Assembly hearing on Girdwood street crews' storage yard moves to Nov. 17

The Anchorage Assembly will take public testimony Nov. 17 on an ordinance that would give Girdwood's street crews long-term control of the 3.3-acre lot at the end of Bedrock Circle that they have used as a storage yard since 2009. The hearing had been set for Nov. 4.

The ordinance would move the lot out of the Heritage Land Bank, which manages municipal land with no assigned use, and assign it to the Street Maintenance Section for the Girdwood Valley Service Area. Control would let the service area add its own utility connections and possibly build a heated storage building, an administration memo says.

One city agency wants the lot for something else. The Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility, which runs the Girdwood treatment plant next door, wrote that it "sees a long-term need to reserve" the parcel for the plant's expected expansion. The ordinance requires the utility to be consulted before any permanent construction, and the land would return to the land bank if the storage yard use ends.

The Heritage Land Bank Advisory Commission recommended approval Sept. 24, and the Girdwood Board of Supervisors supports the transfer. Alaska News first reported the proposal Oct. 17.