Anchorage Assembly delays vote on Chugach park access board to Oct. 6

The Anchorage Assembly put off a decision on who gets to advise it on spending priorities for Chugach State Park access. Members voted 12-0 Tuesday to continue the public hearing to Oct. 6 after residents, road service areas and community councils split over the makeup of a proposed advisory board. The board would review projects and recommend priorities. The Assembly would remain the final decision-maker.

Voters created the Chugach State Park Access Service Area in April 2023 through Proposition 6. The measure allows bond propositions for road, parking and trailhead projects that support park access and address neighborhood effects. The service area still has no standing supervisory body.

The proposed ordinance, co-sponsored by Assembly Chair Anna Brawley and Vice Chair Daniel Volland, would create a seven-member board appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly. Three seats would go to experts in trail design, civil engineering and outdoor recreation. Four would go to community-at-large members.

The measure would also eliminate cooperative agreement requirements that could allow a single neighborhood or subgroup to prevent or reduce the scope of projects funded by all CASA property owners. It would preserve the requirement that the board consult affected community councils and road service area boards before recommending priority projects and project design.

Earlier the same night, Volland moved to postpone indefinitely a separate ordinance that would have routed those projects through an existing parks commission. No member objected.

A member of the Glen Alps Road Service Area board of supervisors testified in support of the board. He said his service area manages the roads to the two busiest trailheads in the park, and he asked the Assembly to seat an actual road service area board member as a voting member. He said the change to cooperative agreement rules is warranted because "we do not believe a small number of people should be able to leverage a large number of people by withholding entering into cooperative agreements."

A longtime member of the Upper O'Malley Road Service Area board disagreed. He said the original ordinance required consultation with and approval by road service areas. "It's now being taken out. That's a bait and switch," he said.

A resident testifying for the BASHER neighborhood said the administration's existing ad hoc working group "are all trails and parks advocates," and called it biased rather than balanced. The testifier said the neighborhood supports CASA and does not object to creating a board, but that "in order to succeed and continue, it needs to be balanced and fair," seeking more balanced representation and clearer procedures.