By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

The Girdwood Board of Supervisors voted again on a controversial plan by Alyeska Resort owner Pomeroy Lodging to carve a subdivision out of public land near Glacier Creek.

This time, the Board voted against Phase 4 of Pomeroy's proposed master plan, which includes a road and housing in a popular recreational area and is designated "open space" in the community's latest comprehensive plan.

"I felt conflicted," GBOS Co-Chair Briana Sullivan wrote in an email. During the reconsideration meeting, Sullivan switched her vote to no after voting yes during Monday's meeting.

During Monday's meeting board members voted 3-2 in favor of an amendment that would endorse development in the upper valley. Supervisors Brian Burnett and Jennifer Wingard joined a 22-2 consensus of participants in a land use meeting a week earlier that approved all phases of Pomeroy's development, but excluded the Glacier Creek phase. 

Without gaining access to develop the municipal land, a Pomeroy manager has said the other phases are not viable.

"I did not think our board's vote would turn out the way it did," Sullivan wrote. "The outcome did not sit well with me after the meeting and the following day. My motion to reconsider would give the body a chance to apply our rules and procedures, which is a basic practice in local government, to essentially redo our vote from Monday in case anyone wanted to change their vote and thus the outcome."

Critics of the Glacier Creek phase said the old-growth rainforest area—popular for recreational cross-country skiing, hiking, mushroom foraging and berry picking—have led to its designation as "open space", setting up a conflict over future use of the public land, which is managed by Anchorage's Heritage Land Bank.

But Willam Laurie, Pomeroy's development manager, said the development, with mixed housing, nordic trails, a warming hut, parking and a lateral gondola to its hotel serves the community's interest. He said the planned subdivision would include smaller, more affordable housing units.

Supervisor Mike Edgington, who along with Guy Wade voted twice in favor of Pomeroy's plan, said although there is a "contradiction" between Alyeska's master plan and the community's area plan, he thinks Pomeroy's general goals are good and details can be ironed out along the way.

Read the entire story at the link below:

https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/following-reconsideration-girdwood-delivers-no-vote-on-glacier-cree-development

A low-publicized Heritage Land Bank open house to solicit input on its 2024 work plan drew only a half dozen residents to the community center Monday afternoon.

Though its first meeting with Girdwood had little public notice, the meeting is only the first of three, said Nicole Jones-Vogel, a former HLB land manager whose company, Rise Up Coaching Solutions, was contracted to help with planning.

Of about 10,000 acres HLB controls in the Municipality of Anchorage, a little less than half of those lands are in Girdwood.