Mid-Hillside and Hillside East
Community Councils

Anchorage, Alaska

Community Council Boundary Changes

Every 2 years, the boundaries of Anchorage's Community Councils are supposed to be re-evaluated. That task has slipped by a few decades, but the recent census has spurred some activity.

To see the current boundaries, click on the "Maps" button at the left side of this page.

Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Council Boundaries.

email dated 11/25/02
To: Community Councils Center and Community Councils
Proposed Community Council Redistricting: Update PZC takes Action

The Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) took action on Community Council Redistricting (Case 2002-038) on November 18. The PZC made recommendations for each boundary study area.

Available on December 9: Maps of PZC Recommendations The PZC will adopt maps and a written description of its recommendations on Monday, December 9, 2002 in the Assembly Chambers of the Z.J. Loussac Library at 3600 Denali Street. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

The maps and written descriptions of the PZC recommendations will be available to the public on December 9.

Next Step: Assembly Introduction After PZC adoption, Planning staff will prepare a new Proposed Community Council Redistricting case packet for introduction before the Assembly. The Assembly will decide a public review period and hearing date. Documents Available at http://www.muni.org/planning/:

· Available now in .pdf format: October 7, 14, and 29 packets containing written public comments;
·Available after December 9: New boundary maps and written descriptions that reflect PZC's recommendations.

If you have any questions about the project or PZC recommendations for you boundary study area, please call 343-7916 or 343-7921.
Thank you,
Tom Davis
Physical Planning Division Planning Department

The Planning and Zoning Commision had a hearing on the Council Boundary changes on October 7, 2002. That hearing continued to October 14 when they will likely make a decision on the alternatives they support.

Mid-Hillside CC president John Weddleton gave testimony reviewing the desires expressed at the CC meeting of September 19, 2002. See the minutes of that meeting and Resolutions.

The boundary issues in our area are not terribly significant. This is a big issue in some parts of town.

At our September 2002 meeting, we'll look at the recommendations the MOA Planning department has come up with and vote on our preferences. The draft report is online. The recommendations pertaining to the Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils are posted on the council's website and the full report will be available at our meeting. The gist of it is:

A task force of the Federation of Community Councils formed in the summer of 2001 to evaluate boundaries for Community Councils.

In November of 2001 the Federation of Community Councils Boundary Task Force approved substantially all of the suggestions recommended here and will include them as part of their proposal to the Planning & Zoning Comission and then the Anchorage Assembly.

The FCC task force's recomendations are just part of the input on boundary changes. All citizens may speak at the Planning and Zoning Hearing that will be held in 2002. After that, there will likely be an opportunity to speak before the Anchorage Assembly where the ulitmate decision will be made.

For more information on the work of the FCC task force, click here.

For a copy of the Final Version of the Boundary report dated March 2002, click here. It's a big report. The first few pages are a nice history of Community Councils.

At our September 20, 2001 meeting we had a presentation on the process for the boundary changes. The following is a summary.

Community Council Boundaries

Al Tamagni, member of the Federation of Community Councils' Boundary Task Force presented some options for revising the boundaries of our Community Councils.

The goals for setting boundaries include:

1. Boundaries that are obvious so people know what council they belong to.
2. Group areas that have similar lots sizes and zoning.
3. Boundaries drawn so more than one council will include government or institutional land. This will make sure that impacted neighborhoods are notified of events on those lands. For example, Mid-Hillside's boundary could extend deeper into Bicentennial Park so we are adjacent to BLM's Campbell Tract.
4. Al suggested that the boards of all the Hillside area Community Councils get together and draw lines that work for the whole area.
5. The population covered is not an issue.

The following was sent to the Boundary Task Force by John Weddleton on behalf of the Mid-Hillside and Hillside-East Community Councils. October 10, 2001

The following presents possible boundary changes for the Mid-Hillside and Hillside-East Community Councils. The information is largely based on discussion at our regular meeting on September 20, 2001.

The prevailing issues up here concern our system for maintaining roads, the way we dispose of our wastes and keeping the rural feel of the area. Aligning our boundaries with these common interests will result in more active participation than forcing the boundaries to match other political boundaries.

Area bordered by Birch Rd, Abbott Rd., O'Malley and Ruth Arcand Park.

This area is confused by its inclusion in the Abbott Loop, the Mid-Hillside and the Huffman-O'Malley CC's along lines that are hard to find even with a good map. Lines should be redrawn so that residents will know which CC they belong to.

Most of this area is not in the Anchorage Road and Drainage Service Area. Since the choice between city utilities and wells & septic systems is a volatile issue, this area should be part of the Huffman-O'Malley or Mid-Hillside CC rather than the Abbott Loop CC which otherwise is completely within ARDSA.

The choice between H-OCC and M-HCC is a toss up. In general, the lot sizes and apparent zoning are similar to areas in both CC's.

Making this area entirely part of the M-HCC gives the M-HCC the benefit of a border along Ruth Arcand Park. This will encourage attention to issues within that park. Having a border along Elmore Road will also allow the M-HCC to weigh in on the contentious issue of the Bragaw Road Extension. I believe residents in our area would appreciate that.

The small part of this area that is in ARDSA points towards including this area in H-OCC since they already deal with the conflicts between the two systems.

The current status has problems and should be changed. I would prefer to see this area as part of the M-HCC.

Extend boundaries farther into Bicentennial Park.

In the interest of complete coverage of the MOA, I recommend the northern boundaries of the M-HCC and H-ECC extend deeper into Bicentennial Park. Campbell Airstrip Rd and Basher Rd would make clearly identifiable northern boundaries.

Combining Mid Hillside and Hillside East CC

This has been suggested periodically. For most of their history, the M-HCC and H-ECC have combined meetings for convenience. In the history of the two CC's, the idea of officially combining them has been rejected several times.

The H-ECC contains all but a sliver of the Upper O'Malley LRSA giving that area a strong common interest that is not shared by the M-HCC. Many of the activities typical of a CC are likely covered by the board of the LRSA.

Currently the H-ECC is fairly quiet. It has not always been that way and it will probably wake up if there is a move to combine the two CC's! It would be an error to combine these two by looking at the short term inactivity of the H-ECC.

Combining Hillside East and Glen Alps CC

It would be wrong to write off the Glen Alps CC as dead. They may be quiet because there are few issues they have to worry about. There have been issues in the past where the GACC has risen to tackle them.

It may make sense to enlarge the GACC so it more closely matches the Glen Alps LRSA. It is likely that many of the issues that CC's deal with are dealt with through their LRSA structure. Meetings of the GACC and the Glen Alps LRSA could be combined.

This expansion would decrease the size of the H-ECC. The northern boundary of a larger GACC would be Huffman Rd and the west boundary would be Hillside Drive/Rabbit Creek Road. This would make the remaining H-ECC approximate the Upper O'Malley LRSA.

I cannot imagine any practical change that would occur in the short term by combining two quiet CC's.

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