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The Hillside District Plan is being conducted by the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) to prepare for continued growth on the Hillside while protecting the lifestyle we enjoy now. The Hillside District Plan is one of the many sub-components of Anchorage's Comprehensive Plan, Anchorage 2020. Adopted in 2001, Anchorage 2020 allows neighborhoods to write plans that protect their neighborhood character under development guidelines proposed in Anchorage 2020 (such as continued low density, rural for SE Anchorage). Since 2001, HALO and the area's Community Councils worked to get the Hillside District Plan started. In 2005, the Anchorage Assembly approved funding. In 2006, a variety of consultants were hired to do the work. Things moved slowly. Very slowly. A series of three public meetings in March of 2007 livened things up. The big question to the public then was "what should we do?" That was followed by a summer of diligent work by the consultants and the Citizens Advisory Committee resulting in two more public meetings in September 2007. Those meetings presented some information that had been gathered and proposed a few possible courses of action. With those preliminaries out of the way, we are now approaching decision time. If the HDP is a horse race, the action is just now heating up. Wavering Suspicion is in the lead by a nose over perennial favorite Trust No One. The underdog and crowd favorite, Just the Facts, stumbled more than once and lost ground but is not out of contention. Ridden by team CAC's jockey Davey/Westberg, Just the Facts may yet find the inside track.( See "Nitrates?") Always a sporadic contestant, Provocative has never won a race but always adds to the excitement. ( See "Commercial?") Keep your eye on frequent also ran, Wise Land Use. Jockeyed by A::B this thoroughbred is heading for the rail and may just pull this one off. While it appears a few apprentice jockeys made their way into the race, everyone is riding all out. Whips are flying. Team MOA with its syndicate of DCONs is working hard for a crowd pleasing win. The pace is fast and the pressure high with a motivated team CAC crowding the pack. Anything can happen in this long race with the general outcome obscured until July 2008 when a clear leader is expected to emerge. The crowd will get its best view in late July's run to the wire. Watch for a blanket finish with the final result decided by an assembly of 11 judges. That adds a real unknown to any outcome since the judges are often swayed by wayward information from people with no stake in the race. For the full race card go to www.hillsidedistrictplan.com |
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