Assembly resumes hearing Nov. 4 on nine-seat Chugach park access board

The Anchorage Assembly will resume its public hearing Wednesday, Nov. 4, on a proposed board to advise the city on Chugach State Park access projects, after adjourning Oct. 20 before it reached the item.

The ordinance, from Assembly Chair Anna Brawley of West Anchorage and Vice Chair Daniel Volland of North Anchorage, would create the first formal advisory board for the Chugach State Park Access Service Area, known as CASA. Voters created it in April 2023, with 59.68% approval, to pay for roads, trailheads and parking leading into the park. The mayor would appoint the board and the Assembly would confirm it. It would have no land use authority.

The sponsors' latest version has nine voting members, up from seven: a trail design expert, an engineering or project management expert, a member of the state's Chugach State Park Citizens Advisory Board, four at-large residents from different Assembly districts, and two current or recent board members from road service areas bordering the park.

The Basher Community Council, which voted 23-0 against the original plan, got the road-board seats it asked for. Its larger objection remains: every version drops a rule that lets CASA projects inside a road service area go forward only after cooperative agreements with all affected parties, and the council wants it back. The sponsors have said those agreements could let one neighborhood block or shrink projects that all CASA property owners pay for.

The city plans to adopt CASA's project list with the 2027 budget Nov. 17. Bond projects for the April 2027 ballot are due Jan. 26.