Fairbanks Assembly picks developers' riverbank overlay at planned Chena RV park

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly on Oct. 8 rezoned a strip of Chena River bank on lots where developers plan an RV campground and cabins, choosing the lighter riverbank protection they asked for over a stricter version recommended by the borough's riverfront commission.

The change replaces a 50-foot strip of Outdoor Recreation zoning that has kept new buildings off the riverside part of the lots since 1971. The developers and the commission both proposed narrowing it to 25 feet. They differed on what could happen inside it.

Under the developers' Waterway Setback overlay, decks, docks and a boat launch can go in with a staff-reviewed zoning permit and a floodplain permit. Under the commission's Waterways Protection overlay, the only use allowed outright is preserving natural vegetation, and clearing it or building a dock or stairs to the water would need a conditional use permit. Bank stabilization needs that permit under either one.

When the borough drew the strip in 1971, planning commissioners discussed that nearby neighborhoods would prefer to be separated from industrial uses, the staff report says. On part of one lot, the strip and other setbacks left about 5 feet of space to build.

Dirk and Heather Richard's company, Dollhouse LLC, plans to buy two of the three lots. The third is home to Fairbanks Truss Company. Heather Richard told the riverfront commission in July that Dollhouse remodels old structures and rents or leases them out, according to draft minutes. The plans include cabins with water and sewer, with an existing shop serving as laundry and showers for guests.

The commission voted 5-2 for the stricter overlay "due to concerns about the erosion from the river," according to Community Planning Director Kellen Spillman's memo to the Assembly. Asked about a scour area on the bank, Richard said they had tried to apply for bank stabilization programs but had to finish the purchase first, and that the Army Corps of Engineers would not look at the property until they were the owners on record. Root wads were one option, she said, but they will follow all professional recommendations.

Borough planners backed the developers' request, and the Planning Commission agreed 6-0 on Aug. 25. The staff report says aerial images from 1978 through 2026 show little change to this stretch of the north bank, which last flooded in 1967. The neighboring riverbank on both sides, about 2.5 miles in all, already carries the developers' overlay. No one testified at either commission's hearing, according to draft minutes.

A commission subcommittee is rewriting the borough's Chena Riverfront Plan. Draft materials list buffer widths from 15 feet, the minimum the Alaska Department of Fish and Game recommends, to 300 feet or more, which the draft calls examples rather than universal setbacks. They note the Chena has the second-largest Chinook salmon run among similarly sized watersheds in the Yukon River drainage, after the Salcha. They also include a 2019 commission recommendation for stricter standards in high-erosion areas, which the borough never adopted, Alaska News reported in September.