Revised Chugach access board plan would bar CASA from taking over existing road upkeep

Anchorage Assembly Chair Anna Brawley of West Anchorage and Vice Chair Daniel Volland of North Anchorage have revised their ordinance creating an advisory board for the Chugach State Park Access Service Area, known as 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.

Voters created CASA in April 2023 with nearly 60% support to pay for roads, trailheads and parking leading into the park. It has no board of supervisors; city departments run its services.

The question underneath the revision is who maintains what. Some roads leading to trailheads are maintained by limited road service areas, neighborhood districts whose residents tax themselves for their own roads. Under the new wording, CASA could not take over maintenance of facilities already within another service area's scope. Facilities CASA builds, such as parking lots, would be maintained through CASA, according to the sponsors' memo. The earlier version already barred CASA money from replacing funding other service areas provide.

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 board itself would advise the mayor and Assembly on which access projects to fund. The new version has nine voting members, up from seven, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the Assembly. Seats would go to a trail expert, an engineering expert, a member of the Chugach State Park Citizens Advisory Board, four at-large residents from different Assembly districts, and two current or recent supervisors of road service areas bordering the park.

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 get an official estimate of lifetime maintenance costs.

It still drops the current rule that CASA projects may proceed only after the city signs cooperative agreements with the road service areas involved. David Pease, who said he is the longest-serving member of the Upper O'Malley road service area, told the Assembly on Aug. 4 that the requirement was part of what voters approved and that removing it is a bait and switch. Presenting the plan at a Sept. 25 work session, the sponsors said they had heard both support for and opposition to the agreements, including from road service areas near the park that differ with each other.