Should a Hillside District Plan include an evaluation of the pros and cons of bringing city water and sewer up the Hillside?
______ Yes ______ No

We were asked for our area's opinion on whether or not the Hillside District Plan should address the pros and cons of city water utilities, we sent this question to our Councils' and HALO'S email lists. Note that this is NOT asking do you WANT city utilities, it simply asks if we should open the door to evaluating city water and sewer on the Hillside.

About 200 emails were sent out. We got responses from 21 individuals. Four said "No" with comments that sewers and city water inevitably bring higher density development. Of those that said "Yes," their additional comments showed a strong preference to retain on-site systems.

Why is this important? With over 2/3 of Anchorage's undeveloped land, the Hillside will be seeing lots of development. Development is currently guided by precedent, the Hillside Wastewater Mangement Plan (HWMP) and expedience. The new Anchorage Comprehensive Plan calls for district plans to be written. In our area, the plan is the Hillside District Plan (HDP).

Preparing a plan will cost in the neighborhood of $1million and will take 2-3 years. Mayor Wuerch is reluctant to fund the HDP if it will not include the possibility of bringing city water and sewer to the Hillside where it is shown to be preferable to on-site systems. Our quick survey was intended to gauge support for preparing a plan within those parameters.

This plan, or the lack of one, could make a big difference in your life. The 2020 Plan calls for part of Hillside to be rural, with fewer services and on-site utilities. The boundary for this rural line will be determined through the HDP. That line will define limits of density, city water utilities and a variety of other services. The plan will look at trails and roads and all the variety of things that define our neighborhoods.

The current situation, with the HWMP as the main planning document, limits the extension of city utilities to the Hillside area without an amendment, which could come from a developer's request to the Planning and Zoning Commission or a neighborhood's vote to amend the plan. With access to city utilities the main factor in lot sizes, we should be concerned that AWWU was instructed by the Anchorage Assembly to plan their pipe so it can handle a Hillside fully connected to AWWU.

A good plan will set guidelines for development in our area. This will make it easier for developers who now have to guess at what will be acceptable. A good plan will also take away the nagging uncertainity many residents feel about the future of our neighborhoods.

Your Community Council has been active encouraging the Mayor and assembly to fund the HDP. When the plan is funded, we hope you will join us in preparing this important document.

To read the comments from the survey, go to www.communitycouncils.org/hillside. Click on the ISSUES button on the left and scroll down to the "Hillside District Plan." If you want to toss your opinion into the pot, come to this month's meeting.

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TRAIL CONDITIONS IN BICENTENNIAL PARK The Municipality is preparing a condition survey of the existing unpaved multi-use trails in the Park. There's $200,000 available from bonds to improve these trails. Come to a presentation at the Trails User Meeting at 6:15 PM on Monday, December 2 at the Campbell Creek Science Center.

At our December 2001 meeting, we talked about trail use and various conflicts among users. Of particular concern was a stink about piles of horse ..uh .. stink.. on ski trails. This meeting might be an opportunity to explore ways to deal with the increased use of the park and the increasing conflicts among users.

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WELCOME OUR NEW REPRESENTATIVES Congratulations to new comer Bob Lynn for his election as House Representative for District 31. John Cowdery earned another 2 year term as Senator for District O and Con Bunde moved to the Senate for District P for a 4 year term.

As this is written, the result for House District 32 awaits a count of absentee ballots. A scant 37 votes puts Mike Hawker ahead of Pat Abney. We should be able to congratulate the winner at our meeting.

We're looking forward to continuing a friendly relationship with our representatives. Our state reps frequently attend our meetings and while they are in Juneau, we keep in touch via a teleconference phone.

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HOW DID WE VOTE?
Here's a comparison of how our area voted with the state as a whole.

Looks like we are similar to the rest of the state except that more of us vote. Chugach 2 is roughly Hillside East, Abbott Loop 2 and Huffman 6,7,8 are roughly Mid Hillside give or take. Looks like our support for Murkowski is stronger than average. The percentages on the propositions are for "YES" votes. Looks like we are less enthusiastic for these than the average Alaskan.

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Local Road Service Area budgets were decreased to the average of actual expenditures for the past 4 years. This was done to help get the overall municipal budget under the tax cap.

Residents choose the spending levels they want and they pay all the costs plus 12% to the MOA. There's reason to wonder if the Mayor should unilaterally cut their budgets. There is even some question as to whether LRSA budgets should be under the MOA tax cap.

We passed a resolution in September requesting that the LRSA budgets be restored. If you are in a LRSA and have questions, contact your LRSA board members. If you want your LRSA budget put back where it was, call Mayor Wuerch at 343-4431or email wwmayor@ci.anchorage.ak.us.

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SHORT NOTES: An AWARE Academy will be held November 20th at 6pm at City Hall. This free class teaches basic strategies for personal safety and how to prepare for disasters. For more information or to register, call the AWARE hotline at 343-6114. "RUST in PEACE" is a program to remove junk automobiles from residential property.

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E-Mail saves money! Send your email address to councils@alaska.net to get your newsletter by email instead of paper. That saves money and you'll get it sooner.

Debbie Eckhardt O'Malley PTA Debbie@Eckhardt.com

ACES tickets 258-2237 fx 278-4297 xavier topkok after noon