Minutes from May 17, 2006
Girdwood Area Plan Review Committee

Tom Yeager. Chair
Terry Mercurio, Acting Secretary

The meeting convened at 7:05 p.m.  In attendance: Carolyn Brodin. Allison Vail, John Gallup, Ebon Stone, Steve Delatush, Kevin Desmond, Shirley Durtchi, Patty Montague, Brian Epley, and Kevin McDermott.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Yeager opened the meeting by emphasizing that the GAP has significant issues facing the committee.  He outlined the 
evening’s agenda; no formal notes were read from the April 18th meeting.  

A.  The biggest question at hand is “Do we have a working plan?”  The plan IS to 1) review the document and identify issues that need additional attention, and 2) identify methodology of the committee for revision, i.e. education, workshops, surveys etc. from community.

Discussion about getting the MOA planning department on board ensued.  Many felt that this was very important.  The final approval authority of the plan is the Assembly; therefore, the MOA needs to be in the loop--the mayor, Tom Nelson, HLB, the planning department, and someone from the Assembly.  If our
process is to go forward, the MOA would be able to offer various services, fund surveys, validate the efforts of the committee, and keep our efforts visible. For organizational flow, the MOA needs to be involved.

There was some concern that the MOA and especially the mayor do not listen to us.

MEETING WITH MAYOR
Discussion then ensued about the upcoming meeting with the mayor on May 25th.  John Gallop, Kevin Desmond, and Ebon Stone will attend.  This is seen as an important meeting to exert pressure on the mayor and the MOA to legitimize our efforts and make our voice heard.  Discussion involved what did this group
want to say to the mayor? 

RESPONSES TO CHAPTERS 1-6 
The next part of the meeting was taken up with individuals’ responses to the first 6 chapters of the GAP.  Each person had an opportunity to respond to the document.  Larry Daniel’s notes were read to the group, and Yeager suggested that each person e-mail his/her notes to Kate or himself in the future.  Issues of concern were noted and are recapped here:

a.  The Commercial Area and Transportation plan should be an addendum to GAP golf issues. (More on this in Chapter7)

b.  Map on page 47 needs to be redrawn to reflect what has been accepted.

c.  Fish and wildlife concerns: the document needs to take more consideration of these matters; if compromised this would hurt Girdwood.  Information on fish spawning is not wholly accurate.

d.  Keeping the small-town atmosphere is a focal point.  This was emphasized in survey—the dichotomy of community input and what was put forward in the plan.

e.  Goals from the community are not reflected in the plan resort expansion--this is a driving force of the current document.  Has it happened?  

f.  Girdwood is growing but not due to resort expansion.

g.  Transfer of lands from state to MOA--Has that happened?

h.  Stated impetus of plan is public land (pg. 1) but private land seems to be the de facto impetus.

i.  Gravel extraction--gravel is being hauled from Portage--we have a resource here in Glacier creek.

j. Specific flaw in land use map (p.47) area above the brown (above the airport) is designated resort-- this needs to be changed.  

k. People will lose access to the chain of meadows.  People could put up with a lot of development if the area to the gorge could be preserved

l. Preservation of the meadows and wilderness is critical.

m. Chapter5--update chapter How are responses weighted?

n. We need to get a handle on the maximum capacity in the valley.  How big can Girdwood be?  When do we put a cap on growth?

o. Second owner residences are a factor in the valley.

p.  Developable land seems to be a driving force.

q.  Dedication of the 4 corners area is necessary; this is the geographic soul of the valley.

r.  Development should tend to take place in the lower valley, not the upper valley.

Yeager brought the meeting to a close with a reminder that diversity in the group and divergent ideas were important.  

Next meeting was set for June 8 at 7:00, place TBA. The group will tackle Chapters 7 & 8. Meeting was adjourned @9:00 pm.