LUC votes down Alyeska Plan
Alyeska Plan to develop Upper Valley rejected by Land Use Committee
By Soren Wuerth
TNews Editor
Girdwood's land use committee dealt a blow to Alyeska Resort's development plans Monday when it voted against a housing complex planned in a popular recreational area.
The committee supported the Resort plans to develop areas near its hotel, but rejected a third phase a subdivision between its hotel and Glacier Creek.
Without a guarantee of development of nearly 100 acres of municipal land, the rest of the plans, for an "Alyeska Village" and "Moose Meadows" complex, are all but dashed, according to Willam Laurie, a development manager for Pomeroy Lodging, which owns the Resort.
"For the whole project to be completed, it all needs to be done," Laurie said, referring to a three-phase expansion planned over the next nine years. The project would require a $350 million investment, Laurie said.
Girdwood's land use committee dealt a blow to Alyeska Resort's development plans Monday when it voted against a housing complex planned in a popular recreational area. An aerial view of the area. (TN file photo)
The proposed housing, near Glacier Creek, would cap other developments near the Resort's hotel such as a convention hall, a 9,000 square foot ski school, condos, community housing, and what it calls "workforce housing". It would lease land to contractors for an ice rink, recreation center, and childcare center.
But questions and criticism Monday were largely focused on plans to build a subdivision in virgin forest near the Resort that is a popular outdoor recreational area.
"What you're saying is not what the public wants," said Tim Charnon, a local resident and former Forest Service supervisor for the Glacier Ranger District, adding that more than 90 comments in Girdwood's draft comprehensive plan preferred open recreational space for the area, known locally as the "upper meadows".
Laurie said his company responded to concerns raised in a February Board of Supervisor's meeting and pitched the subdivision as one that would provide affordable homes, limit short term rentals, reduce traffic with an aerial tram, include a ski hut and offer access to new ski trails.
"The focus is to have people who are living in the community be able to purchase homes," Laurie said.
Pomeroy's plans to develop virgin rainforest in the valley north of the airport comes after the Anchorage Assembly approved a controversial subdivision on the other side of Glacier Creek—the controversial "Holtan Hills"—and a proposed airport lodge, which would have culminated in the greatest impact to the community since the Resort was constructed a half century ago.
The upper valley's undisturbed land "will it be gone forever and we'll never be able to use it again," said longtime local trail volunteer Paul Crews. "Do you think people wish to go on trails near houses or trails away from houses?"
Laurie said Pomeroy is "front-loading" the cost of development near the hotel with the expectation that profits will come from home building on public land.
Krystal Hoke, who has helped lead an effort to build a childcare center near Alyeska Hotel, said the company is helping to "make a long-standing community need come to life" and said the childcare center would need an amendment to an adopted master plan in order to proceed.
Meanwhile, the latest maps for the Girdwood comprehensive plan, which is months away from authorization, does not include the proposed Glacier Creek development, said Mike Edgington, who is chair of Imagine!Girdwood, the group preparing the area plan.
Edgington suggested an amendment that would support Alyeska's plans, but exclude the Glacier Creek development. The amendment passed 22-2.
The Girdwood Board of Supervisors will also take up the matter next week during its May 20 meeting.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Pomeroy manager as Ryan Laurie. Willam Laurie was the develop manager speaking at the LUC meeting. In addition, Krystal Hoke did not say she supported the Glacier Creek development.