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Assembly amends RSA rip lists; adds $125,000 for Lynx Lake road work and discusses Jolly Creek drainage funding
Summary
The Assembly approved the RSA 2025 road-improvement priority lists (AM25-011) and amended RSA 20’s list to add $125,000 for Lynx Lake Road work after public requests; members also debated using RSA or area-wide funds for Jolly Creek drainage work in RSA 21.
The Assembly approved AM25-011 — the road service area (RSA) 2025 rip (road improvement priority) lists — on Feb. 19 and adopted an amendment to add $125,000 to RSA 20’s priority list for the Lynx Lake Road project after residents from the Willow area requested funding for the first mile and bridge replacement.
Multiple residents described Lynx Lake Road as a roughly six-mile road off the Parks Highway with about 37 properties served, four large borough parcels (about 1,900 acres) and a 40-acre church camp that can host about 80 children during summer camps. Testimony from Mike Clowiter and Thomas Brewer stressed emergency-access and fire-safety concerns and said the existing bridge was an old railroad-car structure about 40 feet long and not suitable for heavy fire apparatus.
Staff told the Assembly that Lynx Lake Road is not currently in the borough’s maintained-road inventory and cautioned that adding unmaintained mileage carries design, standardization and long-term maintenance implications. The Assembly nonetheless voted to add $125,000 to RSA 20’s rip list to begin work on the project; staff cautioned that design and permitting needs likely exceed that amount and that the addition primarily signals priority.
Members also discussed Jolly Creek drainage (RSA 21), a project linked to recurring flooding at the intersection of Klutina and Hollywood. Staff described Jolly Creek as a multi-phase project downstream to Jordan Pond with total design and construction costs greater than the line-item amounts shown on rip lists. Assemblymembers discussed leveraging area-wide money as a match if non-borough funds are identified; staff noted the project had been on TIP 2023 with a required non-area-wide match and that some design work was advanced but construction funding and easements remained to be secured.
After debate, the amendment adding $125,000 to RSA 20 was adopted without objection. Staff emphasized that RSA rip lists are priorities used to guide design and funding pursuit, and that larger infrastructure work (bridge replacement, drainage redesign) will likely require grants, design contracts and multi-year funding plans.
