Creek changes upset Muldoon residents who want park

The decision stirred up residents so much so that the Assembly has decided to hold a public hearing and re-vote on the issue Tuesday.

"We'd been working on a bunch of money for Chester Creek," said Anchorage Assembly chairwoman Debbie Ossiander. "This I thought was fairly routine."

No one spoke at a public hearing on the grant in January, but not everybody who cared knew it was coming up, Ossiander said.

And many in Muldoon area neighborhoods fear a plan to realign the creek near the Muldoon and DeBarr Road intersection could lead to commercial development of city land they want for a park.

This month, the Northeast Community Council voted 51-to-0, with one person abstaining, for a resolution asking the city to dedicate the Muldoon Road frontage as park land. The council also asked "that the current proposed realignment of the creek be dropped or re-done to facilitate a park, not commercial development. ..."

Plus, they want to make sure there are no plans to extend DeBarr Road east of Muldoon. It's a busy street but dead-ends at Muldoon Road.

"Muldoon Road is basically going to be strip malls," said Stuart Grenier, longtime Northeast Community Council board member. "This is the ideal place for a park because of the creek."

The park vs. commercial development battle is one that's been going on for years in this corner of Anchorage. And it doesn't seem to be resolved yet. When the project to move the creek came up at the January Assembly meeting, City Manager George Vakalis said, "What's done with that (property) in the future is yet to be seen."

WHY MOVE THE CREEK?

The land where creek renovation is proposed is part of 29 acres the city bought in 2006 -- property that had been seized by the federal government from a pair of men alleged to be drug smugglers, Tom Cody and Joe Bryant. The feds sold the acreage to the city for $5 million. It encompasses the old Alaska Greenhouses property.

The 29 acres is a deep and narrow parcel stretching from Muldoon Road to the military reservation land on the eastern edge of the city. The eastern 12 acres have been designated as park land, but when the purchase went through, the then-city land director said the city could sell portions of the land west of that -- like the Muldoon Road frontage, the section where the creek work is planned.

The Northeast Community Council wants the whole 29 acres as a park strip.

The city thinks a 600-foot section of the creek needs to be moved where it leads to Muldoon Road and flows in culverts under the road, said city project manager Russ Oswald.

Fish passage is impaired under the Muldoon-DeBarr intersection, and the city can't properly maintain the culverts, Oswald said.

"We would have to dig up the intersection."

The renovation would also fix flooding and icing in the stream and create a 100-foot buffer. Without the buffer, structures could be allowed to build much closer to the creek, Oswald said.

The creek now transverses the northern edge of the property roughly in line with DeBarr.

The realignment would divert the creek south across the property and have the last bit of it flow parallel and close to 14th Avenue. It would cross under Muldoon Road south of the Muldoon-DeBarr intersection, closer to 14th Avenue.

IDEAS FOR A PARK

Oswald said his instructions were to relocate the creek in a way that would leave all options open for future use.

But Grenier said, "If they place the creek where they have it on the map, it will not be good for a park."

The creek would be right next to a hill that, if left undeveloped, could be used for sledding, he said. "Kids would sled into the creek."

He also envisions a parking area along 14th Avenue right where the creek is proposed to be relocated to.

And he thinks Chester Creek won't be as pretty in the new spot.

Muldoon contains densely populated neighborhoods, he says, and having the Muldoon frontage included in a 29-acre park would give it a greater feeling of community.

Greg Nelson, a member of the Anchorage Muldoon Lions, says it's important to open up the frontage property as a town square "to create an inviting, open access to the expanse of open park land lying hidden behind the hill to the east."

Nelson would like to see the land become a park owned by a nonprofit group like the Lions Clubs. It would be easier for the neighboring community to guide its development that way, he said.

The two East Anchorage Assembly members seem to agree that the east-side activists should be given a shot at buying the piece of the 29 acres that is not already designated park land, for a park.

"If the community council wants to make it a park it should go through a special tax assessment" to raise the money, said Assemblyman Adam Trombley.

Trombley said he would support the idea of an Assembly resolution to advise the city "we should not sell for commercial development the front parcels until we can determine if the community wants to pursue making the whole area a park."

Assemblyman Paul Honeman, who is also running for mayor, said, "Apparently there's been studies that they should realign the creek notwithstanding commercial development."

But the city should do it "in a respectful way that meets everybody's interest," Honeman said.

And "first right of refusal on the property up for sale should be up to the community, should they acquire the funds to get it for park designation."

Grenier said creating a park assessment district to raise money is "like option three."

They're hoping to attract the backing of philanthropists, he said. Or the city could just turn the land over for a park.

Assembly meeting

The Assembly meets in Loussac Library on Tuesday night. Public hearings are held at 6 p.m. or later.