Cuddy Park skating project left out of Anchorage's draft six-year capital plan

Assembly Member Janice Park on Friday questioned why Cuddy Family Midtown Park is missing from Anchorage's preliminary 2027-2032 capital improvement program, the city's six-year construction list, after a skating group that says it has $1 million committed for the park called the omission "a major oversight."

At an Anchorage Assembly work session, Park read from a letter by Anchorage Skates, which in 2025 gave the city $10,000 for upkeep of the park's skating oval. The group was "very surprised that Cuddy Family Midtown Park is not included anywhere for the years 2027 to '32," Park said. The group reports $950,000 in bond money and more than $50,000 from private donors, including the Anchorage Skate Club and the Alaska Speed Skating Club, and envisions a facility like the one at Kincaid Park, available in Midtown. "Ice time is really difficult for the kids to get," Park said. The group's letter also says it met with the mayor, who expressed some support for the project.

An Assembly member said members agreed a couple of years ago to finish a master plan for Cuddy Park before moving forward with any capital project there. Parks and Recreation is preparing a request for proposals to hire a consultant for that plan, the member said, and it would cover the skating chalet Anchorage Skates proposes, along with ideas from the Midtown Community Council.

Another member noted that the Assembly, not the mayor, decides which projects go into the capital plan. The mayor's budget "is exactly that. It's a proposal," the member said, adding that Assembly members have amended the Cuddy Park chalet onto past bond packages themselves.

Beth Nordlund, executive director of the Anchorage Park Foundation, which was presenting at the session, said the foundation has acted as a fiscal sponsor for the skating project and once applied for a federal grant on its behalf.

Assembly Chair Anna Brawley deferred the question to the mayor's office and this month's budget work sessions, since no one from the administration was at Friday's meeting. Budget hearings are set for Oct. 20 and Nov. 4, with a final vote Nov. 17.