Fairbanks Platting Board takes testimony Aug. 19 on erasing 1975 Delight Avenue right-of-way

Delight Avenue vacation request

A 50-foot-wide public street platted in 1975 and never built would disappear from the map under a request the Fairbanks North Star Borough Platting Board takes up Wednesday, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m. in the Mona Lisa Drexler Assembly Chambers of the Juanita Helms Administration Center, 907 Terminal St., Fairbanks.

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

Delight Avenue once served a gravel pit to the east. The applicant's narrative states the corridor has not been used for access since the Badger Road Reconstruction Project ended almost 30 years ago. It states that a large sinkhole has developed, possibly from thawing permafrost, making a code-compliant road expensive to build and difficult to maintain.

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

Under borough code, the board must deem the area being vacated to be of value to the municipality. It falls to the applicant to show either that the right-of-way is no longer practical for the purposes authorized or that other provisions have been made that are more beneficial to the public. Hess's narrative argues both: "The Delight Avenue right of way has been of no value to the municipality for decades, is no

longer practical, and is of no necessity since other provisions to access adjoining property

have been made."

The neighboring tax lot, owned by Brice Investments, LLC, has two access points onto Badger Road that the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities confirmed as permitted. Both owners signed the application.

Platting staff recommend approval with five conditions. Among them, a plat note would prohibit direct lot access onto Badger Road, leaving the combined lot to rely on Joy Drive. ADOT&PF made the same recommendation in its review.

Because the vacation is a legislative item, any borough citizen may testify at the hearing.