Wasilla is hiring someone to write its next road plan, and a new parks plan too

Wasilla is about to hire someone to write its next road plan. The one it has been using covered fiscal years 2005 through 2025 and reached the end of its horizon this year.

Acting City Planner Crystal Nygard told the Planning Commission on Aug. 11 that the roads master plan "has expired" and that the city will put out a request for proposals soon. The Parks and Trails Master Plan, adopted in 2011, is going out for proposals as well.

The road plan is the document behind street widenings, traffic signals and new road connections, and the city leaned on it when nominating projects for state money.

It was also built on a forecast now twenty years old. Planners in 2005 expected the greater Wasilla area — the city plus five surrounding census areas — to hold 77,399 people by 2025, with only 13,399 of them inside city limits. Whoever writes the next plan starts from current numbers instead.

Both updates are on the commission's Sept. 8 agenda as discussion items rather than votes. The meeting starts at 6 pm in the council chambers at City Hall, with public comment limited to five minutes a speaker.