OUR STORY
“There will be many questions to be considered tonight, but there's only one basic question to be decided.
Will the people of Chugiak-Eagle River have the opportunity to control their own destiny
or must they forever remain subject to what has been decreed for them by Anchorage?”
- Lee Jordan, October 29, 1975
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On October 29, 1975, with these words, Lee Jordan,
Emeritus Board Member of the Chugiak-Eagle River Foundation,
began his presentation to the Alaska Local Boundary Commission (LBC)
regarding the detachment and incorporation of Chugiak-Eagle River from Anchorage.​​​​
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Who & When
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In 1974, a delegation of residents from the Chugiak-Eagle River area went to Juneau to make the case for additional state trooper support, and on being informed that this decision was a local government issue, made it known that they would prefer to form their own borough, separate from Anchorage. The state legislature passed a special legislation known as Chapter 145 Session Laws of ’74. With this special legislation as their impetus, in an election held on August 27, 1974, the residents of Chugiak-Eagle River voted to detach from the Anchorage borough with a 56 percent “yes” vote. A new borough was formed!
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While the new borough government was being created, including setting up departments, creating a budget, etc., a group of 26 residents who were very much against the detachment, took the fledgling government to court, holding that the detachment via special legislation was unconstitutional. The superior court upheld the detachment as constitutional, but they then took the case to the Alaska Supreme Court. The Alaska Supreme Court agreed with the dissidents that it was, indeed, unconstitutional, thus dissolving the borough. In their decision, the Court said the petition process through the Local Boundary Commission should be used instead.
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Lee Jordan, who had been elected mayor of the new borough, organized his group and submitted the detachment petition to the Local Boundary Commission in 1975. Despite compelling arguments from both Lee and the borough’s attorney Vincent Vitale, the LBC found that there was not enough reason for the Chugiak/Eagle River area to remain detached from Anchorage.
That finding was the death knell for the new borough, and it was no more.
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While the people of the Chugiak-Eagle River Borough thought they had their own government, Anchorage residents elected a charter commission. As a result, Chugiak-Eagle River was not allowed to vote on the creation of that commission because for that brief period in time, they weren’t part of Anchorage. The Charter commission decided to reunify Anchorage, and ended up sucking several communities into their municipality, including Eagle River.
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Fast forward to 2018.
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Michael Tavoliero and Matthew Hickey started the Eaglexit movement as a response to comments and complaints from residents about the Anchorage assembly, the Anchorage School District, and the general perceived second-class treatment the Eagle River and Chugiak residents seemed to be receiving from Anchorage. Just as in 1975, we must utilize the process of a petition through the Local Boundary Commission. The detachment process is not completed overnight and realistically will take years.​​​​
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​​What
The people of Eagle River, Chugiak, Birchwood, Eklutna and JBER, otherwise known as Assembly District 2 (AD2) are seeking to detach from the Municipality of Anchorage and form a non-unified home rule borough. A “non-unified home rule borough” is established under Alaska law with its own charter. Because it is non-unified, it enables communities within its jurisdiction to incorporate as cities if they wish. This is similar to the way the Mat-Su borough is structured with Wasilla, Palmer, Big Lake and Houston as individual municipalities. “Home rule” means that it develops its own charter. A charter is an equivalent to a
constitution, which enables a local government to institute any structure and policies it chooses as long as they don’t violate the US or Alaska State constitution or state law.
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Why
We believe that a smaller, more efficient local government will allow our residents’ voices to be heard and acted upon better than the present situation with the MOA. Although we have representatives who are members of the assembly, those two are continually ignored and voted down by the other nine members. We would like to say that we have a voice in the MOA, but we truly don’t.
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We also feel that Eagle River, Chugiak and the rest of Assembly District 2 (AD2) is and has been a separate community, with its own identity, culture, needs, wants and desires for a long time. We have a predominantly conservative population, many military and former military residents, and over 15 churches in a small radius. The local students go to the local schools, most people do their shopping within the area (except for the bulk shopping trips to Costco of course), and many people utilize the outdoor trails and community areas in our district for their recreation.
Of course, there is traffic and flow between the communities…there always will be. There is much traffic flow between the Mat-Su Borough, Chugiak, Eagle River, and into Anchorage.
New residents are almost always surprised to hear that Eagle River is actually part of the Anchorage municipality. They take note of the distance between the two town centers (about 15 miles), the long stretch of highway between, and the military base land separating the two, ensuring there will never be any encroaching development, etc.
The Anchorage public school system is another thorn in our sides. The ASD seems to embrace every “woke” theory and concept, most of which are anathema to the families in this community. Furthermore, Anchorage schools score in the bottom of the 50 states despite costing more than almost every other state. Although a case can be made than it’s just more expensive when you have as many outlying communities as Alaska does, that doesn’t excuse the abysmal test scores and low graduation rates.
Another issue that has been proposed and denied is that installation of a real hospital with emergency facilities. Right now, Eagle River/Chugiak residents have to travel to Anchorage or Wasilla for emergency medical treatment. Even though it’s a bit of a drive, we have adjusted to this situation. We do have some primary care and imaging facilities, but nothing open 24/7. For that 2am emergency UTI or eye infection, it’s a drive into Anchorage to Providence or Alaska Regional emergency room.
When Alaska Regional proposed putting an emergency facility in Eagle River, the State reviewed their case and denied it. I’m not sure why the state has jurisdiction over a privately owned medical facility, but apparently they do.
The problem is that should we encounter an earthquake similar to the November 2018 earthquake, bridges could come down or be compromised in such a way that traffic is impossible and impassable. To get to Anchorage or Wasilla from Eagle River, you have to go over a bridge. A pretty substantial bridge. If both bridges are down because of an earthquake, we in Eagle River and Chugiak would have no road access to an emergency room. If we’re lucky, the urgent care clinics may open off-hours to accommodate the emergency, but their hours are currently 9-5, Monday through Saturday. If we were to become our own borough, it wouldn’t even be an issue; we could entertain proposals from any hospital to build and open a facility that has emergency care.
Lastly, the people of our district are just different. They are lovable, curmudgeonly, opinionated, smart, and tough. They don’t hold well to being dictated to by the far-away Anchorage assembly and they tend not to be fond of our legislature either. There is a high number of retirees here, as well as military families and ex-military couples and families.
It’s truly time for a change in our community. It’s time we were the masters of our own destiny.​
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Current Board Members
Current Board Members Not Pictured:
Michael Tavoliero; Board Member; michael.eaglexit@gmail.com
Lance Roberts; Board Member; lance.eaglexit@gmail.com
Ric Smith; Board Member & Education Committee Chair; ric.eaglexit@gmail.com
Matt Hickey; Board Member
Melissa Hickey; Board Member
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