Assembly weighs using $400,000 in Girdwood reserves for Ruane Road culvert

The Anchorage Assembly takes up a resolution Wednesday, Nov. 4, that would move $400,000 from the Girdwood Valley Service Area's reserves to replace the Ruane Road culvert. The money would cover the required local match for a $1.6 million U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant.

Together, the match and grant bring the project budget to $2 million, according to the administration's memorandum. The $400,000 would come from the service area's unreserved, undesignated fund balance, money not set aside for a particular purpose. The memorandum says Girdwood has that much available and wants to use it for the match.

The Assembly approved the grant on Sept. 9, 2025. The memorandum describes it as reimbursable money Congress directed to the Ruane Road culvert replacement.

The work sits where Ruane Road crosses California Creek, near the Girdwood wastewater treatment facility. The EPA environmental review, issued in December 2024, describes replacing two temporary metal pipe culverts with a permanent engineered box culvert built for fish passage. The creek would be temporarily diverted during construction and restored afterward.

EPA classified the project as a categorical exclusion, a category of action the agency defines as not having a significant effect on the quality of the human environment, individually or cumulatively. It will not prepare an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment.

A February Girdwood Board of Supervisors packet says the service area will seek proposals for design and engineering once EPA completes its review and approves the request for proposals, with construction most likely in summer 2027. The Boutet company will lead project management, and the Jacobs company will assist with EPA grant and federal compliance, the packet says.

The memorandum says the draw is in line with the municipality's fund balance policy, leaving enough set aside to meet policy levels for the bond rating and operating emergencies. Courtney Petersen, manager of Public Works Administration, prepared it. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance submitted it, and the administration recommends approval.

The measure was added to the meeting's consent agenda, which the agenda describes as typically routine items that are not required to be set for public hearing. It needs a majority vote. If it passes, it amends the 2026 capital budget and takes effect immediately.