We'll call this September 21st 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to order.

May we please have the roll call?

Andre Spinelli.

Here.

Jared Gardner.

Here.

Radika Krishna.

Here.

Scott Polis.

Here.

Jeff Ron.

Here.

Amal Baza.

Here.

Megan Mills.

Here.

Edith McKee.

Here.

Brandi Eber is excused.

You have a quorum.

Thank you.

Uh first we want to announce that if anyone's here for case 2026-0116.

That case has been withdrawn, so we will not be hearing that case this evening.

Next is the special order of business.

Any disclosures?

Commissioner McKee.

Um, yes, the company I work for does contract work with DOT and PF, who is the petitioner for case two zero two six-zero one one five.

Um I have no prior knowledge of this project and I have no financial gain associated with it.

Um I do not see anything that would prevent you from participating.

Any other disclosures from the commission?

Uh hearing none, we'll move on.

Uh will staff provide a brief presentation on information item 2026-0115.

Good evening, thank you Chair.

Uh this is the state of Alaska DOT MPF project to rehabilitate the existing Rabbit Creek Road between the Sword Highway and Goldview Drive is spanning just over two miles.

The scope of the project focuses on improving roadway condition, drainage, safety, and multimodal accessibility, particularly for pedestrian and bicyclists.

The concept report includes a review of existing condition, a preliminary review of guiding plans, street concept options, and a stakehold involvement summary.

Members of the project team are present tonight to answer any question regarding the concept report.

Please note that this is not a public hearing item.

Right uh rather it serves as an information item to feminarize the commission with the project ahead of the 35% design study report, which you will review during a future public hearing.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If the commission wanted to provide some in point at this point in time, would there be a recommendation from staff on how we would do that?

Uh Chair Spinelli, uh you may ask questions of the you can ask questions of the project team that's here.

If you have specific are you saying you want to provide like specific guidance and recommendations for the project, I don't have anything specifically in mind.

I was just curious if any other commissioners did, if there was a process that we would go about doing so.

Uh Chair Spinelli, I might need to.

I think you would just discuss it and I to be honest, I'm not exactly sure.

Um I think it is just like a could would be able to give like recommendations for the next of the 35% that they would be presented to you in a later date.

Okay, possibly in like the form of a resolution or something, a motion and a resolution.

I would I would say that in a later date, like uh they would when when they presented the 35%, they wouldn't need to actually um answer or work through your questions to what you are the chair chair, if you don't mind me stepping in.

If the um commission would like to discuss and provide recommendations now you might pull this and make it into an action item or you could just discuss and we can take notes and the project team can take those notes away with them today.

Oh thank you.

Commissioner Ron Thank you through the chair I do have a question about um what's driving design there's um mention of available crash data which is not included in this concept report and the two alternatives that are shown both heavily focus on uh left turn movements and so I'd appreciate um additional context from the project team to confirm that in fact it's the left turn movements that are driving the crass issues of concern uh commissioner wren uh the project team is right here right uh ready to answer any question that the the commission may have hi for the record I'm Rory Van Nortwick I'm the project manager with the design team with DOT and PF.

Uh so currently this is an AMAS driven project it was something that was uh proposed to us to take on um one of the big things that's pushing the concepts that we've presented is some uh preliminary input from the community councils in the area mostly to avoid doing uh the two way left turn lane which is why the left turn pockets are currently being analyzed there has been traffic data polled but we will be doing further analysis of the corridor as we go further along in the project thank you um I see no further questions from Commissioner Roan Commissioner McKee.

Hi thank you through the chair I had similar kind of comments questions concerns also was asking for the traffic data in particular ped and bike crashes or if ped and bike data had been collected um I also had some comments or concerns about any other alternatives beyond the two way left turn lane being considered two way left turn lanes tend to be more car focused you know giving priority to their movements over potentially reducing um bike and ped crashes additionally like the 85th percentile speed is exceeding posted two-way left turn lanes also don't tend to help um moderate speed they tend to help people continue to drive at rates above posted so also hoping that maybe the design team would consider something that restricts left out movements and potentially considers that 14 foot space that's being utilized for the two-way left turn lane um could maybe better be served with a median and then potentially small diameter um roundabouts at the 19 different intersections um the DOT did a small diameter roundabout in Wasilla as a interim project but it was so successful at managing traffic and reducing crashes that they didn't need to expand it um so hopefully they would consider something that encourages write in write out behavior only which does help protect pedestrians and cyclists um and that by reducing the take might you know a median may also um significantly reduce the amount of right of way that needs to be acquired to accomplish the the project um but I I really did like to see that one of the objectives is to improve bike and ped safety and provide them um dedicated facilities because right now they're using the shoulder and that always makes them very vulnerable so I like I like that that's one of the objectives of the project.

Thank you.

May I just speak because it wasn't a very it wasn't a sp it was more recommendations not a question but may I speak to the traffic just one more time.

Please do.

So we actually have um a consultant on board that we were able to pull on um and and we will be doing a more thorough analysis of the corridor again we're in very preliminary stages of this project and we're just now trying to get kicked off in the CSS process thank you um my comment can hold if anyone else has any other questions.

In that case, um through the chair to the commission, I just wanted to let you all know that we are currently considering some changes to the CSS process itself to um perhaps um change this particular step of CSS to make it a public hearing where the commission can provide um official recommendations on um the projects prior to them getting to the the DSR or 35% as it stands now.