PLATTING BOARD MEETING - Municipality of Anchorage

PLATTING BOARD MEETING Page 9
May 4, 2005
E. OLD BUSINESS – None
F. NEW BUSINESS
1. Public Hearings
a. S-11302-1 Wal Mart Stores Inc. Attn: Eric M. Strauss. To
subdivide two lots and four tracts of land into one
lot with the vacation of the north 30 x 300 feet of
LaTouche Street. Located west of New Seward
Highway, north of East Dowling Road and east of
Old Seward Highway.
Staff member MARGARET O'BRIEN reviewed the requests for the Board. She
explained this request is a reversion to acreage of two lots, two deed parcels, and
two unsubdivided parcels into one lot. The petitioner is also requesting a vacation
of LaTouche Street that runs north/south within the property and to vacate a 15-
foot wide public use easement along the north property boundary. The site is
zoned I-1 and is 29 acres and is undeveloped. It is surrounded by I-1 uses with R-
3 and PLI to the east that includes multi-family residential and Polaris School;
that is across the New Seward Highway. The purpose of the plat is the
development of a Wal Mart super center of approximately 240,000 square feet.
The property is impacted by Type C wetlands. The Army Corps of Engineers
(COE) has exercised jurisdiction over a portion of the wetland site on this parcel.
There is a proposal to create a wetland conservation area in the northwest corner
to preserve it as undisturbed because it provides an important drainage function
and filtering of sediments before entering the storm drain system in East 66 th
Avenue. An application has been submitted to the COE. The public comment
period on that permit began April 19 th and will conclude May 19 th .
The other issue affecting the development of the site is traffic impact. The traffic
impact analysis (TIA) was prepared. ADOT has accepted the TIA, which does
include a number of items such as widening 56 th Avenue at the Old Seward
Highway to include an additional turn lane and to create a two-lane approach. The
Municipal Solid Waste Transfer Station is to the north of the petition site across
56 th Avenue and for a two-week period there is a free dump day and traffic
becomes backed up along 56 th Avenue. ADOT is requiring coordination of traffic
control efforts on those days. ADOT wants Juneau Street to be designed as a
minor collector. An 80-foot wide dedication is proposed on the west property
boundary and construction will be to urban industrial half-street standards.
ADOT also wants to review the signal operations at each intersection, which was
part of the final TIA. ADOT has requested a median in Dowling Road from
LaTouche to Rosemont. If traffic warrants, they want that median extended to the
new Juneau Street to allow a right-in/right-out from this site. A memorandum of