Fairbanks rezone would swap 50-foot river strip for 25-foot overlay

A campground and RV park proposed on the north bank of the Chena River would replace a 50-foot strip of Outdoor Recreation zoning along the water with a 25-foot Waterways Setback overlay. The borough commission that reviews riverfront development has recommended a stricter designation than the one the applicant requested and borough staff endorsed.

Dirk and Heather Richard of Dollhouse LLC have asked the Fairbanks North Star Borough to rezone Lots 4, 5 and 6 of Phillips Subdivision Second Addition, 4.3 acres south of Horner Court and west and south of Phillips Field Road, currently owned by Ursula Netcher. The request would replace the 50-foot strip of Outdoor Recreation zoning along the river with a Waterways Setback overlay reaching 25 feet landward of the ordinary high-water mark. The applicants plan to buy Lots 5 and 6 for the campground and RV park. Most of Lot 4 would continue as Fairbanks Truss Company manufacturing. The river-adjacent southern portion of the site also lies within the mapped floodway, so a floodplain permit would be required before any development there regardless of which overlay the borough adopts.

The existing Outdoor Recreation strip is not a full conservation buffer. Because the zone carries a 50-foot front-yard setback, it keeps the owners from putting buildings in that portion of the property. It does not prevent them from clearing existing vegetation, landscaping or stabilizing the riverbank.

Five of the seven Chena Riverfront Commission members recommended a Waterway Protection overlay at the same 25 feet instead. Under that overlay, the only permitted use is preserving natural vegetation. Clearing it, stabilizing the bank or building river access would require a conditional use permit. The setback overlay the applicants requested would allow decks, docks and a boat launch with an administratively reviewed zoning permit.

Community Planning recommends approval as requested. "Staff supports this rezone because the Waterway Setback (WS) overlay zone is appropriate for this area," Planner III Sarah Bingham wrote in the staff report, which also states the protection overlay may itself be a spot zone because it would interrupt 2.5 miles of riverbank already carrying the setback designation.

The staff analysis rests on three main findings. During an Aug. 10 site visit, staff observed that most of the trees along the riverbank stood roughly 25 feet from the water's edge, along the top of a cut bank that rises 10 to 13 feet. Pictometry imagery from 1978 through 2026 shows little change to the northern bank of this stretch of the Chena. The properties immediately east and west were rezoned to Waterways Setback overlays in 2000 and 2001, leaving about 3,471 feet of overlay to the east and 9,941 feet to the west.

Community Planning also contacted five agencies for comment: the FNSB long-range planner, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. None reported objections or concerns.

The department mailed 253 notice letters on July 24 and logged two written responses along with several phone calls and counter visits. One recipient who came to the counter said reducing the buffer would let the owner use more of the lot and add traffic at the Phillips Field, Chief Thomas Drive and Peger Road intersection, which he described as dangerous and congested. James A. Cerney raised riverbank stabilization and noise. Mary Jo Knabe called with general questions about the proposed development and told staff she favors protecting the vegetation along the riverbank.

An earlier Alaska News article noted the borough's Chena Riverfront Plan Subcommittee reviewed draft chapters June 24 proposing riparian buffers of 300 feet or more.

The rezone area last flooded in 1967. Public testimony is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. in the Mona Lisa Drexler Assembly Chambers.