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TURNAGAIN NEWS
The Hearth Artisan Restaurant remembered Dave “Poacher” Pettry by naming a desert “Dave’s Fave 9” along with cards and signs “What Would Poacher Do?” honoring his memory. You can read the TN News story at https://turnagainnews.org/articles/poachers-last-run. If you have a picture of interest to the Turnagain Arm community and willing to share it with your neighbors, please send it to turnagainnews@gmail.com and provide a photo credit. TN is your community newspaper! (Photo Credit: Soren Wuerth)
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By: Brooks Chandler
TN Contributor
Girdwood's local government had a surplus of nearly $400,000 in its 2023 budget, savings that are a result of lower than expected costs for road maintenance, lower expenses for parks and the fire department's decision to hold off on buying a new fire truck.
Actual expenses for the Girdwood Valley Service Area in 2023 were $388,288 under budget.
This happy state of Valley financial affairs was reflected in a budget report prepared by Service Area Manager Kyle Kelley. The report was presented to the Girdwood Board of Supervisors on March 20.
Kelley identified several causes of the surplus, including lower than expected “intra-governmental charges”, a decision to retain $74,821 the fire department originally budgeted for an initial payment on a new truck, and lower than anticipated payments to the road contractor Western. Intragovernmental charges are what one Anchorage department charges the Girdwood Valley Service Area for work performed that either directly or indirectly benefits the service area. One example is maintenance work on buildings and equipment done by the Public Works department.
The fire chief had been concerned her department would run short of operating funds so the capital transfer for the fire truck was not made, Kelley told the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.
Ordinarily when it turns out the operating costs were on budget the planned transfer to capital would have been made before the end of the year. In addition, the budgeted initial loan payment of $80,000 anticipated to be paid in 2023 will not be due until the new vehicle is actually delivered in either late 2024 or early 2025.
Accounting staff shortages in the Anchorage Fire Department plus the need for the Anchorage Assembly to officially approve fund transfers prevented the pre-year-end transfer, Kelley said, adding that he anticipates the transfer will be made in 2024. The spread between budgeted and actual expenses for law enforcement was miniscule. The $807,619 police budget had a surplus of $3,703.14, an excess accounting for less than one-half of one percent of the budget. Mr. Kelley told GBOS the contract with the Whittier Police Department enables precise budgeting.
The Parks and Recreation budget had a 10 percent surplus of nearly $40,000. This surplus resulted in part from lower-than-expected intra-governmental charges and from the award of a grant from the Kenai Mountains Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area. The grant offset budgeted costs for work on the Beaver Pond trail.
Despite the vast amounts of snowfall in late 2023 the are road maintenance budget also had a 10 per cent surplus of $131,000. The road budget covers both plowing, grading and capital projects such as culvert replacements.
There will be a change in how capital projects are accomplished in 2024. Instead of working directly with the GVSA road contractor under the terms of a road contract, larger capital projects will be competitively bid Kelley told the board. He said this process is less efficient and whether it is more costly remains to be seen.
The entire $388,288 surplus is available for spending if GBOS makes a specific request to use the funds that is approved by the Anchorage Assembly.
Kelley said he recommends GBOS keeps $250,000 in “undesignated” funds for unanticipated expenses such as an equipment failure. Any amount above this could be kept in the bank, used for the first payment for the new fire truck, or spent on a capital project, Kelley said
During the March 20 work session GBOS members universally praised the fiscal management of Kelley and Margaret Tyler.
The full year end report can be accessed at https://www.muni.org/Departments/operations/streets/Service/GBOS/GVSA%202023%20Year%20in%20Review%20packet.pdf
By Brianna Sullivan
TN Contributor
Four Valleys Community School is organizing a team for participants from Girdwood. This is a free event with a fundraising goal for Breast Cancer Resources for women in Alaska.
The event is on Saturday, June 8. Register at AKRFWRegistration.org/team.
For information, email Beks at BBrumley@fourvalleys.org.
By Barb Crews
Girdwood Trails Committee Chair
At the Alaska Long Trail BLM listening session last Monday evening in Anchorage, it was announced that people can comment on the possible National Scenic Trail designation only until April 19.
Here's the link to the map comment site:
https://logansimpson.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/reporter/index.html?appid=c2de6a60f56a474083849ebb9896b7ba
By Claire Stremple
Alaska’s American Civil Liberties Union has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against allowing local governments to punish people who sleep outside when adequate shelter is unavailable.
“Punishing a person who is forced to sleep in public because they have nowhere else to go violates our Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment,” the ACLU of Alaska wrote in a news release.
The organization joined a friend of the court brief in support of a lawsuit, Grants Pass v. Johnson.
Read the entire story at:
By Chase Berenson
TNews Contributor
Chugach Electric is anticipating 45-60 days of traffic control on the Seward Highway this May, June, and August to replace a transmission line between Girdwood to Indian, according to a March 12 presentation in Indian.
The 11-mile Girdwood to Indian section runs along the Seward Highway and is part of a 90.4 mile line running from Cooper Landing to Anchorage.
This line was built 62 years ago and is reaching its end of life.
Chugach has been replacing the line in sections. Thirty-six miles of the line and five sections have already been replaced. Once completed, this sixth piece of critical infrastructure will ensure reliability between hydroelectric plants on the Kenai Peninsula and power plants in the Anchorage area, according to a Chugach Electric spokesman.
The two primary presenters at the public meeting were Mike Miller of Chugach Electric and Jason Hodges of Northern Powerline Constructors (NPC), the project’s construction company.
They told 16 audience members that there will be only one planned outage to customers along the Turnagain Arm lasting 2-3 hours next year, there will be some travel disruptions on the Seward Highway this summer, and that safety is their top concern through the project. Work began earlier this month and is scheduled to conclude in April 2025.
Because the transmission line is fed by power sources to the north in the Anchorage area and the south on the Kenai, the flow of power into the Turnagain Arm communities largely won’t be directly impacted while the line is being replaced, presenters said. Girdwood, meanwhile, will still receive power from the south while Bird Creek and Indian will still receive power from the north.
Read entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/work-underway-on-girdwood-to-indian-power-line
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By Jeff Samuels
TNews Contributor
The Girdwood Nordic Ski Club (GNSC) and Kenai Mountains- Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area (KMTA) teamed up again this year to host the 3rd annual Corduroy Crush Nordic Skiing event on Sunday, April 7th at Girdwood’s 5K Nordic Loop.
About 85 athletes of all ages participated in three events: a 2K snowball biathlon, a 5K timed race, and a team relay.
KMTA’s Executive Director, Rachel Blakeslee, and GNSC’s board member, Briana Sullivan, coordinated logistics and volunteers to manage the event. Participants were greeted by a bluebird spring day and warm temperatures, with a deep winter base of snow still covering the skiing trails. Families basked in the sunshine as the races took place.
Skiers were fueled by hot drinks and sweet rolls from the Alpenglow Coffee House and The Bake Shop.
“Every year we host this race I’m astounded by the selflessness of those who come out to support with their time, energy, and resources,” said Rachel. “This year, we had 33 volunteers from Girdwood, Anchorage, Seward, Moose Pass and more show up on the most beautiful, sunny Sunday to help out… We talk a lot about preserving and celebrating our living heritage in the KMTA. This is what it’s all about.”
As a fundraiser, about $2,000 was generated from registration fees to support KMTA’s youth outdoor school programming.
In addition to Alpenglow Coffee House and The Bake Shop, other sponsors included Powderhound Ski Shop, Birch & Alder, The Ice Cream Shop, Mooses Tooth, Girdwood Brewing, and Alyeska Resort.
For more information on The Girdwood Nordic Ski Club, visit their website at: https://skigirdwood.org/. For more information on the Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area, visit their site at: https://kmtacorridor.org/.
KMTA hosts additional race events each summer at the Spencer Whistlestop and on Hope's Palmer Creek Road. Find more information on upcoming events on their website.
(Click on the story title to see more pictures)
By Chase Berenson
TNews Contributor
On the first Friday of every month, six businesses on Girdwood’s Olympic Mountain Loop welcome the new month by opening their doors from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday evening for an art walk titled Girdwood’s First Friday in the Loop.
Typical participants are Alpenglow Coffee House, Girdwood Center for the Visual Arts (GCVA), Jack Sprat, La Bodega, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, and Powder House Ski and Bike Shop. The businesses are going to try to maintain these events on first Fridays through the summer, and we checked out the event on Friday, April 5, to see what the experience is like.
There is no wrong way to approach the Loop on a first Friday, but we planned on starting at GCVA since it is arguably the most arts-focused of the participants and it’s conveniently located on the top of the Olympic Mountain Loop. We were surprised to see that GCVA was closed and wasn’t participating in this month’s event, and that feeling was shared by many people we ran into throughout the evening.
Read the entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/getting-in-the-loop-for-girdwoods-first-friday-art-walk
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
A fuel transfer accident at Alyeska Resort in November caused one of Girdwood's largest ever fuel spills when an overfilled tank spewed nearly 600 gallons of diesel onto a gravel pad near a popular ski trail and above a small creek.
The spill has been mostly cleaned up, according to a state report, but a wooded hill near the site descends into a small creek and an oil sheen could be seen on the water weeks after the spill was reported. The creek, Moose Meadow Creek, flows into Glacier Creek.
"They're not done with [the cleanup] yet," said Mike Evans, an environmental program specialist for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
Read the entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/truck-delivering-oil-spills-590-gallons-at-alyeska-resort
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/truck-delivering-oil-spills-590-gallons-at-alyeska-resort
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STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED
Great Land Trust has been working with Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) Heritage land Bank and GCI to conserve 300 acres of important hillside watershed features that are critical to sustaining the vibrant habitat of the Potter’s Marsh, located between Golden View Drive to the east and Old Seward Highway.
“We are thrilled how this project is proceeding and it is nice to be doing a project in Anchorage at this scale as these opportunities are few and far between,'“ said Dave Mitchell, Conservation Director with Great Land Trust.
“We select our projects based on prioritizations that look at wetlands and anadromous streams and adjacency to protected areas and we try to collect all the data we can and rank and put it into GIS and rank land based on conservation value,” he added. “This property actually ranked number one.”
Set between the old and new Seward highways, Potter Marsh is a portion of the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge is Anchorage’s gateway to Turnagain Arm. The new Potter Marsh Watershed Park will be owned, operated and maintained by the MOA Parks and Recreation Department.
With the snowfall and on the brink of the thrilling world of winter sports, enthusiasts from Southcentral Alaska have the opportunity for skill enhancement through structured lessons at Alyeska Resort.
As Alyeska Resort staff gear up for the winter season, the demand for lessons is expected to soar. Whether carving down beginner trails or conquering advanced slopes, enthusiasts are increasingly recognizing the pivotal role of structured instruction in unlocking their full skiing or snowboarding potential.
Read the entire story by clicking the headline or at:
Alyeska Resort's owners laid out a sweeping vision for Girdwood's upper valley Thursday night, one of a "village", parking lots, recreational facilities, a conference center, a daycare center and other amenities.
About 150 people attended the meeting which was billed as a "town hall" meeting held amid platefuls of cookies and snacks in the weathered Sitzmark Bar, with its indigo paisley stained glass ceiling and worn, burnished booths.
The Girdwood Fire Department was amongst several fire departments to receive life-saving rescue tools aiding first responders in expediting the extrication of crash victims.
Family members of former Girdwood resident Dusty Green stand in front of the’Forest Fair ol Hoppin Barley Stage after being given a heartfelt upgrade with volunteer hours from Girdwood volunteer craftsmen.
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