Anchorage plan narrows road service area seats on Chugach board

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley and Vice Chair Daniel Volland have rewritten their proposed Chugach State Park access board, narrowing who can fill its two road service area seats. The revision follows comments from community councils, road service area boards, road and homeowner association members, and a city working group. It is on Tuesday's agenda, but the sponsors intend to continue the public hearing to Oct. 20, according to a clerk's note.

The board would advise the mayor and the Assembly on projects for the Chugach State Park Access Service Area, known as CASA. Voters created the service area in April 2023 to fund roads, trailheads and parking leading into the park. Any tax increase needs voter approval and would apply across the Anchorage Bowl and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. The board would have no land use regulatory authority.

The first version opened those seats to residents of any limited or rural road service area, neighborhood districts that maintain their own roads. Now members must serve, or have served within the last 10 years, on the board of supervisors of a road service area bordering the park. The two appointees may not sit on the same road board at the same time.

The board keeps seven voting members, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly. Three seats go to people with experience in trail design, outdoor recreation, or engineering, a seat project management experience can now also fill. The four resident members, two from the Anchorage Roads and Drainage Service Area and the two road board members, must show Chugach recreation experience over the past five years and firsthand knowledge of multiple access points. The park superintendent sits on the board without a vote.

The sponsors presented the plan to the Basher Community Council on Sept. 10. That night, the council voted 23-0 for a resolution opposing the ordinance and asking for a member with direct road service area board experience. The revision does not add the council's other requests: three more seats, a community council president seat and agreements with road boards. The record shows no council or road board response to the revision.

Discussions about CASA "have raised a number of valid questions about project review, maintenance responsibilities for completed projects," the sponsors wrote to the Assembly. The new version requires the city to give affected road boards a cost estimate for each project's lifetime maintenance. It also bars CASA money from replacing funding that other service areas already provide.

The city plans to adopt the CASA project list with its 2027 budget on Nov. 17. Bond projects for the April 2027 ballot are due Jan. 26.