Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils

Meeting Minutes

May 16, 2002

Call to order:

The meeting was called to order by Vice President Jeff Clarke at 7 pm. Approximately 15 were in attendance. Board Members present were Jeff Clarke and John Weddleton and Hillside East President Tom Newins.

Introductions:

President's Report: None

Minutes of the previous meeting: Summarized in Monthly Meeting Notice. Approved.

Federation of Community Councils Report: None

Legislative Teleconference:
Representative Con Bunde reported from Juneau that there was gridlock in Juneau. He requested that all state departments take a cut except K-12 education and the University.

All taxes were quashed except alcohol.

The redistricting plan appears to be a done deal.

Anchorage Assembly Report:
Janice Shamberg

PRESENTATION: Independent Road Service Areas or "No Man's Land"

Presenting were Maury Robinson from the MOA road maintenance department and Shane Osowski. Shane is an attorney and president of the Anchorage chapter of the Community Association Institute.

Maury: Thorough explanation of LRSA's, including the fact that the muni charges 12% administrative fee to administrate the "back end: of the relationship. Local Road Service Area (LRSA) incorporation requires a positive vote of landowners but it only takes 10% to get it to the ballot.

Shane: Community Associations work well if propoerly structured as corporations (limited liability) and there is a large enough group (scale) that shares a wide range of concerns. they have the power to "tax" within their association to ensure continuation of the service provision.

They work less well if the historical legacy is one of unincorporation and there are few people.

McReady Subdivision Rezone:

Derek Welton brought information on a zoning issue that appeared to create a subdivision of less than the 1.25 acre lots required by R-6 zoning that is standard in our area. It's hard to keep up on issues like this so we should all thank Derek for paying attention and taking time to gather information and to bring it to the Council.

The subdivision we're looking at is on the east side of Hillside drive south of the curve on Abbott Loop Rd. It's between Hillside Drive and Conifer streets. This is now called the McReady Subdivision. It is zoned R-6 and platted for 9 lots.

After some discussion, it was agreed that John Weddleton and Derek would get more information before choosing a course of action on this issue.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:00 pm

Note from John Weddleton:
After getting more information from the MOA planning department, it looks like the zoning issue not going to be a big problem. The landowner is requesting a "variance" that solves a septic problem for a non conforming lot (too small) in the Beacon Hills subdivision that is adjacent to the new McReady Subdivision. The following is from the planning department's report on Planning case #10882:

G. The existing situation is: When the petitioner purchased the property the area was zoned R-9 but was surrounded by R-6 zoned land. The petitioner submitted a rezoning request from R-9 to R-6.

During the process, the surrounding property owners received notice of rezoning and who the petitioner was. The owner of lot 7, Beacon Hills Estates contacted the petitioner to inquire about purchasing enough land to have a back up location for an on-site septic system. Lot 7 of Beacon Hill Estates Subdivision is a nonconforming lot of record in the R-6 zone containing only 10,000 square feet. The owners of lot 7 had to replace a failed septic tank in 1999. The septic drain field is a seepage pit, installed in 1973. With only 10,000 square feet of lot area there is not a site for a replacement system if the existing one fails.

Although the new lot is less than the 54,450 square feet required for a R-6 lot it is coming into a situation that is more conforming than the existing nonconforming lot.