1THE PLANNING CONTEXT AND PROCESS

OVERVIEW:THE INTERDEPENDENCE OFTRANSPORTATION ANDCOMMERCIAL ACTIVITY

To thrive, mountain resort communitiesrequire an appealing natural environment,vibrant commercial cores and goodmobility systems. Mountain communitiesthat attract visitors become known not onlyfor the drama of their setting, but also forthe liveliness of their core areas and thecharacteristics of their transportationsystems. For example: Aspen for itswalkable downtown, Portland for its lightrail system, Zermatt for its car-freeenvironment, Crested Butte for its funkyshops and buses, Jackson Hole for itsdifficult accessibility.

Good mobility means that a destination isaccessible from other points on the map.Good mobility also means that people findit comfortable, pleasant and convenient tomove around within the community.Accessibility is challenged by theconstraints of landscape, environment,existing community development patterns,community character and cost. Goodinternal circulation is challenged by theinherent difficulties of providing adequatepublic space and transportationinfrastructure (including parking) in dense,active places where land area is dear andcompeting uses are numerous. Girdwoodmay be as notable for the challenges tomobility and the sleepiness of itscommercial areas as for its dramaticscenery.

Successful commercial areas thrive onpedestrian activity. Mountain resortcommunities throughout North Americaare working hard to achieve developmentpatterns that provide pleasant and

memorable environments for walking andstrolling and congregating. Localbusinesses (other than gas stations) needpedestrians. People cannot spend moneyuntil they park their cars; cars are theprimary sources of pedestrians. In anymountain resort, one of the principalplanning challenges is to provide parking

and transit systems, road and streetnetworks, and pedestrian connections thatwork well together and that support theretail/commercial component of thecommunity. Simply offering goodmerchandise is rarely enough to assureeconomic success.

These issues are compounded in placesthat, like Girdwood, are facing thepotential for significant growth. AsAlyeska Resort becomes a stronger year-round destination and as the Turnagain

Fig. 1-1Walkable downtownstreet in Aspen,Colorado

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Arm area continues to experience growingnumbers of visitors, there is potential forsignificant growth in retail, lodging andother commercial development in theGirdwood Valley. This represents both achallenge and an opportunity. Girdwood isat a crossroads, facing the dual need foran invigorated commercial environmentand a circulation system that supportsboth economic vitality and environmentalquality. The special challenge inGirdwood, as in all beautiful places, is topromote mobility and enhance the qualityof the visitor experience while at the sametime protecting what local residentscherish about this unique place.

Good connections between thecommercial areas within the GirdwoodValley can significantly enhance thepotential synergies among them and addmuch to the overall vitality and appeal ofthe valley. The keys to success appear tolie in promoting the uniqueness of eachcommercial area at the same time each isseamlessly connected to the others(preferably by means other than driving).In addition, better connections are neededbetween the commercial areas and thevalley’s other destinations, including theGlacier Valley Development Corporationgolf course project, future parking andtransit centers, the ski mountain (not justthe base), and the world outside thevalley, especially Anchorage, nearly fortymiles away.

UNDERLYING OBJECTIVES:THE PLANNING CONTEXTGuiding objectives have been establishedfor Girdwood through a virtuallycontinuous sequence of planning effortsinitiated by the community and theMunicipality of Anchorage (MOA) duringthe past ten years. (See list, Appendix A.)The 1995 Girdwood Area Plan (GAP)established broad objectives for thecommunity’s future development. TheMunicipality’s subsequent process to draftland use regulations applicable specificallyto Girdwood will, when adopted, establishland use parameters, developmentstandards and design guidelines toimplement the community visionarticulated in the Girdwood Area Plan. (Afinal draft of the proposed Girdwood LandUse Regulations in Title 22 of theAnchorage Municipal Code is beingpresented for public review.)

The community goals that evolved frompublic dialogue during these previousplanning efforts generally relate toGirdwood’s economic vitality, its quality asa tourist destination, the efficiency andutility of its circulation networks, andpreservation of its sense of community. Inparticular, the plans express thecommunity’s desire to:

Fig. 1-2Alyeska Resort has

helped Girdwood tobecome a stronger

destination for visitors

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• Create a town center with a uniqueidentity and strong connections to theresort, the surrounding residentialneighborhoods, and recreationalfacilities.

• Promote the continued growth andeconomic viability of the commercialareas of the community and connectthem to one another.

• Expand the town core as acommercial and community center.

• Provide a variety of year-roundresort/recreational opportunities forthe benefit of local residents andvisitors alike.

• Establish and preserve a system ofopen spaces.

• Preserve Girdwood’s small-towncharacter.

• Assure that physical developmentblends with the area’s naturalqualities.

• Create an effective multi-modalcirculation system for improvedcommunity-wide access and linkage.

PROJECT OBJECTIVESThe Municipality of Anchorage (MOA)initiated the Commercial Areas andTransportation Master Plan process inMarch, 1999 in order to move toward morespecific strategies for public improvementsand guidelines for private developmentbased on the general recommendations inprevious studies and plans. The specificobjectives of this planning effort were to:

• Develop a plan that reunifies thecommunity’s fragmented network ofold and new commercial and resortdevelopment areas through acoherent system of developmentstandards, design elements,circulation modes and pathways.

• Identify the primary function andidentifiable characteristics of eachcommercial node and make

recommendations for strategies thatbuild upon these to create a uniqueidentity for each node and a unifiedimage for the community.

• Provide specific direction for theorganization and design of newcommercial development in order toassure appropriate scale andcharacter.

• Suggest strategies for internalcirculation and roadway systemimprovements that will mitigate thepotential negative impacts ofcommunity growth on local trafficvolumes; to avoid future congestionby reducing dependence onautomobile use.

• Link Girdwood more effectively toAnchorage and the tourist corridorbetween the city and Seward; toprovide better access for visitors toGirdwood’s resort and recreationalareas; in particular, to assess thefeasibility of a rail spur from theAlaska Railroad’s main Seward-to-Anchorage line.

• Involve the Girdwood community inthe development and evaluation ofalternatives.

• Utilize and build upon the base ofknowledge already acquired throughprevious planning studies relating totransportation, commercial planning,and community development inGirdwood.

THE PLANNING PROCESS ANDCOMMUNITY INVOLVEMENTThe development of the master plans hasbeen a three-phased process, withintensive on-site public work sessions andmeetings in each phase.

Phase 1: Problem Identification

The primary goals of the first phase wereto establish a broad community consensuson the mission and objectives of theproject, to develop a clear understandingof the problems and needs in the

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commercial areas of the community, andto clarify circulation issues. Because thisinitial phase was essential to provide afirm foundation for subsequentrecommendations, the emphasis was oncommunity input, data gathering, andproblem analysis. The first phase ended(and the second commenced) with the firstround of intensive community worksessions and meetings in Girdwood duringthe week of March 29, 1999.

Phase 2: Conceptual Planning

The specific goals of the conceptualplanning phase were to generate ideas toaddress issues identified the first phase, toproduce materials to assist the communityin comparing and evaluating alternativeconcepts, and to select preferredapproaches for later refinement in themaster plan.

The first public meeting on March 30,1999 solicited community perceptions ofissues and constraints. A second publicmeeting was held at the end of that weekto summarize and verify the issues,discuss possible conceptual directions,and narrow the range of options to thosethat appeared most realistic. Followingthose initial on-site meetings, theconsulting team began to generateconceptual plan alternatives for thecommercial areas and for transportationsystems, and HDR launched a feasibilitystudy of potential rail corridors. Thesecond round of week-long publicmeetings began in Girdwood on May 25,1999, when participants gave input ondraft conceptual site plan diagrams thatillustrated alternative approaches totransportation systems and commercialarea uses and linkages.

Phase 3: Master Planning

The third phase of work brings theplanning process to a conclusion with theproduction of a document that refinespreferred conceptual directions into anintegrated set of planningrecommendations and strategies. Draftmaster plan recommendations anddrawings were reviewed at the third andfinal round of public meetings in Girdwoodduring the week of September 7-11, 1999.

The final drafts of master plan documentshave been revised to reflect publiccomment at those meetings and will besubmitted to MOA for formal public reviewand adoption.

Public Involvement

Many community members haveparticipated in public meetings during theseven-month process, as haverepresentatives from the MOA, the AlaskaRailroad, the Heritage Land Bank, theMental Health Trust, Alyeska Resort, theGlacier Valley Development Corp., andthe Alaska Department of Transportation(DOT). In addition, two advisorycommittees of interested citizens, onefocusing on transportation and the otheron the commercial areas, were formed toassist the consulting team. Additionalmeetings, open to the public, were heldwith the advisory committees during eachof the three on-site work weeks. [Notesfrom the public meetings are included inthe appendix.]

PROCESS FOR PUBLICREVIEW, ADOPTION ANDAMENDMENT OF THE PLANThis final draft of the Master Plan reportwill go through the normal process ofcommunity review and public hearings. Itwill be submitted to the Girdwood Board ofSupervisors for their review, as well as tothe MOA’s Planning and ZoningCommission, the Heritage Land BankAdvisory Commission, and the UrbanDesign Commission. The boards, who willbe asked to make recommendations to theAnchorage Assembly, may review the planconcurrently or jointly to streamline thereview process. Their recommendationsare advisory; the final decision rests withthe Assembly.

Once adopted, the Master Plan and theassumptions on which it is based will bereviewed and updated at least every fiveto ten years. Amendments to the planmay be made as needed according to thenormal MOA public hearing process.

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STRUCTURE OFTHIS DOCUMENTThe Transportation Master Plan forGirdwood is designed to ensure thesuccess of the Commercial Areas MasterPlan. Because each plan informs andshapes the other, the two parts of thisplanning process have run in parallel, withtransportation issues and tradeoffsaddressed in the evaluation of alternativedevelopment patterns for the community’sthree primary commercial areas. To reflecttheir close interrelationship, the two planshave been combined into one documentcomposed of three major sections:

• The introductory section offersbackground on the Girdwoodcommunity and its land use patterns(Chapter 2); describes the physicalconstraints that influencedevelopment patterns in the valleyand summarizes the major issuesand concerns expressed incommunity meetings (Chapter 3); andidentifies the community’s toppriorities (Chapter 4).

• The second section presents thevalley-wide elements of theTransportation Master Plan. Generaltransportation concepts aresummarized in Chapter 5;recommendations for a publictransportation system are presentedin Chapter 6; and modifications to theroad, street and trail network areoutlined in Chapter 7.(Recommendations relating topedestrian system improvements arealso addressed in the CommercialAreas Master Plan.)

• The third section comprises theCommercial Areas Master Plan.General concepts for commercialvitality are explained in Chapter 8.Chapters 9, 10, and 11 focus onindividual commercial areas – theNew Girdwood Townsite, the ValleyEntry and Old Girdwood, the Old andNew Resort Bases, respectively,integrating recommendations forcommercial development withrecommendations for improvementsin vehicular and pedestrian circulation

in those areas. These commercialnodes are identified on Map 1 on thefollowing page.

• A final chapter (Chapter 12),discusses general approaches toimplementation and phasing.

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The Girdwood Valley viewed from Mount Alyeska.Turnagain Arm is in the upper left, and peaks in ChugachState Park edge the valley in the background. AlyeskaHighway is visible on the valley floor.