A Fairbanks street a sinkhole swallowed could vanish from the map

A 50-foot-wide public street platted in 1975 but never built — and since partly consumed by a sinkhole — would disappear from the map under a request the Fairbanks North Star Borough Platting Board takes up Wednesday, Aug. 19.

The vacation would erase the Delight Avenue right-of-way between Blocks Three and Four of Joy Subdivision, off Joy Drive and Badger Road, and combine two lots owned by Shawn Earl Hess into one parcel of about 2.08 acres.

Delight Avenue once served a gravel pit to the east, but the applicant's narrative says it hasn't been used for access since the Badger Road Reconstruction Project ended almost 30 years ago. Since then, a large sinkhole has developed — possibly from thawing permafrost — making a code-compliant road expensive to build and hard to maintain.

That failure is a recurring problem across the borough. Borough staff have documented that permafrost "causes roads to crack, subsidize and twist," and that melted permafrost has opened sinkholes on private property and within rights-of-way. The applicant identifies thawing permafrost only as a possible cause of this particular one.

Under borough code, the board must find the area has value to the municipality, and it falls to the applicant to show the right-of-way is no longer practical or that better public provisions have been made. Hess's narrative argues both, and the neighboring lot already has two permitted access points onto Badger Road, confirmed by the state transportation department. Both owners signed the application.

Platting staff recommend approval with five conditions, including a plat note barring direct access onto Badger Road, leaving the combined lot to rely on Joy Drive. Because the vacation is a legislative item, any borough citizen may testify at the Aug. 19 hearing, held at 6pm.