Anchorage proposal would bar Chugach access tax from taking over existing road upkeep

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley and Vice Chair Daniel Volland have revised their ordinance creating an advisory board for the Chugach State Park Access Service Area (CASA). The new version would bar CASA tax money from taking over road maintenance that other service areas already handle.

The revised ordinance was up for a continued public hearing Tuesday, but the Assembly adjourned before reaching it. The hearing carries over to a later meeting.

Under the new wording, CASA could not take over existing service area responsibilities, including maintenance of facilities, typically roads, already within another service area's scope. Facilities CASA builds, such as parking lots, would be maintained through CASA, according to the sponsors' memo.

Voters created CASA in April 2023 with nearly 60% support. CASA has no board of supervisors; municipal departments run its services.

At a Sept. 17 Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Volland said "there are roads within CASA or that are eligible for CASA funding that would have been the responsibility of some of these limited road service areas."

The ordinance first introduced in July would set up a board to advise the mayor and Assembly on which access projects to fund. The new version has nine voting members, up from seven. Members, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly, would include trail and engineering experts, a Chugach State Park Citizens Advisory Board member and four at-large residents from different Assembly districts. Two seats would go to current or recent supervisors of road service areas bordering the park, a limit set in the previous version.

The revision also widens consultation to any service area that maintains roads. Those boards would be consulted before a project enters the capital program, before construction and on ongoing maintenance, and would receive an official estimate of lifetime maintenance costs.

The ordinance still drops a requirement for cooperative agreements with road service areas before projects proceed. A longtime Upper O'Malley Road service area member told the Assembly on Aug. 4 that this was a bait and switch. At a Sept. 25 work session, the Assembly heard that road service areas near the park differ on the agreements.