Friends of Telephone Hill ask for delayed eviction; city says bold action needed now for more housing
- Jasz Garrett
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Residents of neighborhood in downtown Juneau and supporters say the city has no plan; mayor defends “leap of faith”
This story has been updated to correct specifics about eviction notices sent to residents, due to an editor’s error.
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
About 75 people took a failed last stand at a Juneau Assembly meeting on Monday to postpone the demolition of 13 Telephone Hill homes until “a credible and viable project” is contracted.
Downtown resident Bruce Simonson asked those in the audience to stand if they wanted a delay during his testimony. Eighteen people were signed up to comment, but when he asked his question, nearly all of the audience members rose from their chairs. People standing at the back of the Centennial Hall ballroom waved signs to “Save Telephone Hill.”
The eviction of Telephone Hill residents is still planned for Oct. 1, according to City Manager Katie Koester. The demolition is set for December.
Fritz Cove resident Joshua Adams organized the protest. Carrying his and his mother’s signs into Centennial Hall, he said, “It’s not just about Telephone Hill. We’re trying to take back our town from outside interest.”
While Joshua Adams does not live in the neighborhood himself, he said the protest was symbolic of larger issues in Juneau, such as the housing crisis and homelessness. Joshua Adams organized the protest with the group Friends of Telephone Hill, a movement that began at the end of 2022.
“But the roots of Friends of Telephone Hill started out when people who cared about history started renting out the homes from the state of Alaska,” he said.
The State of Alaska owned the 13 residential units on 19 properties from 1984 until 2023, when ownership was transferred to the City and Borough of Juneau. In 2022, the city listed redevelopment of Telephone Hill as a legislative priority.
This year, in May, the Assembly appropriated $5.5 million for site preparation work on Telephone Hill, scheduled to begin late this year, and approved the distribution of eviction notices to current tenants. The Assembly decided against appropriating an additional $3.5 million to reconstruct roads and utilities, as this would be specific to the future needs of the development, noting the future developer may incur the cost.
Bettye Adams said the meeting was opportune for the protest because it coincided with the work of the Affordable Juneau Coalition to pass Ballot Propositions 1 and 2.
“I just want the Assembly to reconsider, as I think any prudent body would, until after the election, to see what their revenue streams might be, and the composure of the Assembly, it might change, and so the will would change,” she said.
She said she would have liked the decision to redevelop Telephone Hill to have gone to a vote. Joshua Adams said he was passionate because he rescues endangered homes and restores old buildings. He got his start in historic preservation through the business his mother owns, The Alaskan Hotel and Bar. The Adams family has owned the hotel since 1977, when it was condemned, but the building was restored.
“I could tell you how to save those houses and make them into museums, each and every one of those houses,” Joshua Adams said.
Adams said to take the Edward Webster House as an example: It is the oldest house in Juneau, built in 1882 and the neighborhood’s namesake — the Webster family ran the first commercial telephone service in Alaska from there in the early 1890s. The house was built before the town itself was planned and laid out overlooking Gastineau Channel.
Now Maureen Conerton lives there. She was the first to testify at the meeting on behalf of herself and her husband, Jeff Brown, who has Parkinson’s Disease.
“We’re all looking for housing, but we’ve been having a hard time,” she said. “Possibly because we're old — two 81-year-olds — then there's people above 70. The young couple who do live on Telephone Hill are going to be leaving town when their lease is terminated. So we're hoping that we’re able to continue. Everybody’s in a different stage of trying to move.”
“We just need more time,” Conerton said, but her time was up: Mayor Beth Weldon announced before the comments began that due to the high volume of people signed up, public testimony on non-agenda items would be limited to one minute. This was also true for non-agenda comments not concerning Telephone Hill.
Joe Karson has lived in the second-oldest house in Juneau for 20 years. He said the Telephone Hill house is also the second-oldest continuously lived-in home in the entire state. Built in 1884, it has five rentable units and is known as The Henry House. Karson said in an interview that he hasn’t received an official eviction notice. He said he will see what happens on Oct. 1.
“I found out about my eviction in the newspaper,” he said.
City Attorney Emily Wright told the Independent eviction notices were sent by certified mail May 28 and again on Aug. 17, and notices were also posted on people's doors. She said if a person refuses to depart and disputes receiving such a notice, officials can show proof that one was issued or, if a mistake was made, issue a 30-day eviction notice.
Karson said he has no plan B because he has just retired from teaching and is 80 years old.
“And I’m supposed to go find a place to live in Juneau?” Karson asked.
He also drew on his 40-year career as a builder, questioning the city’s goal of providing affordable housing. He said the topography of the hill will make it challenging: “If you built a bigger structure there, to the west, it would be hanging off a cliff, to the east, it would be in the middle of the road.”
“It’s never been established what can be built there,” Karson said. “There's no engineer’s report, which was normally the first thing you would do if you're going to have a big development like that, and there are none, and they've had plenty of time to get one, and they’ve just been putting it off. Plus, we have no idea what they want to build up there.”
The city has not conducted any core sampling to date. Karson said the 140-year-old house he lives in now is the most efficient use of the property, disputing former City Manager Rorie Watt’s 2020 statement that “the land is not being used for the highest and best use.” He wrote in his application to buy the land from the state that the homes were aging. Karson said the people who live on Telephone Hill are stewards of it and have put in work to maintain the homes, just as the original dwellers did.
“They’ve been putting out this idea that you can't do a core sample until the buildings are torn down, which is ridiculous. You could do one today,” Karson said. “You don't have to tear down a building to drill a hole next to it. That's just completely backwards. In other words, what if you drilled a hole for the core sample (and) then found out, ‘Wow. We can't replace these buildings we've just torn down with something new.’”
The Assembly took an unusual step and responded to the public comments during Monday’s Assembly meeting, although no action was taken to reconsider razing Telephone Hill this fall.
“No doubt that people who live there have made them wonderful, loving homes, but from our perspective as a government, as a landlord, we saw lots of concerns, whether that was leaking roofs, mold, rock, and then just the bigger issues of seismic stability and building code,” Koester said.
She said there is no reason to believe there is not an engineering solution to any challenge the city may face.
“Once we have the properties cleared, we would be doing core sampling and lab analysis, and all of that work has to be done before we do any blasting. So we have to do that geotechnical work before we do any blasting,” she said.
“Would you consider outside the bounds that we do a demo, we follow through with the timeline we have now, and then you would find something in the core sampling that you didn't expect?” Assembly Member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs asked.
“I think that's a difficult question,” Koester replied. “I don't have any reason to believe. But that doesn't mean that we won't be. Every project comes up with unforeseen obstacles, and so I can't tell you what those might be, and I'm sure this project will also have obstacles.”
Along with concerns about the lack of a geotechnical study and the absence of a developer, residents inquired about the decision not to conduct a Section 106 Review under the National Historic Preservation Act. Koester said the city did undertake a February 2024 review of the historical properties, which is similar to a Section 106 review. The city’s attorney explained.
“One thing to know is nothing in Section 106 would require a project to be stopped. Nothing in Section 106 requires a project to happen. It's simply a review that gives the federal government, whatever agency is acting, feedback on what will happen to these properties,” Wright said.
She said the sections of the National Historic Preservation Act requested by residents only apply to federal actions, and the State of Alaska has similar companion sections. She said the city is not bound to follow them.
“I think the bottom line is, even as the community is asking for a 106 review, we can't ask for one,” Wright said. “There's nowhere to go to for one. The most that we can do is the historic review, and then you as an Assembly, make a decision as to what you want for this property.”
Although CBJ is proceeding without a review, Wright said that will not jeopardize the city’s chances of receiving state or federal funds or grants for the redevelopment of Telephone Hill.
Koester told the Independent the Assembly could have rescinded previous action on the evictions, which would require a two-thirds vote to pass.
Nathaniel “Nano” Brooks, an Assembly District 2 candidate and challenger to incumbent Wade Bryson, said he watched them reemphasize their commitment instead. He participated in the Friends of Telephone Hill protest. Brooks said his assessment is that the city did poorly with site preparation work at Pederson Hill, located between Auke Lake and the Mendenhall Valley.
“It’s just like you gotta follow the precedents you’re already setting,” he said. “It’s just like if it didn't work like that, why are you doubling down, why not actually try something new? Because this isn't new. This is the third attempt on something that hasn't worked.”
His opponent, Bryson, said in an interview that many arguments against the redevelopment of Telephone Hill weren’t accurate, such as the references to Pederson Hill.
“While I know that not everybody agreed with Pederson Hill, Pederson Hill is putting homes into families' hands right now because of the development that CBJ did,” Bryson said. “The second phase of Pederson Hill that we're going to have access to, that is the kind of the next chunk of land — that would not (have) been available if CBJ had not done initial leg work, and now we've got the Tlingit and Haida project that's going to tap into Pederson Hill. So for me, Pederson Hill was a success because we did hard stuff first.”
“There is a public good that we are required to go for, and that's why we're going in this direction for Telephone Hill,” Bryson said. “It's illegal for the city to benefit a small group of individuals. We just don't operate that way.”
No developers or contractors responded to the Assembly’s request for information with a viable project for proposal to meet the Assembly’s stated goal for high-density housing on Telephone Hill. Mayor Beth Weldon said the developers need certainty.
She said she went to discuss Telephone Hill with three active developers. She said they told her, “‘If you're trying to build multi-family dwellings, which we're trying to do, you need to demolish the houses.’ No developer is going to touch that without the city demolishing those houses, because those houses cost money to demolish.”
“I think Miss Koester alluded to there's going to be asbestos and some other abatement possible. So it's a huge leap of faith,” she said.
The mayor also acknowledged the city's previous attempts to undertake affordable housing projects.
“And yes, we have been burned, especially on Ridgeview, but we tried that, because we were looking at 140 units,” Weldon said. “So we're doing everything but standing on our head to try to solve the housing crisis. And this is just another one of those things that we're trying. So tough on everybody living there. I get that. I know it's out for you, but at this time, we have to stand by (the) decision to try and find more housing in the community.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
