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Other Projects East Anchorage District Plan Chugach Access Plan Anchorage Wetlands Management Plan Revision

 Chugach Access Plan 

Current News:  

March 8, 2013:

The Chugach Access Plan public hearing scheduled before the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday, March 11, is postponed to Monday, April 1, 2013. The rescheduled public hearing will be held in the Assembly Chambers at the Z.J. Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage, Alaska, at 6:30 p.m. 

The Anchorage Assembly is conducting Assembly business on March 11, 2013, in the Assembly Chambers, and all regularly scheduled meetings have been cancelled for that venue. 

Written comments for the Chugach Access Plan will be accepted up to the public hearing date of April 1, 2013.

February 15, 2013:

The Planning and Zoning Commission continues its review of the Chugach Access Plan (CAP) in order to make a recommendation to the Assembly on its inclusion as an element of the Municipality of Anchorage’s Comprehensive Plan.  The Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) has re-opened the public hearing on this plan, Case No. 2012-104, to take additional public testimony from everyone who has not previously commented on the plan at earlier PZC meetings.   The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, March 11, 2013, 6:30 p.m., at the Assembly Chambers in the Loussac Library, 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage. Written public comments and/or public testimony at that meeting are encouraged.  

Introduction

The release of the Chugach Access Plan (CAP) public hearing draft in July 2012 culminates the Alaska Department of Natural Resources-led planning effort aimed at resolving and improving public access to Chugach State Park. This huge state park, located in the hills east of Anchorage, shares a common border with the Municipality and currently offers limited public access points. In order to meet the needs of existing and future park users and Anchorage residents, the State, in coordination with the Municipality, has published this access plan. There has never been a formal plan that provided guidance, potential locations, and policies that addresses reserved public access to Chugach State Park. Yet the need for such a plan has become increasingly more apparent as growing access issues and competition for a dwindling land base at the park interface heightens. In order to address park access, the State and the Municipality initiated this public process to develop a Chugach Access Plan.

Chugach Access Plan as an Element of the Comprehensive Plan

Highlighted in the Anchorage 2020-Anchorage Bowl Comprehensive Plan (Anchorage 2020), Chugach State Park use and access has become increasingly more important to Anchorage residents and visitors as a regional park and natural resource facility. But establishing new access sites and maintaining existing sites remains a challenge. Numerous municipal plans reflect both the park’s significance to residents and the importance of establishing Municipal policies to address public access, including Potter Valley Land Use Analysis (1999); Anchorage 2020 (2001), Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan (2006), Anchorage Bowl Park, Natural Resource, and Recreation Facility Plan (2006); Turnagain Arm Comprehensive Plan (2009); Hillside District Plan (2010); and Title 21 (provisional and current). Some of these documents present specific policies tied to resolving access conflicts and land use recommendations at the Park-Municipal land interface. However, until now, there has never been a formal document or process that identifies existing and future new access points, creates policies to establish new sites, and defines a formal Municipal role or procedure in these actions.

Following a municipal legal opinion, the Community Development Department has initiated a formal review and approval process for the CAP. The Municipality intends to adopt this state plan as an element of the Comprehensive Plan, per the Charter, under Anchorage Municipal Code, Section 21.05.030F. Parks, Greenbelts, and Recreational Facilities. As a Comprehensive Plan element, this plan will guide municipal actions and recommendations for areas adjacent to the Chugach State Park, particularly with respect to trail locations, pedestrian easements, parking areas, rights-of-ways extensions and similar connections to the park. Specifically, with adoption as a Comprehensive Plan element, the CAP will serve as the implementation guide to the municipal plans mentioned above as well as any other future plans that border the Park and as the foundation for subdivision dedications as provided for in Anchorage Municipal Code in Section 21.80.

CAP Planning and Review Process and Schedule

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, initiated a planning process for this document in spring 2008. Planning alternatives were evaluated in 2009 and the State provided a three-month public review period for the Plan in the frist quarter of 2010. After evaluating comments, proposed changes to the plan recommendations have been made and are being released as an amendment durnig the municipal review process. These recommendations are included in this municipal review as Exhibit A, Amendments, which are to be considered part of the final plan packet.

The municipal review of this plan will include presentations and approvals with recommendations by the municipal Parks and Recreation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Those bodies will present their findings and recommendations to the Anchorage Assembly for final adoption. The final plan that the State adopts will incorporate additions and amendments from the Assembly.

Below is a timeline summary for the review process:

August 9, 2012

Municipal Parks and Recreation Commission
– public hearing

August 22, 2012

Watershed & Natural Resources Advisory Commission
– regular meeting

September 13, 2012 

Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission
– regular meeting

September 17, 2012   

Planning and Zoning Commission
– work session and public hearing

dECEMBER 3, 2012

Planning and Zoning Commission
– work session 

DECEMBER 10, 2012

Planning and Zoning Commission
– deliberations 

february 4, 2013 

Planning and Zoning Commission
– deliberations; public hearing is reopened for
   March 11 to allow public notice be given to 
   affected property owners

MARCH 11, 2013 (POSTPONED to APRIL 1)

Planning and Zoning Commission
– public hearing (reopening)

APRIL 1, 2013 

Planning and Zoning Commission
– public hearing (reopening), Case No. 2012-104
   Assembly Chambers, Z.J. Loussac Library
   3600 Denali Street, Anchorage

Chugach Access Plan - Public Hearing Draft:

Chugach Access Plan (text only)

Exhibit A- Chugach Access Plan Amendments

Figure 1- Planning Units  

New! PZC Discussion Maps (February 2013)

Map 6.1 - Eklunta-Peters Creek Unit  

Map 6.2 - Eklutna-Peters Creek Unit  

Map 6.3 - Eagle River Unit  

Map 6.4 - Eagle River Unit  

Map 6-5 - Eagle River and Ship Creek Units  

Map 6.6 - Hillside Unit  

Map 6.7 - Hillside Unit  

Map 6.8 - Turnagain Arm Unit  

Map 6.9 - Turnagain Arm Unit  

Map 6.10 - Turnagain Arm Unit  

Original Draft Plan Maps

Map 6.1- Eklutna-Peters Creek Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.2- Eklutna-Peters Creek Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.3- Eagle River Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.4- Eagle River Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.5- Eagle River and Ship Creek Units (draft plan)

Map 6.6- Hillside Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.7- Hillside Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.8- Turnagain Arm Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.9- Turnagain Arm Unit (draft plan)

Map 6.10- Turnagain Arm Unit (draft plan)

Written comments may also be emailed to Thede Tobish, Senior Planner, at tobishtg@muni.org or mailed to Long-Range Planning, Attn: Thede Tobish, Community Development Department, P.O. Box 196650, Anchorage, AK 99519, before March 11, 2013.Written comments on the Chugach Access Plan - Public Hearing Draft - may be submitted through MARCH 11, 2013:

Comments may also be submitted through the Planning Division’s Cases Online website at http://munimaps.muni.org/planning/home3.htm (insert case number 2012-104) or through testimony in person at the scheduled Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Monday, March 11, 2013.