Fairbanks Assembly rezones Chena River lots for RV park, picking developer's setback

The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly on Thursday, Oct. 8, adopted a rezone of three Chena River lots that Dollhouse, LLC is buying for an RV campground and cabins. The ordinance replaces a 50-foot Outdoor Recreation strip along the river with Light Industrial zoning carrying a 25-foot Waterway Setback overlay.

The Assembly chose the overlay the developer requested, not the Waterways Protection overlay the borough's Chena Riverfront Commission recommended 5-2 on July 22. Both overlays reach 25 feet landward of the ordinary high-water mark. Community Planning Director Kellen Spillman's memo to the Assembly says his department backed the developer's setback request and that the commission acted "due to concerns about the erosion from the river."

Applicant's representative Heather Richard told the commission that bank stabilization for a scour area must wait until the property purchase is complete, because the Army Corps of Engineers would not look at the site until Dollhouse was owner of record, according to draft minutes. She said root wads were proposed as an option and the owners will follow professional recommendations. Plans include cabins with water and sewer and a preexisting shop for laundry and showers.

The borough Planning Commission voted 6-0 on Aug. 25 for the setback overlay. Its findings say the overlay lets decks, docks or boat launches be built with a zoning permit and a floodplain permit, similar to other nearby properties north of the river.

Draft riverfront plan materials prepared for a September subcommittee meeting list riparian buffer recommendations from 15 feet for minimum protection to 300 feet or more for maximum protection. The materials note the Chena hosts the second-largest Chinook run among similarly sized watersheds in the Yukon River drainage, trailing only the Salcha River.

That plan is being rewritten. Its materials recount a 2019 commission recommendation to give the Platting Board more discretion in high-erosion areas, a call for tougher erosion setbacks that Alaska News reported Sept. 22 was never adopted. The commission meets Oct. 28, when it is scheduled to approve its July minutes and hear an update on the rewrite.