Mid-Hillside & Hillside East
Community Council News

May 2001

Agenda

No Meetings May thru August. If an issue comes up that warrants a meeting, we may call a meeting.

Feel free to contact any of the Board Members!

  Board Members

Chris Birch, P.E. President 346-3265 (h)
chrisbirch@gci.net
Jeff Clarke, Vice President 349-4892 (h)
jay_peak@hotmail.com
Bill Missal, Treasurer 345-7520 (h)
John Weddleton, Secretary 349-8370 (h)
john@weddleton.com

Mike Sharrock , President
Hillside East CC 346-4442 dipietro@alaska.net

We meet at 7pm on the third Thursday of the month in the Library at O'Malley Elementary School on Rockridge off O'Malley.

Get involved ... it's your neighborhood!

FIRE DANGER ON THE HILLSIDE Sue Rodman rang the fire bell at our April meeting! She is in charge of getting the word out about fire prevention on the Hillside. The Hillside area has a high possibility of burning.

When the conflagration starts, we'll have only a few hours to get out of the area or hope that we'll be able to survive in our homes. Expect streets clogged with cars, thick smoke and confusion. Fire trucks will have a hard time getting to the fire. Not every house can be saved.

Things can get bad, but experience has shown that properly constructed homes with defensible space can survive even huge fires. The time to solve the problem is now. The person in charge is ... you.

You have the responsibility to make your home safe by creating a "defensible space" around the home. In general this means maintaining an area at least 30' around the home free from fuel for the fire. There's really quit a bit to this. You can get the pamphlet "Firewise" from any firestation or by contacting Sue Rodman at wildfire@ci.anchorage.ak.us or call 267-4902.

THANK YOU TO PAT ABNEY ! Pat Abney put in a lot of work during nine years in service to the city representing our area on the Anchorage Assembly. Thanks!

CREEK CLEANUP DAY is May 19, 9am -1pm followed by a celebration at Valley of the Moon Park at 1pm. For more info call 277-9287. Also see www.creekcleanup.org

E-MAIL SAVES MONEY! Send your email address to councils@alaska.net to get your newsletter by email instead of a paper copy. That saves some money, you'll get it faster and it's in color! By taking advantage of technology, the Federation of Community Councils has maintained its budget at the same level it was in 1978!

FREE BRUSH CHIPPING Put your tax dollars to work! The city and the fire department are paying for a chipping crew to help Hillside residents get rid of the dead trees and branches. Last year this program chipped for 539 homes. Burning is currently prohibited on the Hillside so chipping is your best option for getting rid of flammable brush.

Drag your brush to the curb or within 10' of the road way (not by your driveway!). Stacks should be no larger than 4 feet cubed. You can have as many piles as you need. Branches should be facing the same direction with nothing over 8" in diameter. No trash and nothing with thorns (they are dangerous for the crew).

When everything is ready, call Carlos Tree Service at 522-6049. They'll take requests through September 30.

ZONING ON THE HILLSIDE Uh oh .... you've just found a pink flyer in your mail letting you know of a zoning issue in your area. It could be a small issue or it could mean a catastrophic change in your neighborhood. What can you do? The Municipality Planning Department has an Online Zoning and Platting Notification System. Active Zoning cases for each community council can be reviewed on the site. You can zoom in to see the specific parcel. By modifying map layers you can even look at an aerial photo of any area in town. You can get to the site from the municipal homepage at www.muni.org or go directly to http://gisweb.ci.anchorage.ak.us/planning/home3.htm . In many cases, you'll even find a staff review of the case.

If you are concerned about a zoning issue, your community council is here to help. Together we can learn more about the issue and take action to direct the change so it works to the benefit of our community.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER! The Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils suspend their regularly scheduled meetings in the Summer. (This will give you more time to work on creating a firewise "defensible space.") If there is an issue during the summer that you feel is a concern to the Community Council, feel free to contact any of the board members.