Anchorage Assembly to hear plan giving Girdwood street crews their own storage yard

The Anchorage Assembly will take public testimony Tuesday on a plan to hand Girdwood's street crews control of the lot they've used as a storage yard for nearly two decades.

The 3.3-acre lot sits at the end of Bedrock Circle in the Girdwood Industrial Park, next to the Girdwood Wastewater Treatment Plant. Crews use it now under a permit from the Heritage Land Bank, which manages city land not set aside for other uses. The ordinance would hand it to the city's Street Maintenance Section for the Girdwood Valley Service Area. The city would keep ownership.

Having its own lot would let the service area install its own utility connections and plan for the long term, possibly including a heated storage building, Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration said in a memo to the Assembly. The Girdwood Board of Supervisors, which backs the change, said it would let crews run power to the lot for snow removal equipment.

The neighbor has its eye on the land, too. The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility said in agency comments that it sees a long-term need to reserve the lot for the treatment plant. As Girdwood grows, expansion and upgrades to the plant are expected, and this lot "would best accommodate that purpose," the utility wrote. The ordinance requires the city to consult the utility during long-term planning and before any permanent facilities are built, which the administration says addresses the concern.

Parts of the lot also sit in Glacier Creek's floodplain, where city code bars storing equipment or materials that are buoyant, flammable or explosive, among others. The city's flood hazard administrator said those storage rules may apply.

If the lot stops being used as a storage yard, it would go back to the land bank within six months. The administration put the cost to local government at under $30,000. The land bank's advisory commission recommended approval in September.

The hearing was moved from Nov. 4. If the Assembly approves the ordinance, it takes effect immediately.