Turnagain Community Council

Opportunities to Help Improve Your Local Neighborhood

1)   Attend Community Council Monthly Meetings.  Meet your neighbors, hear what is going on in your neighborhood and make your views known as part of a community discussion.

2)    Become involved as an Officer or Board Member.  TCC’s officers and board members are elected annually in November.  They serve one-year terms and may serve no more than three consecutive years in a position.

• President.  Runs the monthly meetings, invites/coordinates with speakers, prepares proposed agendas for mail out to members, calls Board Meetings, receives communications from the Municipality and represents the TCC.
• Vice-President.  Runs the monthly meetings in the absence of the President.  Member of the Board and takes special projects.
• Secretary-Treasurer. Responsible for taking minutes of meetings, circulating minutes to Board, and posting minutes to Webpage.  Also tracks and reports on the TCC’s funds.
• Board Members.  Support the operations of the Council by participating in board meetings, monthly meetings and taking on special projects.

3)  Serve on a Committee or serve as a Committee Chair:  

• Airport Committee.  Pat Kelly, Chair.  The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport’s operations are a major concern for Turnagain residents.  TCC members sit on the Airport Communications Committee and the Lake Hood Advisory Committee.  TCC is involved in the Airport Master Planning process and the West Anchorage District Plan development and seek to resolve noise, water quality, land use, and recreation conflicts with the Airport.
• Zoning Committee.  Vacant.  We receive notices of projects/variances and conditional use permits being reviewed by the Planning and Zoning Commission in our neighborhood.  Review a notice/project information and recommend whether TCC should comment and if so what those comments should be.
• Public Safety Committee.  Vacant.  Members of the community periodically raise concerns about burglaries, car thefts, vandalism and other problems in the neighborhood.  Investigate those concerns with the community member, bring the concern to attention of the Anchorage Police Department and, ideally, help find ways that the community can assist APD in resolving the problems.
• Federation of Community Councils (FCC) Representative.  Cathy Gleason is the TCC representative to the FCC which is a citywide organization supporting Anchorage’s community councils.  Barb Jones is our alternate.
• West Anchorage District Plan.  Breck Tostevin and Cathy Gleason are TCC representatives to the West Anchorage Planning Group.  Help review and comment on the development of this important planning document specifically for our area to implement the Anchorage 2020 plan and address conflicts with the Airport.
• Operations.  Vacant.  Assist in updating our Community Council mailing list.  Arrange for a TCC flier to mailed with a local utility bills to solicit community participation in our CC.
• Webpage.  Vacant.  No webpage skill needed: its a Microsoft Word based site that is easy to use. Post documents and update the information on projects and reviews under going comment in our community.
• Lyn Ary Park Committee.  Mark Wiggin, Chair.  A standing committee implements the Lyn Ary Park Master Plan, promotes park improvement projects and reviews proposed actions at the Park.
• Capital Improvement Project Rankings.  Help investigate projects and advise the Board on Recommendations to the CC for Ranking of Projects.
• Recycling Committee.  Frank Keen, Chair.  Promotes recycling in our community.  Specifically the TCC seek reinstatement of glass recycling and promotion of curbside recycling.
• Parks Committee.  Cathy Gleason, Chair.  Our area has a diversity of parks, trails and recreation lands.  This committee works on community-wide parks issues including Balto Seppala, Lloyd Steele, Didlika, Fish Creek, Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, Chester Creek Lagoon and other parks in our area.

4)  Review project documents and draft comments for consideration at our monthly meetings.  Area-wide municipal plans (roads, trails, bike, pedestrian, parks and other topics), environmental assessment, road plans and the like.

5)  Attend a community meeting/open house for TCC.  There are many community meetings and open houses on projects and planning efforts throughout the year.  TCC’s officers and directors are not always available to attend and report on what is going on at these meetings.  Volunteers are needed to attend these events and report back to the CC.