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Anchorage's new Comprehensive Plan makes suggests that the overriding value in Anchorage is "we value natural open space." Maybe that's true, maybe it's not. After a two year attack, the forces of development succeeded in turning a corner of Far North Bicentennial Park into a ballfield complex for the Simonian Little League.
The location to be developed is in the southwest corner of the
Park. This is on the east side of Abbott Loop Road between the
neighborhood on Jupiter Drive and the Abbott Loop trail head near
the intersection of 80th Ave. This was a nicely wooded area. The
"Coyote Trail" starts at the trail head and leads to
the Park's developed trail system. There was a network of narrow
footpaths throughout the woods testifying to its popularity.
The top picture at the right was taken August 3, 2003. The picture below it was just a couple years earlier.
The planning for the Community Park began January of 2003. The site plan was approved in March 2004.
In December of 2002, the Anchorage Assembly passed an ordinance that would allow a ballfield complex for the Simonian Little League to be built on 25 acres of Bicentennial Park. This effectively took the issue off the April 2003 ballot and stopped the lawsuit challenging the ballot issue. In August of 2003, the area was cleared of trees. On July 22, the Anchorage Assembly approved $825,00 for grading and seeding the land. The cost would climb to at least $2 1/2 million.
Mitigation Land Identified
As part of the deal that sealed the fate of the southeast corner of the Park, land was to be added to the Park to make up for the lost corner.
The deal was that the mitigation land would be identified within 90 days. That slipped by a few years and a controversy ensued. For more info on that, take a look at the Mitigation Land page.
Press Conference Starts the Clearing
The picture at the right shows Mayor Wuerch at a press
conference at the Abbott Loop Trailhead 
on
February 10, 2003. This event marked officially the start of
clearing of the 25 acres for the Simonian Little League.
Demonstrators were concerned that clearing has begun before the completion of a plan for where the fields and parking will go. How do they know what to cut?
There is also a concern that the money to complete the project is not available. Will we be left with a muddy clearing?
(Check out the ballfield supporter in the yellow coat with the axe!)
What
are we getting in exchange for this wooded forest?
The current plan for the fields include three little league fields, a senior league field, a soccer field, parking for 140 or so cars, a concession stand and a storage shed.
A parks bond provided $1.2 million for these fields. It is expected to cost at least $1.7 million to complete. For comparison, the South Anchorage Sports Park has consumed $4.2 million. The Chuck Albrecht Fields, a four baseball field project, has run up a tab of $2.5 million and there are no fields yet!
There is a citizens advisory group for this project that includes an active member of the Friends of Bicentennial Park. There's not much left for them to do but make sure the project is done as planned.
According to Dave Gardner with the Anchorage Project Management & Engineering, as of August 13, 2003, two contracts have been awarded to date for phase I work at the Abbott Loop Community Park Project in Far North Bicentennial Park:
Total value to date for construction work underway at this site is $902,334. Additionally, note that the tree clearing is completed. And grading and waterline installation are underway, with completion anticipated by freeze-up. Seeding is now scheduled to be completed spring 2004.
An email from Anchorage Citizen Andrew Meltzer
Sunday, January 26, 2003
At the recent public meeting at
MOA public works dept the budget was stated as $700,000 with a
total cost of $1,700,000 and no plan for the rest of the funds.
The proposed area to be clearcut, leveled, and seeded is equivalent to 500 ft X 1100 ft. This means we have a budget of $1.27 per square foot (about $50,000 per acre). How does this compare to similar efforts recently paid for by MOA? I am concerned (always have been, and have said so at many previous Assembly meetings) that we will run short of money and the project will be left in an unfinished state of disaster just like Chuck Albrecht was.
I believe the city may be about to violate the recently authorized land clearing ordinance. We need a cost estimate, based on labor, material and equipment costs associated with a completed stamped engineering plan set, before starting any work. This is essential to ensure we are not embarking on a under funded disaster. Issues associated with topography, soils, drainage, utilities, and road access are all still unresolved at this time and may result in the cost going even higher than anticipated. Earthwork projects rarely become cheaper than initially estimated. The cost estimates prepared to date are only unit cost estimates based on preliminary designs which are typically used for planning purposes only.
PLEASE don't screw up this project! Lets make sure we have a complete design and adequate funds before clearing the land. This way we will have a safe, attractive project rather than an embarrassment. My understanding is there is no need to panic and clear the land before the project is designed and funded because the Simmonians can use the Chuck Albrect fields for a few years.
Taking the time to do this right should make everyone involved happier in the long run.
e-mail from Sandra Talt 1/22/03
Last night was the first meeting for public comment about the
design of ballfields and the community park coming to Abbott Loop
Road. Next meeting is scheduled for early March, but the
exact date has not been set. Parks & Beautification ask
that public comments be sent by February 10. Send to Jerry
Hansen of P&B
<hansenjw@ci.anchorage.ak.us>.
His phone 343-8143.
My impression is that the second meeting will be to show the
final plan, and very little change will occur at that time.
Dwayne Adams of Land Design North and the P&B commissioners
were very clear that there are not enough funds to build the
entire park as envisioned. Just as clear that land clearing
will probably begin by the end of March.
Jim Barr spoke on behalf of Friends of Bicentennial Park. I
spoke on behalf of F-J Ranch. There was general agreement,
even with Dave Manser of Simonian Little League, that trail
access from the north and south would be a good thing, rather
than just one access along the parking lot as envisioned.
Dave Manser says there will be removable outfield fencing, but not removable other fencing or structures.
Most agreed that an earth berm would be good protection from sound for the park, and an underpass from the west to the east would be great, but nobody is going to pay for it right now.
Much concern about preserving the existing informal trail along Abbott Loop, in light of the expansion with the Bragaw Extension.
Dave Manser says there will not be a PA system, that they only use a PA twice yearly, and they rent it just for those two special games. He feels strongly that the parking lot needs to be bigger than 144 spaces.
There was a lot of concern about the huge size of the senior
league field, and much testimony that it should be smaller, more
comments on this would be great.
Tie a red ribbon around tree!
The following is and email that began making the rounds in late December 2002.
Walking through the area that has since been designated as
Simonean Little League Ball Fields, I realized that we will be
paying a very large price in trees and untamed land so that a
group of people can play an organized sport on grass with
fences. Within this 25 acres are an untold number of trees
who will in fact, die, to make way for the fields.
Before the trees are torn out, I thought that maybe they could
serve as visual art as a way to honor them and to remind all of
us on both sides of the issue(s) that we are losing something of
great value. What if I go and hang a red strip of fabric in
a tree for each and everyone one in my family and then persuaded
two or three others with families to do the same thing? A simple
strip of red, perhaps with a message written on it, that is
knotted around the trunk or hanging from a branch. What if
each of us, in turn, adds a red strip to the trees and then sends
this message off to others who might like to participate?
Do you think we could get 10,000 trees for each of the 10,000
signatures collected? For those of us who value the trees left
standing, who value the peace that place brings and who value
ball fields someplace other than the park - then this may be our
only chance to have our voices recorded. It is, in fact, a
powerful way to make a statement.
This project has no beginning, nor end. It has no official
organization nor sponsorship. It merely is. I have added my
strips to the trees there. Will you add yours and then copy and
paste this message into emails you want to send so that there is
no one person's name associated.
Thank you for doing this - it may not feel like much, but it
feels good to do something.
 January
2003An open letter to: Mayor Wuerch, Jim Posey, Dave Manser, and Members of the Assembly From: Mary Hertert, an Anchorage citizen who lives near but not next to the park and who is a major user of this section of the land. Why wrap trees? Why would several of us go out in the dark and wrap red (and other colored) fabric on trees? For several reasons. Although each of us has our own set, the underlying premise is that we have no other meaningful way to be heard. From the beginning, those of us who disagreed with the
idea that the ball fields had to go on this particular
patch of earth with all these trees were immediately
funneled into battles with meaningless phrases such as
"It’s for the children",
"NIMBY", " It’s a compromise",
"Children are more important than trees",
"Environmentalists (or users or neighbors) are
greedy", "It’s only 25 acres", etc.
etc. etc. These were the same arguments used for the
coastal trail extension (with different players and
results) and for the Hilltop expansion. Now the
difference in all of this is that the coastal trail has
few options - it either goes in on a proposed route or
does not go in at all. Hilltop, if it is to expand has
only one place to go. It either expands or it does not.
The ball fields were billed in the same light. It was
this place or the children would never play again. Excuse me. There in is the lie. 33 sites proposed, not all would work - but there was great effort made to make sure none of them would work. There was no effort to engage all affected parties in a dialogue that would help create a win-win situation. There was no effort made to explain why this location had to be the one, the only one that would resolve the issue of where the kids could play. In the process, those opposed to putting in the ball fields in the only proposed location were told they hate kids, they were NIMBIES, that they wouldn’t share and in short, their opinions did not matter. Why wrap trees? It’s to illustrate the price we
are all paying for the decisions made. Those of us who
value trees standing will be saddened to see them ripped
out for no understandable reason. Those who Why wrap trees? Because you have neither valued the opinions of those who have sought alternatives to this location, nor provided meaningful opportunities to forge an equitable solution. This was not a compromise since compromise implies mutual giving and taking. It is not sharing if one side is grabbing with both hands with feet firmly planted in the sand. What price are we paying? Those of us who care that the land is utilized in a way that is reflective of the entire community will not only lose the trees, but will end paying monetarily as well as emotionally for that loss. What do we get in return? Nothing except for a reminder that the new Abbott Loop Simonian Little League Community Park is neither a park nor for the community. |
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Following is from an email from Assemblyman Doug VanEtten 12/18/02
Planning process for Abbott
Loop Road Community Park
in southwest corner of Bicentennial Park to begin immediately
I anticipate that Land Design North will be the recipient
of the $30K grant approved last night by the Assembly for the
Park planning process. I suggest that you let LDN know these
concerns. I also suggest that you and other neighbors meet with
LDN to let them know your concerns and suggestions for park
planning / siting.
I am going to make the same suggestion to the various outdoor
organizations and the environmental groups that supported the
"compromise" action by the Assembly.
I talked with Dwayne Adams at LDN today - 276-5885. He is meeting
with the Parks Department folks Wednesday afternoon, December
18th at the Parks Department request to get moving on this
planning process.
I let Dwayne know I am suggesting that a neighbors group, parks
users, environmental organizations, etc. meet with him and/ or
his staff to make your expectations and/ or desires clearly and
firmly known. I also urge that you accurately and completely
document these meetings so the Assembly can be aware of the
expressed interests. I will also give you Dwayne's e-mail
address but I can also tell you they have been having e-mail
problems and the last few messages I have sent there have been
returned as undeliverable. So, I suggest telephone communication,
especially if the e-mail bounces back.
<dadams@landdesignnorth.com>
The Mayor was adamant in pointing out Tuesday night that the
"site plan" will come back to the Assembly for
approval.
At that time the Assembly will need to know that the concerned
parties have made every effort to be involved with the process.
By the time it reaches the Assembly agenda next time around, it
will be very late to make substantive changes.
You know that the little league has already made their needs well
known and will closely monitor the planning for the community
park to be sure their needs are met.
I urge you and others to monitor equally closely the process to
get as much "community" as possible in the community
park. After all, the Mayor assured that it is his intent that
this be a true "community" park, as called for in the
Bicentennial Park Plan, on page 15.
By the way, if you would like, I can get our staff to make copies
of the Bicentennial Park plan for those who want the
approximately 80-page document.
Doug Van Etten
244-6610
P.S.
It should not be forgotten that the horse riders may need to be
considered as far as access and safe crossing of any parking lot
areas/ entrances-exits.
A final thought is that the soccer people should be accommodated,
as well as other potential off-season users by the use of
removable fences. These are now VERY COMMON throughout the United
States and Canada.There is a gentleman who I know only by his
nickname "Lefty", with the Anchorage Bucs staff who two
years ago told us that everywhere he goes to do baseball clinics
"Outside" the fields are muli-functional and removable
fences are the norm.
We want this park, since it will now happen, to become the BEST
example of park planning, development and cooperation yet to
happen/ occur in Anchorage. This park needs to compliment the
adjoining neighborhood and natural open space, not violate either
of those features any more than necessary.
Meetings Regarding the Park Construction
Stay informed! Get on the FOBP maillist. email Sandra Talt.
This website is
maintained by Friends of Bicentennial Park to provide
information on Anchorage's Far North Bicentennial Park.
live there will put up with the added
noise and traffic as well as the end to the reasons they
bought their houses in the first place. Those who value
silence will lose a little more. Those who would have
supported the ball players if they had been put somewhere
else will not be inclined to help. And finally, but most
importantly, the Little League children are learning the
value of acquisition by way of trashing others.