Anchorage Platting Board approves Canyon Road easement vacation over Glen Alps objections

The Anchorage Platting Board voted Wednesday to vacate a public use easement along Canyon Road that Glen Alps residents testified is the only safe place to walk in their neighborhood. The petitioner's representative said Lot 14 remains developable with the easement in place. The vacation allows a house to be placed in the middle of the lot with a driveway that avoids crossing a drainage.

Planning staff recommended approval, concluding the easement was surplus to the municipality's needs. Staff reported that Traffic Engineering, Private Development and right-of-way reviewers raised no objections. Ten written comments and a Glen Alps Community Council resolution opposed the vacation. Council Vice President Brian Cook said the municipality paid $130,000 for three public use easements granted by the Rahaley family, of which the easement at issue is the remaining piece, and that the staff report omitted the payment. "There's no discussion of that in the public report," Cook said.

Ted Moore, who said he has lived in the Canyon Road neighborhood for over 50 years, said community members built the trail about five years ago, and that both trailhead signs and a picnic table have since been removed. Tom Burke said the alternative route is a 5-foot gravel shoulder occupied by parked cars in summer and plowed snow in winter.

Craig Bennett of S4 Group, representing the petitioner, said the easement is surplus and dead-ends at fenced private property. "It doesn't go anywhere. Even if there was a trail, this would just create a short dead-end segment that crosses an existing driveway," Bennett said.

Board members split on the findings. Member Sarah Catherine Bryan, who made the motion, and Vice Chair Patrick Jones said the petitioner had not met the code's burden of proving the easement is in excess of present and future public need. Jones cited the informal trail's use and the absence of comment from Project Management and Engineering, the agency that acquired the easement, and noted the lot is still developable. Member Kevin Cross said the recorded easement was granted for valuable consideration and the municipality had not been compensated to release it. Members Brenda Mills and Kyle Mirka said the criteria were met, that reviewing agencies did not object, that no adopted plan identifies the easement for future public use, and that the easement's original purpose of securing road access had been fulfilled by the dedicated Canyon Road right-of-way. Chair Skyler Quinn agreed. The motion passed, and the board then approved the plat for 24 months. After the vote, Cross said he had changed his position after hearing other members' arguments.

Parties have seven days to file a notice of intent to appeal with the planning director, and 20 days after written findings are approved to file a formal appeal with the required fee and deposit.