Anchorage Assembly to vote on burying power lines through two East Side parks

Two east Anchorage parks would each give up a permanent strip of ground so that the power lines crossing them can disappear underground — a modest trade of public parkland for a more storm-proof grid, and one the Anchorage Assembly had to weigh against a legal bar meant to keep park giveaways rare.

Chugach Electric Association has been burying its lines along an east Anchorage corridor since 2025, working outward from Northern Lights Boulevard toward East 6th Avenue. This season it plans to push east from Bragaw Street to Patterson Avenue — and that route runs straight through Russian Jack Springs Park, a 300-acre community park, and the smaller Ira Walker Park nearby.

The payoff is reliability: lines underground don't come down in wind or under falling trees. It would also clear the poles and wires that currently cross both parks — but only if the telecom providers ACS and GCI agree to move their lines down too. Chugach is candid about the tradeoffs, noting underground work costs more and takes longer to repair than stringing wire overhead.

To limit the damage to the parks, the utility would use directional boring, a trenchless method that threads conduit underground with little surface disturbance. The easements themselves are narrow but permanent: about 2,558 feet along the north edge of Russian Jack, roughly 38,875 square feet, and about 540 feet covering 10,720 square feet at Ira Walker. Both would be perpetual and free to Chugach.

Handing a utility a permanent interest in park land is not something Anchorage does casually. Municipal code requires the Assembly to first find that no reasonable and prudent alternative exists and that the easement won't substantially harm the park. The Parks and Recreation Commission cleared that hurdle on May 14, passing resolutions that found directional boring would not significantly impair public use of either park; the parks department doesn't object so long as the resolutions' conditions are met. The Municipal Attorney's Office found the easements carry no substantial value to the city, waiving an economic-impact summary, and Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted both ordinances