Editorial: Bury Holtan Hills

By Soren Wuerth

TN News Editor

Once again, a short-sighted and terrible land use plan comes marching in from a few Anchorage personalities.

And, once again, it must be stopped.

The idea to level a significant chunk of Girdwood rainforest for an ugly eye-sore of subdivisions, many more times larger than "Cabana Land", caught all of us off-guard a year ago.

The plan came from nowhere--a small group of selected "investors"--and was unanimously rejected at every public meeting, in surveys, through hours and hours of testimony, and by our local Land Use Committee and Girdwood Board of Supervisors.

And it wasn't just Girdwoodians who were abhorrent to Holtan Hills. When local volunteers fanned across Anchorage to speak at community councils, the idea was ridiculed. Girdwood was supported by resolutions from 20 community councils. 

The primary reason? 

Communities know what's best for their communities. Anchorage area community councils, too, have had to fight off ideas that come from those who want to exploit their communities.

By. last spring of last year, Holtan Hills was all but forgotten. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

As one chair put it, "We support you because we may need you to support us in the future."

Our community is united in its opposition to "Holtan Hills". There is no greater economic asset to a community than public land. Girdwoodians deserved public land for public benefit.

Last spring, faced with an onslaught of criticism, some public officials took the desperate step of calling opponents to Holtan Hills "Nimbies". The "not-in-my-back-yard" label is a cheap one. 

Such a feeble, impulsive accusation means each community that stands up for its land use plans and its public process--decisions ground out through long, grueling meetings--is the preference of a minority.

A "Holtan Hills" subdivision, on the other hand, would benefit just a few individuals, like multi-millionaire developer Connie Yoshimura and those with enough money to buy a second or third home. 

Already, about half of the homes in Girdwood are second or third homes or homes used as expensive short term rentals. Holtan Hills would lift this number even higher, crowding our community to 20 percent locals.

"Holtan Hills" is the kind of mistake representatives from other mountain ski towns, like Breckenridge, Colo. and Whitefish, Mont., warned the Assembly about. 

Since the matter was declared "indefinitely postponed" last February, community members have been working on other ideas, naming a housing task force, working on a comprehensive plan, working to change Anchorage codes that limit building affordable and multi-family dwellings and promote short term rentals. 

Most everyone in Girdwood thought the controversy was over.

Sixty acres of new, mostly single-family housing, meanwhile, would place an unsustainable burden on Girdwood's infrastructure from its transfer facility to its school to our emergency services.

Already, our little stores are jampacked on weekends. Cars speed too quickly up Alyeska. Lines form for our limited services. Our workers can't afford to live here. 

It should be easily understandable why so many oppose the deal, from small-business owners to the cool, young people who would like to make a living here year round and make our community healthier. 

Hell, even local carpenters and construction workers, who would stand to gain the most from potential building jobs, hate it. 

It's "the wrong kind of housing. It's f***ing awful!" said a local, charismatic contractor.

It wasn't just the time we took, writing assembly members, driving 75 miles to testify, long discussions at meetings. 

But the stress and anxiety of all of that time! 

We thought it was over. Why do they want to put us through such acrimony again? Why do they bring up the exact same proposal, again, that everyone hated before? 

It is the worst kind of public policy to resurrect an idea which has been dead for nearly a year. 

Folks in Girdwood do not deserve this. 

If Howard Holtan was the man who his friends claim he was, he would certainly be ashamed to have his name used to leverage a land deal his former neighbors overwhelmingly rejected. It is, in fact, the ultimate insult to the man's name and reputation. 

Let's call it something else, a "preserve", "open space", Girdwood Trust. 

Let's let Howard Holtan rest in peace. 

Editor's note:  We offer space in Turnagain News for any views, opinion, or comments you may have about Holtan Hills. We offer our space to serve as a "public record" of feelings and thoughts from our communities.