Girdwood Trails Committee
Minutes of Regular Meeting
Forest Service Office Building, 7 pm 
Tuesday, November 7, 2006

Vice Chair Norman Starkey called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m.  Alison Rein acted as secretary for the meeting. 

Others present: Carolyn Brodin, Carl Skustad, Matt Wedeking, Jonnie Lazurus and Art Eash (HLB).

Approval of Minutes
Minutes from October 3, 2006, were approved.

New Business 
Art Eash from the Heritage Land Bank brought information and items for discussion. These were:

1.	summary of Mayor’s meeting, especially regarding Galcier/Winner Creek area plans.  Tom Nelson of MOA’s planning dept. explained the process to develop the area – will need to do a Master Plan, and then follow that with specific site development plan.  City has completed a feasibility study of the area that shows what sort of facilities could potentially be developed, next step is to choose which to develop.  
2.	An earlier study suggested that golfing could be developed, but that it wasn’t a real great marketing option.  Ski trails were seen as more advantageous, , and would also require the least commitment of resources to develop, so the Muni hired The Boutet Co, Inc. to explore development of Nordic trails.  They have  produced the draft “2006 Winner Creek Trails Feasibility Study” primarily by Jim Galanes to show which trails would be logical to debelop initially.  This draft is out for public review.  

3.	Other facilities being considered for the Glacier/Winner Creek area is downhill skiing, but the Muni feels it should wait to see what’s happening with the sale of Alyeska before working on this aspect too much.

4.	Another issue is the CPG Hut – its on city land.  City does not want to operate/maintain this facility, looking for some entity to do this – esp. take on the liabilities of such an operation.  He has had a structural engineer review structure, needs some minor work, needs an outhouse.  Trail Committee members are supportive of Art getting something arranged with CPG to operate this facility.  Art will keep us informed of what he can negotiate with CPG.

5.	Another topic from Art is dedication of trails.  Apparently Rosey Flecther has been pushing for this (yeah Rosey!), initial area is an HLB parcel between Alyeska’s mtc. shop and Arlberg, with the up-hill edge basically the first part of Winner Creek trail that is no longer advertised as the start of the trail.  HLB is proposing that Anch. P&R add this to their parks in Girdwood.  P&R is not too enthusiastic about acquiring this additional “burden”.  Art explained 2 ways to dedicate a trail, one is a much more involved process, requires survey, p&z, assembly approvals, the other, called an Intergovernmental ROW permit (IGP) is less taxing, allows actual trail location to be moved in the event a development requires it.  This is the process Art will pursue for Beaver Pond trail and others.   

6.	Another trail topic that was discussed is Cabana’s request for land exchange between a parcel he owns and an HLB parcel.   When this request is open to public comment, trails committee should request the existing rough trail on the HLB parcel from Alpina to Alyeska hwy be retained as a public ROW. 

7.	The final topic with Art was Crow Creek Road and a sewer line that is proposed to run either in or along the road.  Art asked if the trails committee would support locating this line off the roadway and using it for a pedestrian pathway as well as as the sewer line location.  The majority of members present felt this was a great idea.  

8.	Art also suggested that DOT will be generating excess fill material from the reduce Crow Creek road reconstruction project and this could be a great source of fill for the trailhead the FS is proposing to develop near Crow Creek Mine.  

Committee members thanked Art for coming and for keeping them informed.

Old Business
1.	IGP permitting – see #5 above
2.	2007 budget – Jonnie L: apparently there’s a discrepancy over $10,000, Jonnie feels it has something to do with the playground, not with trails.  Jonnie’s put in request for $20,000. with another $10,000 in reserve if no grant money is awarded to trails.   Alison volunteered to look into the State trails grant,  
3.	Nordic trail update – see #2 above; quick review of plan, red trail least liked, also the connection across glacier creek not favored…discussed ow to pay for grooming, study shows a yearly pass of $150, or a $20daily fee to ski the groomed trails.  Talked about developing a pin to sell to raise funds for girdwood trails – and show support for our trails (Carl design?!)
4.	SAGA Crew wrap-up – Matt went to their graduation, crews liked working in Girdwood.
5.	MOA Activity Guide – Jonnie’s sent in what we all helped edit, is now looking for winter photos, send to Jonnie ASAP!
6.	AK Trail Training – help Oct 13-14 at Glacier City hall and on CA Creek Trail, good turnout, would have been nice to have had a few more locals….Carl Skustad said they intend to have another session in spring to get FS & State Parks crews geared up for field season.  
7.	other trail issues??? – briefly discussed winter grooming situation; Jonnie has returned old snowmachine,  Mark Jonas will lead grooming effort again, Norman said Eric Teela interested in helping groomers.  

Tram door is fixed and safety sign in better location.

 KATE: For next meeting: take SAGA, Activity Guide, Trails Training off agenda, keep trails dedication, budget, Nordic trails, other issues on agenda

Meeting adjourned 8:50pm