In the end, Girdwood got a win on Tuesday, if only because members of the Anchorage Assembly think the mayor of Anchorage is too incompetent to execute the transfer of a large parcel of Heritage Land Bank property to a private developer to build more housing in the community south of Anchorage.
The Anchorage Assembly meeting spent time giving Assembly members the opportunity to say repeatedly that it’s the fault of Mayor Dave Bronson, who they don’t trust to finish the work started by former Acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson to significantly increase the density of Girdwood.
Assemblyman Chris Constant spun tales of poison cookies, rich privileged NIMBYs, and part-time Girdwood residents who have too many houses, in a long-winded Constant-style diatribe against the constituents of the area.
Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, who favors the project, said she just could not vote to move it ahead because the mayor isn’t competent to direct the completion of the Holton Hills land transfer, which would double the developed acreage in Girdwood, a somewhat self-contained community south of Anchorage.
Under Quinn-Davidson as acting mayor, a request for proposal was issued for the land to be released by the Heritage Land Bank. CY Investments, owned by Connie Yoshimura, got the contract to develop various housing, to include single-family homes, some mixed use, and some condos. Under the proposed proposal, the city and CY Investments would have split the profits of the development of about 100 homes. There was no guarantee that workers in the Girdwood area would be able to afford the houses, however. Much work would need to be done to satisfy Girdwood that the project would benefit the community.
Girdwood residents complained that no study had been done on the impact on Girdwood; there are water, school, traffic, and public safety considerations to doubling the housing in Girdwood, where many of the existing homes are, admittedly, often vacant because they are second homes, or are rented out as AirBNB or VRBO vacation rentals. Girdwood is a different neighborhood than anywhere in Anchorage because it is defined as a ski resort community and is somewhat insulated geographically and demographically from the rest of Anchorage.
Assemblyman Chris Constant has been a strong proponent of the development. Constant is a business partner with Yoshimura at Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices Alaska Realty Referrals, but has not recused himself from the deliberations concerning Yoshimura’s other financial interests.
During the deliberation, Quinn-Davidson said that the pushback from Girdwood “drives me nuts, and I think it gives us a bad name. I think it’s a bad vote for the Assembly. It shows that we are not interested in development.”
Constant put up a passionate fight, and with a shaky voice attacked members of the Girdwood community who had testified.
“It wasn’t just aggressive testimony, it was possibly dishonest testimony that was aimed at personal attacks because they couldn’t win on the ideas. Attack ideas, and if you can’t win there, you then attack the process, and if you can’t win there, you attack the people,” Constant said.
“Yes, the mayor’s team is a disaster,” Constant said. “But there is one party here who is not a disaster and who has a good track record. That’s Connie Yoshimura and her investment company. She is a successful developer that brings projects to fruition regularly in this community, unlike the people who led the charge against her, who have failed in their developments in Tacoma and other places, where they are actually causers of loss and causers of failed projects.”
No one on the Assembly challenged the right of Constant to be involved in the discussion, considering his financial ties to Yoshimura. And so he continued bashing Girdwood:
“I have learned in this process that there are people who if they come forward with projects from Girdwood, my my default setting will have to be ‘no.’ And they will have to convince me to change my opinion. Why? Because they spread rumors that Connie Yoshimura was attempting to poison them with cookies. And because four times one of my closest peers on the Assembly, even last night at midnight, asked me ‘have you been to the ethics board,’ after having disclosed four times the nature of my relationship.
“These people who are fighting against this cause have brought shame upon this body and we have enabled it. And I am so sad that we’re going to watch this project crumble because we enabled people who are so privileged, that they are going to sit in their third or fourth home in Girdwood while they rent out short-term rentals, and they enjoy the fact that property values they have are going to stay high because they stopped this project,” Constant said.
“There is shame to be had for all of us, because we were unable to live up to our values,” Constant continued.
The Assembly voted 7 to 5 to postpone indefinitely, with Constant, Quinn-Davidson, Daniel Volland , Joey Sweet, and Kevin Cross voting against the postponement.
Voting with Zaletel in killing Holton Hills were Assembly Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance, Pete Petersen, Kameron Perez-Verdia, Felix Rivera, Randy Sulte, and Robin Dern.
