Planning commission endorses Bogard–Selden corridor access management plan after public comment

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission on May 5 approved Resolution 25-07, supporting assembly adoption of the 2025 Bogard–Selden Corridor Access Management Plan (CAMP), a corridor access management vision for the Bogard–Selden corridor between Lehi Highway and Church Road.

Planning Director Alex Straun said the plan, developed with federal funds routed through the State of Alaska and consulting firm HDR, provides a long-term framework to manage access as the corridor develops. Straun said the plan is not a road-design project but a tool to guide future subdivision reviews, development proposals and road projects; it recommends aligning intersections, consolidating access, and in some cases creating frontage or backage roads or closing intersecting access points over time.

Several residents testified at the public hearing. Mason Jordan said a proposed access route would run through his dead-end street, affecting six homes on Burlwood Lane; Jordan said a commercial property owner (identified in the planning record as Sumner Properties) declined to sell land for a preferred frontage-road option and objected to the proposed placement of an access road through private front yards. Resident Renee Blake said she lives on East Serendipity Loop and urged the commission to avoid routing traffic through her neighborhood to reach North Larson Elementary Circle, citing school drop-off congestion, access to recreational fields and safety concerns for 83 homeowners in her area.

An Alaska Department of Transportation representative, Adam Bradway, said DOT supports the CAMP’s intent to minimize access and manage development along the corridor. Bradway said exact locations of frontage and backage roads will be determined during later design phases and that the plan’s recommendations are subject to additional public processes when individual projects move forward.

Straun told the commission that the plan provides multiple routing options in many areas and that when individual segments come up for funding there will be an additional public design process and hearings. He said the borough and state collaborated through the process and that the plan already served as a reference in recent reviews (Straun cited a recently permitted gravel pit as an example where the plan helped analysis).

Commissioner Lynn McCabe moved to advance Resolution 25-07; Commissioner Michael Collins seconded. After a brief opportunity for discussion and without objection, the commission approved the resolution unanimously.