The poorly-conceived capital budget project to pay for Anchorage to eliminate two youth athletic fields to make room for another parking lot shows the need for more creative planning and flexible zoning in Alaska's largest city. Thirty-five percent of adults and 17 percent of children in America are obese, and many already describe obesity as an epidemic. All who care about our health must question any decision eliminate recreation space in a part of our community long-used for healthy activities. Adding even more asphalt to the miles and miles of asphalt in Anchorage doesn't make sense as our population continues to grow: We need to use our recreation space wisely.
In its capital funding request to the Legislature, the Municipality of Anchorage requested funds to bulldoze two baseball fields near Mulcahy Stadium and pave those fields to provide more parking for the Sullivan Arena. The Municipality's "justification" for paving over athletic fields is to provide parking for events that may fill the Sullivan Arena. While it is unclear how often the Sullivan Arena actually sells out, we know that sports fans and the arena have managed for many years without additional parking. The Legislature approved $5.19 million for this project, and it's now before the Governor.
Gov. Sean Parnell should veto this $5.19-million expense and urge the city to find a win-win option. Losing two athletic fields where our youth have a long history of healthy activities doesn't make sense when there are good options for more parking while keeping the ball fields.
One option is building a multi-level parking garage between Mulcahy Stadium and the Sullivan Arena. Adding spaces above the existing spaces would bring fans closer to the arena than the proposed ground level lots near A Street. The parking structure could even include a sports restaurant in the parking structure that would provide an opportunity for a local business to benefit from proximity to all of the athletic facilities and events.
Another option is building a pedestrian bridge over A Street that would provide safe access to the parking areas near the office buildings between A Street and C Street. The parking contractor for the Sullivan Arena could then manage access to these other lots during popular events -- and provide additional revenue to both the parking contractor and the office building owners.
And a third option is developing a parking garage across the New Seward Highway (Ingra and Gambell streets) with a pedestrian bridge to the Sullivan Area.
All of these options reflect smart city planning that looks to the long-term needs of the community rather than a short-term, quick-fix solution that will create long-term problems. Indeed, for many years, the Sullivan Arena and its tenants have continued to thrive even with parking challenges.
Maintaining athletic fields is an investment in sports participation. While the local baseball leagues may have withdrawn their prior objections to losing athletic fields because other venues are becoming available for baseball in the years ahead, other sports groups would undoubtedly treasure these quality athletic fields. Lacrosse, for example, is just starting to gain a following in Anchorage. The fastest growing sport in North America, lacrosse has Native American roots and elements of hockey, soccer, and football. Rugby is another sport people play in Anchorage that can make use of additional athletic fields. And Ultimate Frisbee, another increasingly popular sport, could make good use of these athletic fields as soon as the snow clears in the spring and continuing into the fall. And converting baseball fields into lacrosse, rugby, or ultimate Frisbee fields will be far less expensive than hauling gravel and laying asphalt.
This $5.19 million capital project for ground-level parking lot construction in central Anchorage highlights the need for flexible approaches to parking as our population grows. Parking challenges in different areas of Anchorage require our municipal leaders to find more flexible approaches than bulldozing valuable athletic fields. In Spenard, for example, Chilkoot Charlie's has nighttime parking demands while adjacent retail businesses have daytime parking demands. Likewise, the Sullivan Arena has high parking demands at night while nearby office buildings have full parking lots during regular working hours.
Title 21, the Municipality's zoning code, doesn't have provisions to allow Chilkoot Charlie's to include the adjacent business parking to determine the adequacy of their parking. The result of this inability to maximize use of parking acreage in both day and night ultimately harms local businesses. If Spenard could accommodate more businesses through a shared parking approach, then all of the businesses would benefit from access to more customers.
The same conflict also persists near the Sullivan Arena. Across A Street from the baseball fields, developers have added several office buildings to the Midtown landscape in recent years. These office buildings are surrounded by parking lots, required by the zoning code, that receive little nighttime use from the building tenants. In contrast, the Sullivan Arena parking areas are largely vacant during the day and busy at night.
Instead of spending $5.19 million to remove two baseball fields, the Municipality could spend $5.19 million to build a pedestrian bridge over A Street that makes the Sullivan Arena parking lots accessible to the office buildings by day and the office parking lots accessible to the Sullivan Arena by night.
The Municipality is accurate in recognizing parking issues near the Sullivan Arena when a popular event takes place there. But replacing two athletic fields with an asphalt parking lot is shortsighted and lacks the creativity that Alaskans demand from our public officials. There are good ways to address the Sullivan Arena parking issues that are win-win solutions: solutions that maintain valuable athletic fields for our youth and improve access to the Sullivan Arena.
Governor Parnell should send the Municipality back to the drawing board.
Matt Claman is an attorney with Lane Powell, is a former Anchorage Assembly member, and served as mayor of Anchorage in 2009.
The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, e-mail commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.