Anchorage Daily News
Published: November 2, 2005
Last Modified: November 2, 2005 at 07:04 AM
The Anchorage Assembly took a slap last week at the proposal to continue the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail south from Kincaid Park. But for now, the city will keep working on a route and environmental report, a spokesman for Mayor Mark Begich said.
The report is expected to be published and ready for public comment in December, mayoral aide Michael Johnson said. "It would be fiscally irresponsible not to finish it," he said.
After that, the trail's future is unclear.
The Coastal Trail runs about 11 miles from downtown to Kincaid Park, by the airport. Planners have been working on the route and design of a 12-mile extension to Potter Marsh off and on since 1996. The latest price estimate is $24 million. Portions of about 120 private properties would have to be purchased to build it.
The choice of a route had been headed for a final decision by the Federal Highway Administration early next year.
But now the Assembly says it wants the project halted.
The Assembly, while considering the city's long-range transportation plan Monday and Tuesday, voted 7-to-3 to remove the south extension from a list of recommended trail projects.
That in itself doesn't stop anything because the Assembly's vote is only a recommendation, city officials say. AMATS, a committee of city and state officials, is ultimately responsible for revising and adopting the long-range plan.
But the Assembly could revise other documents, like the city parks plan and the areawide trails plan, to say that the Coastal Trail extension can't be built. If it does that -- and some Assembly members say they will push for such a decision -- that would be a roadblock to building the trail, city attorney Fred Boness said.
"Then any attempt to build it would be deemed inconsistent" with the city's comprehensive plan and there would be a basis to challenge building the trail, he said.
That is because the parks and trails plans are part of the comprehensive plan.
Johnson, the mayoral aide, said $3.6 million in federal funds has been spent on the route report over eight years, under the guidance first of the state, then of the city. The Rasmuson Foundation gave the city $450,000 to complete the report after other funds ran out.
If the Federal Highways Administration's approves the project next year, then AMATS would have 10 years to get moving on the construction, said John Tolley, a state transportation planner. After that, the federal government could ask for the money back.
Ed Rasmuson, chairman of the foundation that bears his family's name, said he's taking a long view of the proposal. "I think the majority of the people of Anchorage would like to see the trail," he said. "Twenty years from now, 30 years from now, they'll have a trail there. This doesn't stop the trail extension, it just delays it, is the way I look at it.
"I just feel sad that we can't get this to a conclusion," Rasmuson said.
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Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.