The Fairbanks North Star Borough is hosting a series of public workshops this week about the update to its comprehensive plan.
The 20-year planning document helps guide borough policies and public investments, covering topics like housing, land use, economic development and transportation. It’s required by state law, and it was last updated and adopted in 2005.
Initial work on the update started about a year ago, and a final draft is expected around early 2027.
Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins told reporters at a media availability in October that the borough wants to gather feedback from people across the borough. He said they want to use that feedback to make the update as publicly-driven as it can be.
“We don’t do a whole lot here, internally, to say, ‘Well I like that answer, and I don’t like that answer,’” Hopkins said. “We listen to what the public has to say, and then put that into practice.”
Guidance contained in borough planning documents often features in the rationale for community planning decisions. For instance, in 2024, the borough’s planning commission voted against giving the Alaska Department of Transportation local approval to move forward with the Chena flood control bridge replacement project near North Pole.
Among their reasons was that the project design didn’t align with the borough’s comprehensive plan. The commission said that’s because it didn’t include adequate improvements to surrounding facilities for bike and foot traffic.
“We were disappointed that [the design] wasn’t more forward looking and looking for a safe pathway for the bike traffic, particularly,” Planning Commission Chair Kerryn Fisher told the Borough Assembly at the time.
The Borough Assembly ultimately overturned the commission’s decision, but gave AKDOT only conditional approval. The assembly resolution, which passed last year, said the bridge project had their approval as long as it included safe bike and pedestrian facility connections that were more than just a road shoulder across the Chena flood control area.
The borough’s big-picture plan has also appeared in a number of zoning decisions. For example, also last year, the Borough Assembly voted to create a new zoning district type, the Remote Recreation Site District, for the first time in nearly a quarter century, with the ordinance establishing it citing the comprehensive plan.
This week’s public workshop series about the plan’s update includes six in-person meetings at different locations throughout the borough, as well as one virtual meeting on Thursday.