Forum Gives Girdwood Residents Insight into Candidate Positions

Zac Johnson, incumbent Assembly member for South Anchorage and Girdwood, responds to a question. Challengers for the District seat are Janelle Anausuk Sharp and Bruce Vergason. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

By Soren Wuerth

TNews Editor

Candidates for local and Municipal office had a chance to share their views Saturday night in a forum hosted by Turnagain News.

The forum, held in Girdwood's Community Center, gave an audience of around 50 insight into candidates' views on key local issues.

It was attended by three candidates for an Anchorage Assembly seat representing South Anchorage and Turnagain Arm as well as three candidates vying for two seats on Girdwood's Board of Supervisors. 

One of the two open positions on GBOS, Seat E, pits the sons of two prominent Girdwood families:  Nick Crews and Brice Wilbanks. There is only one candidate running for Seat D, Amanda Tuttle.

The three candidates gave brief introductions then responded to questions from moderator Tim Alderson and audience questions written on cards. 

Though pitted against each other in April's election, Crews and Wilbanks staked out similar positions on issues such as regulation of short term rentals, balancing development with environmental concerns and the community's relationship with the Alyeska Resort. 

Crews, who works as a software engineer for The Ship Creek Group, returned to Girdwood a year ago following college and work and admitted to limited involvement in local boards and committees. Wilbanks, on the other hand, has been a gadfly in local meetings and served for two years as vice-chair on the Land Use Committee. 

Moderator Tim Alderson with, behind from left to right, Brice Wilbanks, Amanda Tuttle and Nick Crews. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)

Wilbanks said he's running for GBOS to "make sure our representation has a fair share in the Municipality".

"A lot of the issues we've seen in Girdwood in the last 50 years, ever since the merger, really have been exemplified in the last years' land use and taxation policy," Wilbanks said.

Crews said he became interested in valley affairs observing an Assembly hearing on the "Holtan Hills" development and that he hopes to build a better relationship with Anchorage's policy makers.

"I think one of the reasons why Holtan Hills did not go the way we wanted is because we did not have a clear voice, and they felt like they had to do something, and they threw their hands up and they were like, 'We need to do something about housing, but Girdwood is not being clear what that actually is,'" Crews said. "So, the role of us is to come forward and actually work with them and pose things to them."

Wilbanks said local governance needs to "open a more effective communication path with Assembly, and then also the [Department of Transportation]." 

"There are five major DOT issues within this valley alone," Wilbanks said. "We are facing everything from speed limits to swoops to the airport. None of this happens without effective relationships with these agencies and the city of Anchorage."

While Tuttle is unopposed in the election, she nonetheless outlined her priorities on the board, including infrastructure improvements prior to new development. 

"My biggest heartburn is seeing us push through development in this community without pushing through the funding of the Ruane culverts [beneath road to transfer station] and we know they're operating at capacity," Tuttle said. 

Tuttle, who owns Coast Pizza and has worked as an environmental scientist, also said she is concerned about the potential failure of a levy abutting Old Girdwood below the railroad tracks and a lack of data on the valley's watershed. 

"I feel like we're trying to sometimes trudge forward and we're going a little too fast and we need to slow the freight train down," she said.

Earlier in the forum, three Assembly candidates highlighted the difficulties of representing Girdwood and Turnagain Arm communities on a 12-member board that has voted against the priorities of a vast majority of residents and local government on sweeping land use decisions.

"The reality is that I'm one of 12 and I have had some success bringing my colleagues along, but not all," said incumbent Zac Johnson. 

Bruce Vergason, a business owner and construction manager who calls himself a "fiscal conservative", said he thinks Girdwood needs to have "a stronger voice" on the Assembly and indicated he would side with fellow conservative Assembly member Keith McCormick. Though Assembly seats are nonpartisan, Vergason was endorsed by the Republican party. 

A third candidate for District 6, Janelle Anausuk Sharp, also noted Girdwood's unique character relative to that of the Anchorage bowl. 

"Something I see regularly in the Assembly is that the rest of the Assembly, from other parts of Anchorage, don't understand Girdwood or Girdwood's relationship with Anchorage, so that takes a lot of communication and explaining," Sharp said.

Sharp, who is a tribal member of the Village of Kotzebue, works for an Alaska Native corporation as a geochemist.

None of the Assembly candidates had much good to say about the controversial "Holtan Hills" project. Vergason called it a "debacle", Sharp said it was "complicated" and Johnson, who opposed the project even before he became an Assembly member, said he spoke out against it "passionately" and was "the only District 6 member to vote against it moving forward."

"I do not think it is the right project for Girdwood. I don't see it addressing the community's needs. And it's a major investment in planning and money that I don't think is ultimately in the best interest of Girdwood," Johnson said.

While the candidates spelled out their positions on short term rentals, a bed tax, housing, property taxes and the role of the GBOS on the Assembly, it took a "lightning round" of questions to clarify each candidate's political beliefs.

Asked how they feel about the separation of Eagle River from the Municipality of Anchorage, Vergason said he supports the move while Sharp and Johnson said "it depends".

When asked whether the candidates supported ranked choice and mail voting, Johnson said "yes" to both, Vergason said "no" to both and Sharp was undecided on the former and affirmed the latter.

Vergason also said "it depends" when asked whether Earth's climate is changing due to human activity, while the others said, "yes".

Brice Wilbanks responds to questions during a candidate forum Saturday night at the Community Center. (Photo by Soren Wuerth)