Anchorage Daily News
Published: December 14, 2005
South and West Anchorage residents and community leaders turned out in force at a public hearing Tuesday to oppose a proposed southern extension of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.
The Anchorage Assembly held the hearing to take public testimony about a rewrite of the city's park plan, which sets the framework for park and recreational facility development.
But most of those who testified focused instead on the plan's references to the Coastal Trail extension, which they asserted do not belong in it.
"You need to remove all references to the Coastal Trail," said Bob Hoffman, president of the Bayshore Klatt Community Council.
David Lee, a member of the Oceanview Old Seward Community Council, urged the Assembly members to remove all specific references to new trails.
He also said he felt like the Planning and Parks and Recreation Departments, which drafted the plan, had ignored input from the community councils in which the new trails would be constructed, a theme that was echoed by several others.
"This plan has never been discussed or debated at our community council," said Wayne Pichon, the Bayshore Klatt council's secretary. "Nobody ever visited us to talk about it."
Boyd Morgenthaler, who lives in South Anchorage, said he was actively participated in the public process of the plan and was led to believe it was "all about parks and recreation."
He said he was vexed when he saw its references to trails development, specifically the Coastal Trail extension.
"The plan that's here clearly advocates for the Coastal Trail," he said, noting that there are specific references to the extension in writing and on maps attached to the plan.
Assembly members themselves did not debate or take action on the plan Tuesday. They will discuss it with the Parks and Recreation Commission in mid-January, and take up the parks plan again for final action at a meeting in late January.
The specific reference to the Coastal Trail extension is on page 71, where, in a section laying out priorities for purchasing land and filling gaps, one says, "Complete the Coastal Trail from Kincaid to Potter Marsh."
Though much of the testimony Tuesday came from community activists opposed to the Coastal Trail extension, others spoke in support of the plan.
Randy Virgin, director of the Alaska Center for the Environment, led a contingent of supporters of the overarching plan -- which sets the framework for land and parks management -- spoke in favor of it.
"I hope this plan does not become a focal point for one park or one trail," he said.
Kathy Gleason, vice president of the Turnagain Community Council, also spoke in favor of the plan and, in contrast to other community activists, urged the Assembly to leave the references to trails.
Daily News reporter Richard Richtmyer can be reached at rrichtmyer@adn.com or 257-4344.