Trail advocates are asking for people to comment on a State of Alaska land sale that would endanger several trails in the Rosie Creek area.
UPDATE: New deadline for commenting is below
People have until September 21, 4:30pm, to comment on this proposed sale. See below for how to comment.
UPDATE 09/04: Alaska’s News Source has a story on the proposed land sale. See it HERE.
UPDATE 09/09: The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has a story not the proposed sale. See it HERE. See more below.
The Proposed Sale
The state is proposing to sell 220 acres of land to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) through a noncompetitive conveyance for the purpose of building affordable housing. Alaska Housing Finance Corporation’s mission is to provide Alaskans access to safe, quality, affordable housing. See its website HERE. You can see the whole proposed sale document HERE. (The document is huge, but you can just read the Executive Summary to get the gist of it.) The land for the proposed sale is off Rosie Creek Trail road. You can see a map of it HERE.
Conflict with Rosie Creek Area Trails
Locals are concerned that a housing development in that area will have several negative consequences including the loss of trails. Several well-used trails cross the proposed land sale area. Some are year-round trails, some are mainly winter trails. These are motorized, multi-use trails. People from all around the Fairbanks area use these trails, especially in winter for snowmachining, skiing, fatbiking, and walking. The Beaver Pond trail and trailhead are a popular access point for these trails. You can see a map of the proposed land sale and the main trails that cross it HERE.
A local trail advocate has put together a list of bullet points people can use when commenting. You can see that list HERE.
Wetlands
Something particularly interesting about this proposed sale is that the land is almost entirely on lands designated by the U.S. Government as wetlands on its National Wetlands Inventory. (See a screenshot of the relevant area HERE.) Wetlands are not good places to build houses. However, they are often a great place for trails, especially winter trails. That’s definitely the case here.
I have since learned some of the reason for why this is happening. It goes like this:
- The governor’s office wants to get land to AHFC for affordable housing and asks the local DNR-Lands offices to come up with a list.
- The local DNR-Lands offices know if the state has suitable land for the purpose, but sometimes the land available isn’t suitable. (In this case, any state land available for that purpose near Fairbanks is not close to the urban area or is in an area poorly suited for building, such as wetlands.)
- The local DNR-Lands offices have learned that if they point out that any land they have is unsuitable, they get accused of being bureaucratic obstructionists.
- The local DNR-Lands offices offer what land they do have available, even if it is unsuitable. Then they hope that locals will point out the problems
So, that’s why it is so important to comment!
News-Miner Story
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has a good STORY on the proposed land sale. Unfortunately, many people don’t subscribe to the paper. (Everyone should. Independent journalism is vital to a healthy community. Subscribe HERE.) I will provide a few limited details from the Department of Natural Resources and the AHFC, as these are important for people to know.
From the story:
DNR and AHFC said the process is more nuanced than simply selecting the land and slapping together housing units.
“The first step is to see whether this is something that can even be done,” Delfino said. If DNR says it’s viable, AHFC will budget for site visits, stakeholder engagement and assessments.
Barnes said there’s a laundry list of steps that need to be done.
“A tour still needs to occur and so does a whole host of other things,” Barnes said. “There’s the stakeholder engagement and working directly with the local communities of what future development might look like, should this process even be successful.”
Delfino said public outreach includes determining what type of development the surrounding community would support.
He added that the term “affordability” has created some concerns, including misinterpretation about income-restricted units. He said the term applies to Alaskans in general, including new families who are having difficulty finding starter home when the median Alaska home hovers at $415,000 and the current 30-year mortgage interest is over 6%.
The story has far more details. You can read it HERE.
To Comment
Submit comments to Andrew Miller:
- Email: andrew.miller@alaska.gov
- Mail: 550 West 7th Ave, Suite 640, Anchorage, AK 99501
- Fax: (907) 269-8916
If you have questions, call Andrew Miller at (907) 269-8599.
To see my comments click HERE. I had Word use its AI to get me started using the previously mentioned bullet points. Then I spent time editing the document and making sure it sounded like me. That worked pretty well. AI has its uses. You definitely need to check it, though. Some of the stuff it came up with was screwy.
