Anchorage Platting Board to weigh Canyon Road trail easement vacation

A walking path along Canyon Road on the Anchorage Hillside that residents say keeps pedestrians off a busy road to Flat Top and Rabbit Lake trailheads could be eliminated so Hultquist Homes can place a house on a vacant lot in Canyon View Estates. The Anchorage Platting Board is scheduled to hear the contested request July 1.

Hultquist Homes is asking the board to vacate a public use easement that covers both of the 3.49-acre parcels along Canyon Road and, the company says, prevents placement of a new home site on one of the lots. The Municipality of Anchorage Planning Department recommends approval, concluding the easement is surplus and that alternative right-of-way along the opposite side of the road provides a valid pedestrian route.

The Glen Alps Community Council passed a resolution opposing the vacation, and six residents submitted written comments against it. Canyon Road resident Carolyn Kirchner wrote in a public comment: "I am asking to preserve the easement in question for this case as there is a nice path that is off the main road, keeping walkers safe from fast traffic that comes through Canyon road on the way to flat top."

One commenter stated that the road board paid $150,000 for the easement. The recorded easement document states only that it was conveyed "for good and valuable consideration," and no municipal payment records have been cited in the case file to confirm that figure.