By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: June 10, 2003)
The state has handed the proposed Anchorage Coastal Trail project back to the city, midway through environmental reviews.
Many issues raised during the environmental studies are local ones and local government is the logical entity to resolve them, said state Transportation Commissioner Mike Barton. He explained the decision in a letter to Mayor George Wuerch.
Mayor-elect Mark Begich, due to take office next month, said he's happy to take control of the project. "We can plan it better," he said.
But, he said, at the same time Gov. Frank Murkowski's commissioner gave the city back the trail project, the governor himself announced cuts in state dollars for local governments. That will make it harder to find money to continue work on the project, whoever manages it, Begich said.
"The real issue is, in light of the funding situation, how do we move it to the next stage?" he said.
The state last fall completed a draft environmental impact statement for the proposed extension of the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail from Kincaid Park to Potter Marsh, 13 miles. The existing trails runs 11 miles from downtown to Kincaid.
The state recommended a route that mostly follows the coastline.
The total project is estimated to cost $37 million, but Begich and other trail supporters say they're sure they can trim millions from the costs.
Whether the state or city manages the project, the main funding source is expected to stay the same.
To date, about $3.7 million has been allocated for the environmental and related planning, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Dennis Poshard. The money, 90 percent federal, was funneled through AMATS, a committee of state and local officials that directs spending for federally funded transportation projects in Anchorage.
With the governor's cuts, the allotted local and state money for Anchorage's roads and trails will be squeezed, Begich said, and that means more competition for the federal AMATS money.
"I don't know what their full agenda is," the mayor-elect said of the Murkowski administration. "Today it's shift the burden as much as they can on the local taxpayers."
The state hired a consultant, HDR Alaska Inc., to produce the environmental report. A public comment period ended in May and resulted in stacks of opinions and criticism from individuals, neighborhoods, groups and government agencies. The route is controversial mainly because of the amount of private property that would be taken for the trail and because of concerns that it will disturb wildlife.
Mark Dalton of HDR says his company still has about $30,000 available -- enough to review and organize the comments but not to evaluate them and incorporate them into a final report.
It's up to AMATS and the city and state to decide what to do next, Dalton said.
AMATS is deciding where to rank the Coastal Trail among proposed local trail projects.
At Wuerch's urging, the committee gave notice that it might bump the extension from a ranking of No. 3 down to No. 11 or 12. Wuerch said he thinks other trails ought to be built first.
The Anchorage Assembly may give AMATS some advice in that regard. It has a resolution on AMATS priorities on tonight's agenda and could vote on it, said Assembly Chairman Dick Traini.
To get built, the trail extension needs a final, approved environmental report that takes into account significant objections and criticism. That's the next step, Dalton said.
The city was responsible for Coastal Trail planning until 1999, when the administration of Gov. Tony Knowles took charge of it. The project had stalled, and Knowles wanted to get it moving again.
Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.