley said, to the Sunrise cemetery on the Hope Highway.
He said the cemetery would be open to all denominations.
Roads Manager Position Open
The GBOS is looking to fill the Roads Manager position.
“Nick Danger is uniquely suited but no longer with us,” said Gallup, the GBOS Roads Supervisor. “We would like to divide the position in half, fire and facilities maintenance one half, and roads the second half. It gives the freedom of having a roads specialist and a fire specialist.”
Danger left the job last month for a job in Las Vegas as a safety supervisor for a paving company.
Danger's position was funded through the first of July. The position paid $46,000 per year. Broken into two positions the pay would be approximately $24,000 for 20 hours a week, as suggested by Gallup. He said they could put the positions out for bids, like the secretary's job for the GBOS.
“The roads contractor will be easier to find than an EMT,” said Zaccaro. “Maybe there's somebody out there, but we'll see.”
A work session was scheduled for Monday, June 28 around 5 p.m. to discuss what to do with the Roads Manager position.
Moose Meadows Dedication Proposed
Johnnie Lazarus, director of Girdwood Parks and Recreation, requested the board provide a letter of non-objection to dedicate Moose Meadows and two adjacent parcels as dedicated parkland.
The two parcels are owned by HLB and would be donated to Girdwood Parks and Recreation, said Lazarus.
It would basically be the soccer field and a parcel that a Connex is occupying,” she told the board.
“The pro would be to protect the parcels as parkland, expenses should be minimal,” Lazarus said. “The downsize, which is an upsize, is that it is a dedicated park. Platting the land is the biggest cost.”
The request for a letter of non-objection was put on the agenda for a vote at the next GBOS meeting.
Fire Chief Reports Emergency Responses Up From Last Year
Girdwood Fire Chief Bill Chadwick reported that there have been 180 responses this year for the Girdwood Fire Department, up from 164 last year at this time.
