NOTN- The future of Juneau’s Telephone Hill redevelopment will get another look after the Assembly voted late last night to add the topic to an upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting.
Last night’s meeting was full of passionate testimony from Social Service providers, businesses and residents, and among that testimony were more calls to halt demolition of the historic neighbourhood.
“Juneau’s Historic Resources Advisory Committee members who you appoint because of their expertise have told you multiple times that the homes on Telephone Hill are a direct tangible connection to our history and should be preserved.” Said Larry Talley, “Please consider taking the advice of those you have selected for their expertise, even if you believe a housing project is worth more than the historic district, don’t demolish this historic district until you know that you can afford to put housing where your market analysis says is a very expensive place to develop.”
Assembly member Nano Brooks moved to place on the next Committee of the Whole agenda a discussion of “actions that could affect Telephone Hill development or the timeline,” including options for pausing the current demolition request for proposals until responses to a separate qualifications process are in hand, and exploring partial or full land disposal strategies.
Assembly members say this is a way to reassess timing and structure rather than to kill the project outright.
“My concerns is, since we last touched on it, there’s even been more public outcry.” Said Assembly Member Maureen Hall, “Could we modify the bid for partial demolition? This is really hard, but I don’t know that we’re ready to go full steam ahead.”
“we know the strain on the Treasury, we know the costs after getting the gondola cost. My risk tolerance and concern for moving forward without having better senses on the price has gone down.” Said Deputy Mayor Greg Smith, “That being said, there’s five votes to have this discussion.
It’s a challenge, and I think staff has done a good job trying to make it as smooth as possible. But you know, all changes will have impacts to possible development, but I’ll support at least having the discussion.”
Some members pushed back, saying the body has already debated the issue repeatedly and that no new information had emerged.
“I do feel that we have voted on this and very similar issues many times at this point.” Said Assembly member Ella Adkison, “At this point, no new information has come forward that would change my calculations and I know that the COW (Committee of the Whole) has quite a bit on its plate, and I don’t really want to rehash old ground when we have other things we need to deal with.”
Mayor Beth Weldon however, agreed to put the item on a future agenda.
“While it kills me to do this, I would support the motion, because I have an idea that I need to run by everybody, so I’ll be bringing an idea.” She said.
The motion passed 6–2, set for more discussion at a Committee of the Whole session currently scheduled for April 13.
