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| CBERRRSA, Board of Supervisors | 1/9/2012 11:12:33 PM |
| The following comments were submitted to the OS&HP Project staff on November 29, 2011 via email; however, they weren’t included in the “Public Hearing Draft Comment Matrix”: ===================== On 11/15/11, the CBERRRSA Road Board unanimously passed a motion to recommend approval of the Official Streets and Highway Plan (Public Hearing Draft 2011) with the following modifications: +++++ On Page 19, under the section titled “Street Typology Implementation”, change: “The Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan provides guidance about which street corridors will be transit streets and mixed-used streets outside of downtown Anchorage.” to: “The Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan provides guidance about which street corridors will be transit streets and mixed-used streets outside of downtown Anchorage excluding the Chugiak-Eagle River area which is guided by the Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan.” +++++ On Page 22, under the sections titled “Mixed-Use Streets” and “Transit Corridors”, clarify that the Anchorage 2020 Comprehensive Plan does not apply to Chugiak-Eagle River. +++++ Add that Chugiak-Eagle River’s street typologies might differ from the Anchorage Bowl’s typologies as Chugiak-Eagle River’s specific needs are identified in the Chugiak-Eagle River Comprehensive Plan. +++++ Add that some street typologies that are appropriate for Downtown Anchorage might also be appropriate for Downtown Eagle River. +++++ Finally, the Road Board recommends that after the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) is approved by the Assembly, the OS&HP immediately be updated in order to add the high priority road improvement projects that were identified in the Eagle River Central Business District & Residential Core Circulation Study. These new roadways should be added to the OS&HP Table titled “Classification Listing of Streets in Chugiak/Eagle River” on Page 55 as well as the corresponding map. | |
| Scott Pexton | 11/6/2011 1:23:51 PM |
| Official Streets and Highways Plan - Public Review Draft 2011 Please remove Jamie Avenue from the Appendix of the proposed plan as it is a local road and it absolutely should not be classified as a collector for numerous reasons including the following: (1.) The municipality has not done sufficient, if any, realistic traffic studies or credible population growth analysis specific to the impacted Bear Valley area that would justify the extreme expense needed to design, construct, and extend unpaved Jamie Avenue to a neighborhood collector standard. (2.) In 2011, after considerable deliberation and expense, the municipality determined the final alignment for the proposed Mountain Air Extension project to be the western-most (Option A) route. This route was selected, in part specifically to avoid some of the same wetland areas that a potential future westward extension of Jamie Avenue or 155th would need to traverse. (3.) The north branch of Little Rabbit Creek is physically located in close proximately to the existing dedicated Jamie Avenue right-of-way. Any realistic redesign and construction of Jamie Avenue as a neighborhood collector would significantly affect and potentially re-route the north branch of Little Rabbit Creek along that portion adjacent to Jamie Avenue between Heights Hill and Nickleen Street. (4.) Design and construction of a neighborhood collector between King's Way and the intersection of existing Jamie Avenue at Nickleen Street would require crossing the existing north branch of Little Rabbit Creek and would disrupt existing drainage uphill from current home and property owners. It would likely impact Class A wetlands within and near Section 36 lands south of Clark's Road, lands which are currently proposed for preservation by the Heritage Land Bank and the municipal Parks Department. (5.) Extension of Jamie Avenue west to either unbuilt 155th or the eventual Mountain Air Extension road alignment would require a significant and expensive bridge to cross the main south channel of Little Rabbit Creek and would require federal wetlands permits due to the presence of extensive Class B wetlands with potential impacts to Class A wetlands and drainage areas within Section 36. (6.) Bear Valley residents endured more than ten years of contentious litigation and bureaucratic wrangling with municipal officials from the mid-1990's through mid-2004 regarding gross subdivision survey errors previously approved by Anchorage Borough officials. The re-survey and re-plat of all 330 lots in the Rabbit Creek Heights and Rabbit Creek View subdivision cost more than a million dollars of tax payer monies with a considerable portion of those expenses paid by Bear Valley property owners. Many Bear Valley residents will be less than thrilled to find out the municipality may need to acquire property from lots along the legally dedicated right-of-way for Jamie Avenue to build an unneeded so called "neighborhood" collector so that a bunch of vehicle owners that live outside of the community can zoom through our neighborhood while we pay for the road maintenance. (7.) Including Jamie Avenue as a neighborhood collector in the Official Streets and Highways plan would likely violate the principles and the intent of the municipal context sensitive design policy, as it would impose a future road design without first listening to and engaging with the actual impacted Bear Valley property owners and residents. (8.) Given projected costs of over $7 million dollars for the shorter length Mountain Air Extension neighborhood collector project, limitations due to Class A, B, and C wetlands, location of Little Rabbit Creek on both sides of Jamie Avenue, existing property lot boundaries, and the fact that at least five significant road intersections would be required (King's Way, Nickleen Street, Heights Hill, Carl Street, and 155th and/or Mountain Air Drive as extended); a neighborhood collector between King's Way and currently unbuilt 155th (or unbuilt Mountain Air Drive Extension) would likely cost considerably more than $10 million; therefore, it is way too expensive and flatly unjustified based on any reasonable analysis of actual or projected community needs and other subdivision road connectivity options. (9.) The final version of the Hillside Sub-Area Transportation Study identified other existing streets (besides Jamie Avenue) as potential connections to future subdivisions west of the Rabbit Creek View-Heights subdivision. The study did not propose changing the classification status of Jamie Avenue or other roads outside of the study area boundaries and in fact appropriately suggested that the classification of Jamie Avenue remain as a local road. Please re-evaluate the need for a neighborhood collector and remove Jamie Avenue from that classification in the next approved, updated version of the Official Streets and Highways Plan. Jamie Avenue should continue to be a local road, not a collector. | |