Girdwood Board reverses community decision on Alyeska Development

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

The Girdwood Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 decision Monday, rescinded an earlier community vote that rejected a subdivision proposed in a popular recreational area.

The board's move tells municipal planners it has no objection to plans by Alyeska Resort to build an assortment of housing, roads, parking lots, a tram and in the Glacier Creek watershed north of the town's airport.

The GBOS has since voted to reconsider its Monday vote and will discuss the reconsideration at a meeting Thursday at 1 p.m.

"I suspect [the vote] will be changed," said Supervisor Mike Edgington on Wednesday. "We're basically going back for a re-do."

He said he feels Pomeroy's goals for development are sound, but the location the company has chosen for development isn't.

In both meetings, community members expressed criticism, skepticism and dismay about Pomeroy Lodging's plan to acquire nearly 100 acres of municipal land in the upper valley for housing.

A spokesman for Pomeroy Lodging, a Canadian hotel chain that owns Alyeska Resort, has said without the public land, the company cannot afford to build its other phases, an "Alyeska Village" and a housing complex nearer to the Alyeska Hotel.

The Alyeska Resort and adjacent area where potential development exists. (Photo by Jon Scudder)

Pomeroy's development manager Willam Laurie said the Glacier Creek phase is tailored to the community. A section of the subdivision would have smaller, more affordable homes for local families available through a lottery. The subdivision would be served by a gondola to access from the hotel to new cross-country ski trails and a warming hut.

But a road would plow through an ancient rainforest well-known for hiking and ski trails that are decades old. Many who testified are longtime volunteers for Girdwood's trails committee.

The area mapped for a road and housing includes trails with place names such as "Stumpy's Trail" and "The Enchanted Forest".

"Do you think people wish to go on trails near houses or trails away from houses?" asked Paul Crews at last week's land use meeting.

Critics also questioned how low-cost housing could subsidize the cost of the other phases of

the project and infrastructure such as utility costs.

"A [gondola] lift is very expensive and trying to wrap my head around ... how a starter home can finance that kind of development," said Brett Wilbanks, who chairs Girdwood's Housing and Economic Committee. "How do you envision that guarantee back to the community in Phase 4 just considering the expense to get out there?"

The development would have impacts on local roads, sewers, fire prevention and other

services, said Larry Daniels, a longtime resident and former Rotary Club president.

"All those things are important items you'd expect to see in an area plan map," Daniels said during Mondays meeting.

Responding to concerns, Pomeroy's Laurie said there's time, at least seven years, to sort out issues before construction and there is no guarantee it would be built at all.

"It could not get built," he said at Monday's meeting. "The economy could crack ... there's a lot of variability. But those are our intentions. It's tough to answer."

Laurie cited his company's track record. It spent $50 million improving the hotel and paid for improvements to the ski area and "we've spent a lot of money on this project already," Laurie said.

A spokesperson for Anchorage-based Ironwood General Contractors, a company listed as a partner on Pomeroy's plan, said you need to trust Pomeroy's intentions.

"You have to kind of believe in it," the spokesperson said. "You have to believe in Pomeroy. Everything can fall apart, but you've got to believe in it."

The issue goes to Anchorage's planning and zoning department in early June, but GBOS supervisors are trying to find time for joint GBOS-Land Use Committee meeting sooner, according to GBOS co-chair Jen Wingard.

Wingard, who voted, along with new board member Brian Burnett, against the amendment said board members do not have to explain their votes.

Wingard pointed out that the LUC vote excluding the Glacier Creek phase from Pomeroy's master plan passed 22-2 and there were 90 comments on Girdwood's Comprehensive Plan supporting protection of land in the upper valley for recreation.

The existing comprehensive plan, which was created in 1995, allows development in the upper valley while the current plan, which still requires approval of by the Anchorage Assembly, identifies the land as "open space."