Juneau’s planning commission will consider updated landslide and avalanche maps at a Tuesday night meeting. The city’s current maps were created in the 1970s. If adopted, the new maps will expand known hazard zones to include about half of the structures in the downtown area.
The planning department tried to upgrade the maps in the 1990s, but the assembly did not vote to accept them.
Some residents support the new maps as vital public safety tools and urged their speedy adoption in letters to the committee. Others don’t agree with the new assessment.
“The city just increased our property taxes fairly significantly. And now, you know, this whole remapping for the landslide area inclusion area, in my view, is going to significantly lower our property value,” John Nemeth said.
Nemeth is a business owner who lives in the Highlands neighborhood. The new maps put his property in a severe hazard zone for landslides.
The city doesn’t have information about how insurance rates or property values may change as a result of the new maps if they are adopted.
The city’s planning commission is tasked with making a recommendation to the Juneau Assembly. It will be up to the assembly to approve the maps or not.
