Girdwood 2023 Budget Shows Surplus
By: Brooks Chandler
TN Contributor
Girdwood's local government had a surplus of nearly $400,000 in its 2023 budget, savings that are a result of lower than expected costs for road maintenance, lower expenses for parks and the fire department's decision to hold off on buying a new fire truck.
Actual expenses for the Girdwood Valley Service Area in 2023 were $388,288 under budget.
This happy state of Valley financial affairs was reflected in a budget report prepared by Service Area Manager Kyle Kelley. The report was presented to the Girdwood Board of Supervisors on March 20.
Kelley identified several causes of the surplus, including lower than expected “intra-governmental charges”, a decision to retain $74,821 the fire department originally budgeted for an initial payment on a new truck, and lower than anticipated payments to the road contractor Western. Intragovernmental charges are what one Anchorage department charges the Girdwood Valley Service Area for work performed that either directly or indirectly benefits the service area. One example is maintenance work on buildings and equipment done by the Public Works department.
The fire chief had been concerned her department would run short of operating funds so the capital transfer for the fire truck was not made, Kelley told the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.
Ordinarily when it turns out the operating costs were on budget the planned transfer to capital would have been made before the end of the year. In addition, the budgeted initial loan payment of $80,000 anticipated to be paid in 2023 will not be due until the new vehicle is actually delivered in either late 2024 or early 2025.
Accounting staff shortages in the Anchorage Fire Department plus the need for the Anchorage Assembly to officially approve fund transfers prevented the pre-year-end transfer, Kelley said, adding that he anticipates the transfer will be made in 2024. The spread between budgeted and actual expenses for law enforcement was miniscule. The $807,619 police budget had a surplus of $3,703.14, an excess accounting for less than one-half of one percent of the budget. Mr. Kelley told GBOS the contract with the Whittier Police Department enables precise budgeting.
The Parks and Recreation budget had a 10 percent surplus of nearly $40,000. This surplus resulted in part from lower-than-expected intra-governmental charges and from the award of a grant from the Kenai Mountains Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area. The grant offset budgeted costs for work on the Beaver Pond trail.
Despite the vast amounts of snowfall in late 2023 the are road maintenance budget also had a 10 per cent surplus of $131,000. The road budget covers both plowing, grading and capital projects such as culvert replacements.
There will be a change in how capital projects are accomplished in 2024. Instead of working directly with the GVSA road contractor under the terms of a road contract, larger capital projects will be competitively bid Kelley told the board. He said this process is less efficient and whether it is more costly remains to be seen.
The entire $388,288 surplus is available for spending if GBOS makes a specific request to use the funds that is approved by the Anchorage Assembly.
Kelley said he recommends GBOS keeps $250,000 in “undesignated” funds for unanticipated expenses such as an equipment failure. Any amount above this could be kept in the bank, used for the first payment for the new fire truck, or spent on a capital project, Kelley said
During the March 20 work session GBOS members universally praised the fiscal management of Kelley and Margaret Tyler.
The full year end report can be accessed at https://www.muni.org/Departments/operations/streets/Service/GBOS/GVSA%202023%20Year%20in%20Review%20packet.pdf
Four Valleys Community School seeks women for Alaska ‘Run for Women’ Team
By Brianna Sullivan
TN Contributor
Four Valleys Community School is organizing a team for participants from Girdwood. This is a free event with a fundraising goal for Breast Cancer Resources for women in Alaska.
The event is on Saturday, June 8. Register at AKRFWRegistration.org/team.
For information, email Beks at BBrumley@fourvalleys.org.
Alaska Civil Rights Group supports lawsuit to protect people who sleep on the streets
By Claire Stremple
Alaska’s American Civil Liberties Union has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against allowing local governments to punish people who sleep outside when adequate shelter is unavailable.
“Punishing a person who is forced to sleep in public because they have nowhere else to go violates our Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment,” the ACLU of Alaska wrote in a news release.
The organization joined a friend of the court brief in support of a lawsuit, Grants Pass v. Johnson.
Read the entire story at:
Work underway on Girdwood to Indian power line
By Chase Berenson
TNews Contributor
Chugach Electric is anticipating 45-60 days of traffic control on the Seward Highway this May, June, and August to replace a transmission line between Girdwood to Indian, according to a March 12 presentation in Indian.
The 11-mile Girdwood to Indian section runs along the Seward Highway and is part of a 90.4 mile line running from Cooper Landing to Anchorage.
This line was built 62 years ago and is reaching its end of life.
Chugach has been replacing the line in sections. Thirty-six miles of the line and five sections have already been replaced. Once completed, this sixth piece of critical infrastructure will ensure reliability between hydroelectric plants on the Kenai Peninsula and power plants in the Anchorage area, according to a Chugach Electric spokesman.
The two primary presenters at the public meeting were Mike Miller of Chugach Electric and Jason Hodges of Northern Powerline Constructors (NPC), the project’s construction company.
They told 16 audience members that there will be only one planned outage to customers along the Turnagain Arm lasting 2-3 hours next year, there will be some travel disruptions on the Seward Highway this summer, and that safety is their top concern through the project. Work began earlier this month and is scheduled to conclude in April 2025.
Because the transmission line is fed by power sources to the north in the Anchorage area and the south on the Kenai, the flow of power into the Turnagain Arm communities largely won’t be directly impacted while the line is being replaced, presenters said. Girdwood, meanwhile, will still receive power from the south while Bird Creek and Indian will still receive power from the north.
Read entire story at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/work-underway-on-girdwood-to-indian-power-line
OPINION: RCCC challenges broad rezoning and planning changes
By: David Nyman
The Rabbit Creek Community Council voted at their Feb. 8 meeting to oppose the implementation of Assembly Ordinance 87(S), which would consolidate residential zoning districts across the Anchorage Bowl.
The RCCC opposes the area-wide residential rezoning on numerous grounds, as summarized in this document and its attachments. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y5j5lyrt3uaph5qz4i00e/all-RCCC-w-attach.pdf?rlkey=b3v7v9f0txmh66fz9so18vyov&dl=0
The RCCC says 87(S) is not ready for a decision and that insufficient information prevents accurate scrutiny under rezoning criteria of 21.03.160.E
Read more at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-rccc-challenges-broad-rezoning-and-planning-changes
OPINION: Assembly’s proposed zoning changes with homeowners scrutinized
By Sharon Stockard
I am concerned by the Assembly’s continued rush to push through big zoning changes that benefit developers at the expense of neighborhoods. I have lived in Anchorage for 30 years, and I have seen many changes to the zoning code, changes that followed the city’s well-established comprehensive plan. Until recently, I have felt like I had a voice in those changes, and that there was an honest effort by Assembly members to follow the city’s zoning process, to rely on city planners for their expertise, and to respect homeowners’ viewpoints.
I don’t sense any of that from the current Assembly.
I sense disrespect, even hostility, toward homeowners and neighborhood councils that speak up or disagree with the Assembly. The current Assembly operates as if you are professional city planners, which you are not, rather than people elected to represent all of us, not just developers.
Read more at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-assemblys-proposed-zoning-changes-with-homeowners-scrutinized
Girdwood Homeless Population Doubles
By Brooks Chandler
TNews Contributor
There are more than 47 persons living in tents, trees, cars, trucks, trailers and campers on the street or in the woods of Girdwood, according to a local survey.
A year earlier the number was 22.
The 2024 “count” was conducted January 29 through in person interviews, Girdwood resident Linda Mankoff told the Girdwood Board of Supervisors at Monday's meeting.
Only persons who volunteered their names were included.
Mankoff, who is a patient assistance program coordinator at the Girdwood Health Clinic, coordinated local participation in conjunction with a nationwide homeless survey.
She estimated another 20-25 unhoused residents declined to be counted.
The official count will be reported to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development by the Clinic. Based on the data, homeless Girdwoodians may qualify for federal assistance later in 2024.
Who are these people? Ms. Mankoff said many are employed in the Valley—in the service industry and as young professionals. She said some of the working homeless told her market rate rents would consume 50 percent of their income.
Mankoff told GBOS many live with some fear of being forced to leave their “spot”.
Community Review of Draft Girdwood Comprehensive Plan Opens
March 31 Deadline for Public Comments on Draft Plan
By Brooks Chandler
TNews Contributor
An important way station on the long and winding road to an update of the 1995 Girdwood Area Plan has been reached.
On Wednesday, Imagine! Girdwood released the Public Review Draft of the Girdwood Comprehensive Plan.
The draft plan will be presented to the public at a Land Use Committee meeting March 11 and at the Girdwood Board of Supervisors meeting March 25.
A final draft is planned for release April 24. Adoption of a new comprehensive plan requires Assembly approval following formal review by the MOA planning staff and the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission. The time required for that process is uncertain. Imagine! Girdwood has targeted May 3 for submission of a formal request to review and approve the new plan.
Imagine Girdwood is a non-profit organization formed in 2019 specifically to complete an update to the Girdwood Area Plan following the failure of the Municipality of Anchorage to fully fund this effort. MOA through the Mayor’s office and HLB has since contributed partial funding and staff to the effort.
The purpose of any comprehensive plan is to guide the next 20 years of growth and development in a community.
Topics addressed in the draft plan include utilities, environmental constraints, trails, housing, transportation, land use and public facilities—in short, many topics that impact day to day life in Glacier Valley.
The draft concludes with a series of specific policy recommendations and suggested general revisions to existing land use regulations. The public is encouraged to review and comment on the plan.
Huddle Alaska, an Anchorage based planning and landscape architecture firm owned by Holly Spoth-Torres was the primary consultant to Imagine! Girdwood.
Imagine Girdwood is sponsored by Girdwood, Inc. The group was formally authorized, and permitted to receive MOA Planning staff support, by the Anchorage Assembly in April of 2021. Current directors and officers of Imagine! Girdwood are Mike Edgington, chair; Chase Berenson, vice-chair, Shannon O’Brien, secretary; Amanda Sassi, treasurer and Mitch Roth, director at large. Past officers included Erin Eker, Diana Livingston, Ed Harris and Craig Schubert.
Public Comments will be accepted through March 31. Comments can be submitted using a form available on the Imagine! Girdwood website or by email addressed to girdwoodareaplan@gmail.com.
Winter Reading Challenge for Grown ups kicks off
Reading five books in eleven weeks can get you a bingo at the Scott and Wesley Gerrish Library in Girdwood. Reading five books gets you a pizza at CoasT Pizza or Chair 5.
The contest is a systemwide Anchorage Public Library "Winter Reading Challenge" with each APL location offering its own prizes. Stamping out all the squares, a "blackout" on any one of three bingo sheets enters you in a grand drawing.
Head down to the library for books and click here for more information: Winter Reading Challenge.
Commentary: The Real Story of the Campaign to Halt Holtan Hills
By. Emma Kramer
As I drove back to Girdwood on a recent evening, a report by Alaska News Nightly about our community caught my attention.
Listening, I was grateful for some unbiased coverage of the Holtan Hills Development Proposal. That is, until the end of the report. In a few closing sentences, the reporter repeated claims that a few Girdwood individuals had given ‘tainted’ testimony, withheld financial information and spread misinformation. I was directly involved with this group being referenced, and what was stated was erroneous.
The Alaska Landmine, with Alaska Public Media cited as a source, is not a reputable media source, and it has been extremely biased in covering the Holtan Hills issue. As someone with firsthand knowledge of the people the Landmine is accusing, I am happy to clarify the history of the Halt Holtan Hills movement.
Alaska Public Media, citing The Alaska Landmine, reported that we “vilified dealmakers”. Rather, we raised several important ethical concerns: Assembly Member Chris Constant’s real estate commissions from CY [Connie Yoshimura] Investments, Director Adam Trombley’s oversight of Heritage Land Bank, defiance of the Heritage Land Bank Advisory Commission and our local advisory committee’s recommendations for Holtan Hills.
Many in the Girdwood community cried corruption early on, knowing that the most viable PUBLIC land was going to CY for $20,000 per acre. The Halt Holtan Hills movement did not spread claims of corruption. It was claims of corruption plaguing the Bronson administration that affected public perception of Holtan Hills. Our focus was to expose the development plan as a poor use of public lands that would exacerbate our problems, rather than respond to them. Our focus was also to share effective inclusionary housing solutions from other ski resort towns.
Read the full opinion at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-the-real-story-of-the-campaign-to-halt-holtan-hills
Opinion: Why I’m stepping out of the GBOS race
By Brett Wilbanks
The reason that I put my name forward first to run for GBOS was to ensure that our community was being heard. From my participation in municipal government, activity in local service area committees, and first hand experience developing in Girdwood, I see where there are improvements that can be made. But the issues for our community go deeper than that.
Currently, there is a culture in GBOS where community groups and committee input to the board is routinely softened or dismissed to defer to assembly priorities. This has a negative impact and is to the detriment of our community. This current culture harms our town, especially when assembly interests are prioritized over local needs. There are several recent examples where deference is given to assembly interests, without garnering the support of our local community.
Last year was a terrible example of how divisive a local service area board election can get. This is a time when Girdwood needs unity as we define our own solutions and express our own vision. The last thing that I want for our town is anything that takes the focus away from the common problem and turns neighbor against neighbor.
Read more of his opinion at:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/k1eq7ecrr4806w43jxndlz1vidctd1
Opinion: Communities know what is best for their community
By Emma Kramer
The Holtan Hills Development is a poor use of public lands and it may lead to adverse effects on all MOA taxpayers. The public record shows that the proposal is not supported by the Girdwood community, additionally, it’s socially and fiscally irresponsible and will exacerbate our current socio-economic issues.
These issues include: only a single road in/out for evacuation, limited access to food and family services, lack of progress in our Girdwood Industrial Park, limited trash collection, STILL NO RECYCLING, lack of shelter for folks experiencing homelessness, variable electricity and wastewater capacity issues, and SEVERE housing shortage with trends in the wrong direction, and no incentives to stop.
To read more:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/opinion-communities-know-what-is-best-for-their-community
Turnagain Arm's Childcare Crisis is Fixable.
By Thea Ritter
Little Bears Board Member
The only licensed childcare center serving Girdwood, Bird, Indian, Portage and Whittier is Little Bears Playhouse, a nonprofit operating out of a very small facility built in 1960 by volunteers.
Not only is the building too small for Girdwood’s childcare needs, but the snow load of the roof is such that parents are asked to sign a waiver acknowledging this structural risk to allow their children to attend. The facility is only large enough to accommodate 30 children.
Alyeska Ski Club releases Coca-Cola Cup Race Results
2024 Coca Cola Cup results and pictures courtesy of Alyeska Ski Club are included. There were 42 women and 33 men who participated in solid racing conditions over the past weekend.
To read more:
https://www.turnagainnews.org/articles/alyeska-ski-club-releases-coca-cola-cup-race-results
Movie Review— Buried: The Alpine Meadows Avalanche
By James P. Sweeney
TNews Contributor
My name is Jim Plein. I was the avalanche forecaster for Alpine Meadows Ski Resort. Jim's lips move, his teeth are crooked, he clears his throat and sighs but he says nothing for 15 seconds. He closes his eyes–the lens moves closer. He’s wrinkled gray, has a buzz cut, a goatee and wears a Patagonia fleece coat. He takes his time and says, So maybe I’ll cut here for a minute.
I press pause. I know this story and twenty-two words into the movie, it hits me like an avalanche.
Gear Up! Gear Exchange Buys and Sells
Calling all gear lovers! Gather up your gently used outdoor gear and clothing. Girdwood has a new business in town. The Girdwood Gear Exchange opened this past summer giving Girdwoodians an opportunity to buy and sell gear.
It is owned and run by Mara Hall who followed the consignment model when creating her new business. This model benefits the consignor, who makes money by selling used items, while the buyer gets quality gear at a discounted price.
Mara, who loves thrift shopping and clothes, started her career selling women’s clothing at markets. When the commercial space at her current location opened she bought it hoping to expand. Instead of going to Anchorage, her hope is that locals will utilize her store.
The Gear Exchange is located at 599 Alyeska Highway. December hours are: Friday & Saturday 11-5; and Sunday & Monday 11-3.
The Gear Exchange is currently taking winter clothing and gear, but will transition to summer gear when the seasons change.
Go check out the Girdwood Gear Exchange and you might just walk out with a new Patagonia jacket that you didn’t know you needed
Opening Day a Wash
By Harper Landry
TNews Contributor
There was skepticism amongst skiers and riders when Alyeska announced that they were opening the mountain Nov. 24, the earliest day in a decade.
That skepticism turned to sheer excitement when recent blizzards and ongoing snowfall led riders to anticipate an epic full mountain opening pow day.
Where we landed was somewhere in between.
Alyeska followed through and got the mountain open early but a shift in weather to rainfall and warm temperatures resulted in a limited opening and groomed slushy slopes.
Chair 3 (Bear Cub Quad) and Chair 7 were open from 10-5. Resort management cited safety reasons for the limited opening.
An email sent out by the Mountain Manager Duane Stutzman informed passholders that the new ticket system adopted would not recognize the passes that were purchased in the spring/summer of 2023.
The email directed passholders to ticket offices to exchange passes. Some passholders were unaware of this change, but lifties at Chair 3 had great attitudes and graciously let passholders through and directed them to the ticket offices to update their passes.
The weather was blustery, rainy, and unseasonably warm with temperatures in the low forties. This didn’t stop skiers and riders from having fun and being clearly excited to be shredding in November.
Nor did limited mountain access stop the Alyeska Ski Club racers from training. The two functional lifts had congestion at times due to the racers which usually train on Chair 4.
Calling All Heroes: Nominations for American Red Cross Awards Open
Calling All Heroes: Nominations for the 2024 American Red Cross of Alaska Real Heroes Awards are open
“A hero is someone who rises in the face of adversity and helps others in a true moment of need,“ said Anchorage Police Officer Jacob Raygor.
Officer Raygor and two of his fellow police officers were selected as one of the American Red Cross of Alaska Real Hero Award recipients in 2023. Raygor and his colleagues provided successfully evacuated another police officer that was injured in the line of duty and provided first aid which saved his life.
Girdwood hosts Homer Police forum on ‘Parenting in the Digital Age’
On a recent Friday evening in Girdwood, a much anticipated guest speaker came to Girdwood thanks to outreach and support from the Public Safety Advisory Committee and Girdwood Board of Supervisors. Lieutenant Ryan Browning of the Homer Police Department engaged parents and youth in a frank conversation about the real life risks of youth social media usage, cyberbullying, sexting.
Lt. Browning’s time as a police officer, and personal experience as a father of two teens himself, inspired him to create his two hour presentation “Parenting in the Digital Age.” Over the last year Browning has traveled all over the state of Alaska sharing his thoughtful, engaging, and at times provocative, two hour program with the goal of helping parents and teens open up a dialogue about what they’re seeing and experiencing online.
Girdwood's Ava Earl Releases New Album, Helps Power Northwestern U. Running Team
In fourth grade at Girdwood Elementary, Ava Earl had to write a self-reflection on her school performance: "What are you good at? What are your weaknesses?"
Assessing her strengths wouldn't be hard, she was an exemplary student, star runner and already showed a proclivity in music.
But there was one thing she scolded herself on, something that could cause her teachers' "mild frustration", and something, as it would turn out, for which women are typically chided for more than men.
Talking--being--too much.
That accusation became the title of Earl's latest album, her fourth, released Sept. 15