Assembly Changes Girdwood Plan to Allow Housing in Upper Meadows

Assemblymember Christopher Constant, District 1, Seat B, pictured left next to the vote Tuesday. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

 For the Anchorage Assembly, a plan that could shape Girdwood's destiny faced two competing visions. 

 One, shaped by years of community consensus, favors keeping the valley's beloved rainforest, trails and areas like Stumpy's Trail protected as open space.

 The other vision, promoted by the owners of Alyeska Resort, is to acquire more land for housing developments, to meet, as one Assembly member put it, the town's "dire need for housing."

 In an 8-4 vote Tuesday, the Assembly gave the nod to the latter plan when it cleared a pathway for Pomeroy, a Canadian hotelier, to develop an enormous swath of old-growth forest in Girdwood's valley.

 The controversial decision—to allow "mixed use" housing in undisturbed old-growth forest—comes on the heels of an Assembly vote last year approving a 60-acre subdivision in an ancient forest near Girdwood's school dubbed "Holtan Hills". 

 If developed as planned, the combined area, on both sides of Glacier Creek, would mean profound changes in the valley:  massive clearcutting operations, trucks moving fill, home construction, and new infrastructure development.

 Critics have long argued that planned housing will be too expensive for working families in Girdwood and new construction will likely end up as short-term-rentals or so-called "dark homes".

 "In the two years I've been on this body, I don't think there has been anything I've contemplated as long or as deeply as this piece of this very detailed plan," said Zac Johnson, who represents Girdwood and South Anchorage on the Assembly, referring to the question of protecting or developing the area north of the Girdwood's airport.

 Johnson said it was hard to reconcile two competing visions for the area that planners call the "mitten" for its shape on a map. 

 "A couple things important for us to keep in mind is that the comp plan or an amendment to the comp plan is not a land disposal. ...The question of whether to transfer this land from (the Heritage Land Bank) inventory to a developer is something that will happen at a later date," Johnson said.

 Randy Sulte, another Assembly member who represents Girdwood and South Anchorage, said he understands that housing and trails can go together, but the community's conception of what housing has become in Girdwood is "a million-dollar home that's dark, rented out, or maybe has a light on on the weekend. And that's really what they're afraid of."

 "Girdwood is Girdwood. It's different. It's unique. And maybe we should listen to the community. Are we trying to keep something special, something that's a little eclectic, a little off, a little weird at times ... or do we want to create another Vail, Breckenridge, another Whistler?" said Sulte, who voted against the amendment.

 Assemblymember Karen Bronga said, given no clear regulations, "we could just end up with short term rentals again."

 "This community has let themselves be heard loud and clear and, when I heard you say, 'We'll start this HLB process next,' I was thinking, oh my God these poor people are going to be back in line testifying yet again. So, I'm always going to stand up for green spaces," said Bronga who also voted no.

 Johnson replied that it will take years and there may be a new Assembly before a process to develop the HLB lands is complete. "We can't answer all these questions tonight," he said.

 In addition to promoting development in the upper meadows for an Alyeska "Glacier Village", Anchorage's planning department and board pushed to change land use designations from "open space" to "mixed use" in a swath of land near Virgin Creek where, according to a local homeowner, live the oldest trees in the valley. 

 That proposed change to the plan, which met resistance even from Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance, was rescinded Tuesday.

 Imagine!Girdwood chair Mike Edgington was sanguine about the Assembly's adoption of the Girdwood Comprehensive plan, saying despite losing the community-endorsed open space designation to mixed housing, Girdwood got "98 percent of what we wanted". 

 Edgington said a list of conditions promised by Assemblymember Zac Johnson mean residents will have more opportunities to make a case for protecting recreational lands that "balance the need for development with the needs for our economy".

Equipment clears land for a new parking lot near Alyeska Hotel last fall. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

 The Assembly is beginning to acknowledge the problem of homes owned by non-residents. These so-called "dark homes" constitute as much as 70 percent of local housing, according to Edgington, who is also co-chair of the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.

 "I heard multiple Assemblymembers talking about dark homes and that something needs to be done and that's a message I've been banging on for a few years about and it's finally penetrated," he said. 

The comprehensive plan is an update of a 1995 plan which laid out zoning for a "Vail-sized" resort development that goes up valley, Edgington said. That plan was "resort-centric" while the update, which was facilitated by Imagine!Girdwood, is more "community-centric", he said.

 To acquire use of public lands for development Pomeroy, the owner of Alyeska Resort, will have to seek approval for a land disposal from the Heritage Land Bank, the municipal agency that manages most of Girdwood's publically-held land. 

 Johnson said he will draft an amendment to HLB's work plan when it is considered for adoption by the Assembly in April. 

 "The primary goal of the amendment is to allow for both housing and trail development in the area while outlining the process the community can expect," Johnson said.

 The draft will contain a number of conditions for development in the area, including an easement for ski trails, a public meeting, and the reversion of land to public ownership should conditions not be met, Johnson said.

 In a final amendment, Assemblymember Constant offered a "whereas" to the resolution adopting the plan. 

 "... While the Imagine!Girdwood committee has engaged in a rigorous public process in drafting this revision there nonetheless remains competing visions in the community regarding the direction of Girdwood's future," Constant said, reading the addition.

The entire plan, with the paper version almost a ream-thick, was approved with Assembly member Meg Zaletel—who called the plan "squishy"—the sole "no" vote.