Fairbanks planning staff outline code-enforcement push, cite court-ordered junkyard cleanup and tipping-fee incentives

Community Planning staff on Oct. 14 briefed the Fairbanks North Star Borough Planning Commission on an expanded code enforcement program, including recent high-profile cleanups, an incentive-based tipping-fee waiver, and plans for a volunteer cleanup effort.

Kellen Spellman, a member of Community Planning staff, said the number of open code-enforcement cases rose markedly after the assembly removed limits on who could file complaints in 2016 and later asked the department to step up enforcement. "Our main goal is voluntary compliance," Spellman said, adding that the department now has three staff—two officers and a technician—after decades staffed by a single officer.

The presentation showed roughly 540 active cases at the program—s recent peak and described the three most common case types: junkyards not permitted in their zoning (about 22%); permitted junkyards failing to meet standards (about 23%); and right-of-way encroachments such as vehicles or structures obstructing public ways (about 18%). Spellman said the department prioritizes cases that pose "imminent, significant threat[s] to public health, safety, and welfare" and that many lower-priority complaints may wait more than a year for investigation owing to volume.

Staff highlighted several ongoing initiatives. The Code Enforcement Cleanup Fund, funded annually with assembly appropriations (staff said roughly $40,000 a year), supports contractor work and towing programs that have removed between about 25 and 80 abandoned vehicles in past years. Spellman also described a tipping-fee waiver program the assembly adopted and codified: eligible property owners with a cleanup plan and owner permission can receive partial waivers of landfill tipping fees to encourage voluntary cleanup. "Since then, we've had a lot of success stories," Spellman said, noting the borough processed about 12 waivers this year, including several for City of Fairbanks properties.

Staff reviewed a large, long-running junkyard case that began in 2017 and escalated through six citations and failed compliance plans before the borough filed suit. "Voluntary compliance was not achieved on this one," Spellman said. After a court judgment and an injunction in the borough—s favor in 2024, the borough contracted cleanup work that removed about 169 tons of material using 27 40-yard roll-off dumpsters over roughly two weeks; Spellman estimated the cleanup cost just over $40,000 but said the final total was still being finalized. The borough plans to record a judgment and seek cost recovery, and legal counsel Rocky Esposito described post-judgment options including recording a lien in the land records or pursuing garnishment of PFDs or other personal-asset recovery.

Commissioners pressed staff on several operational questions. Commissioner Fisher asked how cleanup costs are recouped; Spellman said the borough would pursue liens and other recovery actions and noted collections can be difficult. Commissioner Rodriguez asked whether the borough—s tipping-fee waivers included City of Fairbanks properties; staff said the 12 waivers this year included three to four city properties and explained the borough administers zoning while the city also has separate blight regulations.

The presentation also touched on conditional-use enforcement. Spellman used a prior biosolids conditional-use permit to illustrate how vague conditions make enforcement difficult and urged that future permits include more specific, measurable limits (for example, maximum lagoon volumes) to make compliance determinations clearer.

On program design, staff said they are exploring a volunteer cleanup program (modeled on neighboring boroughs— efforts) as an intermediate tool between citations and litigation, and are working to refine injunction processes and long-term responses to repeat offenders. "My biggest priority right now... is trying to get a more formalized volunteer cleanup program set up," Spellman said.

Spellman and Brent, one of the borough—s field officers, acknowledged capacity limits: the department is largely complaint-driven and lacks a full building code authority (the borough has limited building-code powers as a second-class borough), so zoning permits and cross-checks of new construction are used to find unpermitted work. Staff reported issuing roughly 20 citations last year and said a typical citation is about $300, with the ability to issue two citations per calendar year per violation.

The commission did not take formal votes at the work session. Staff said next steps include refining program policies, advancing the volunteer cleanup pilot over winter and spring, and pursuing legal and collection efforts on court-ordered cleanups.

The Planning Commission work session was adjourned at 8:22 p.m.