Juneau launches multi‑year update to comprehensive plan, begins scenario‑planning work

The City and Borough of Juneau convened the first advisory‑committee meeting for its comprehensive‑plan update on April 15, 2025, kicking off a roughly 2½–3 year process that staff say will set land‑use and investment guidance for the next two decades.

The meeting introduced the advisory committee, described the project timeline and public‑engagement schedule, and ran a scenario‑planning exercise to surface uncertain “driving forces” — such as housing affordability, tourism growth, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, and transportation constraints — that the plan will test policies against.

Katie Kester, City Manager, urged committee members to treat the plan as an operational guide. “The comprehensive plan really should be the road map for the next 20 years of what we want our community to look like,” Kester said, adding she intends to reference the plan regularly when advising the assembly and making city decisions. Jill Lawhorn, Community Development Director, opened the meeting and introduced the project team.

Consultants described the project scope and public engagement. Sachi Aracawa, a lead consultant on the…