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Post by oleruns on Nov 30, 2007 19:26:25 GMT -9
MESSAGE FROM A SOURCE WHO WISHES TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS The Airport is planning an airport expansion. Three scenarios call for plowing over the Coastal Trail by the Sewage Treatment Plan, and also cutting off the trail a bit further south. This is not a joke. This was presented to the public on Nov. 6, at a public meeting on the master plan. Go here: projects.ascg.com/anc-apmp/Documents.aspx. Click on the first link to the Nov. 6 meeting. Once the large document opens, go to pages 13-16, and see for yourself. The airport has not gone public with this. Why, cause it's a lose-lose PR fiasco of epic proportions. My guess is they don't want the public to know until it's a done deal until it's too late to do anything about it. Also note, the trail already passes through airport property (as do ski trails at Kincaid). So, for now, they are tolerant tenants, but this likely won't last, unless the discussion goes VERY public.
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Luna B
Silver Cacher
Posts: 204
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Post by Luna B on Nov 30, 2007 20:39:31 GMT -9
those airport planners really torque me off. I have already had words with them and will continue to dog them.
Thanks Ole for the page references, they have been very stealthy in letting us at MOA review the plans. they even laughed at me when I asked for a copy of the master plan, they said, oh its really too big to make copies of. geesh. I will follow it up. thanks again.
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Post by NorthWes on Dec 3, 2007 13:42:05 GMT -9
The presentation I saw at a Sand Lake Community Council meeting in 2005, as part of a proposed plan to build new runways and a causeway to Fire Island, had permanent and radical changes in play for Kincaid Park. As I recall, almost everything north of the entrance road would go behind a fence - swallowed up by the construction & perimeter needs of a new E-W runway and the runout safety zone of a new N-S runway's southern end. The carrot being dangled is a new ski park on Fire Island, accessed by a gravel causeway from Kincaid Park. Of course, the island's use is totally contigent on CIRI participation, as they 'own' most land there (and would like to put a 5-star world class destination resort hotel on the island's southern tip - imagine the stunning view!). It's apparently a better landscape for a ski park in terms of elevation changes etc., but it's (obviously) undeveloped. Proposed new runways (remember - this is just one of several proposed layouts) are shown in light orange, to the left of and below existing runways. Note the dashed black line around areas at the southern (bottom) side of the map, including Little Campbell Lake etc.; this is the airport's existing boundary and encloses an area they can 'recapture' for airport development, with little 'control' over that decision (the airport believes...) from outside groups. The airport claims one in five Anchorage jobs is related to the airport's economic footprint; that's a powerful argument when they go to the city to ask for anything (including reallocation of existing trail corridors or recreational user land). In addition to land use being lost forever, there's the big issue of gravel - where would all the construction gravel come from? There's some left on Kincaid's north side, but most has already been mined. So, extensive truck traffic (or even rail spur traffic off the passenger terminal spur) would be seen to bring in the millions of tons of gravel needed for this kind of project. That's a lot of vehicle exhaust, noise, and dust... Finally, as LunaB has pointed out, it's tough to get the 'Big Picture' from these folks. Sign up for email notification of your local community council meetings - the Sand Lake one stays on top of the airport's plans as much as possible, and has had some success in influencing decisionmaking on the airport.
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Post by oleruns on Dec 3, 2007 17:57:10 GMT -9
If gas prices keep going up, there wont be a need for an airport.
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