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Board waives petition and approves East Van Horn Road name change and variance
Summary
The planning board on March 19 approved a variance and a formal road naming to change a section of Van Horn Road to East Van Horn Road after emergency operations and the City of Fairbanks engineering and fire officials supported the change to reduce addressing confusion.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Planning Board approved both a variance (BR006-25/VR006) and a public road naming request (NR002-25) on March 19 to rename the portion of Van Horn Road lying between South Cushman Street extension and Easy Street as East Van Horn Road. Both votes were 5-0.
Staff and emergency operations said 10 of the 12 addresses on the segment already used the East Van Horn Road designation informally. Because adding a directional does not always avoid a duplicate name per borough code, the board considered a variance to allow the east directional to be appended. Borough emergency operations recommended waiving the usual 75% petition signature requirement (FNSBC Title 17) in the interest of public safety; the City of Fairbanks fire chief and the borough engineering department supported the name change.
Staff findings and justification
Zach Lee, planning officer and staff contact, described an irregular addressing pattern that emergency operations determined could delay emergency response. Staff focused on the variance criterion that the petition requirement is impractical or unnecessary due to the specific circumstances and recommended approval. The package showed that 10 of 12 addresses already used East Van Horn Road; denial would have required changing those addresses back to Van Horn Road and would have disrupted businesses and deliveries.
Board action
The board first approved the variance (BR006-25) to allow the east directional, moved by Mr. Brooks and seconded by Ms. Peterson, and then approved the naming request NR002-25, moved by Ms. Peterson and seconded by Mr. Brooks. Roll-call tallies for both were 5-0 (Pitney, Perkins, Peterson, Brooks, Williams). Staff noted the naming decision may be appealed to the Board of Adjustment within seven days of the decision.
Ending
Staff indicated the renaming preserves most current addresses and reduces the risk of misdirected emergency responses; the board voted to implement the change and to waive the petition requirement given emergency operations’ recommendation.
