Fairbanks North Star Trails Advisory Commission unanimously recommends zoning changes to ease trailhead development

The Trails Advisory Commission unanimously voted April 28 to recommend that the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly consider Ordinance 2025‑06, an amendment to Title 18 intended to make the creation of organized trail facilities and trailheads more permissible across the borough's zoning code.

Staff said the update responds to a gap in the existing code that made it difficult for private nonprofits or the borough to site trailhead facilities without lengthy rezoning or conditional‑use procedures. "This is gonna make it much easier," Kellen Spielman, director of community planning, told the commission during the staff presentation, explaining staff pulled zoning examples from elsewhere to craft a locally appropriate approach.

Katie Whiteside, the borough's long‑range planner, outlined the ordinance's key pieces: it establishes a definition for “organized trail facility,” allows trailhead facilities in additional zoning districts (especially in rural and suburban areas) and adds clarifying code language and site‑specific flexibility. "As locations for potential trailheads were developed within the planning document, it'll help facilitate the development of those trailheads in the future," Whiteside said.

The ordinance would continue to allow planning commission oversight in residential neighborhoods through the conditional‑use process, giving the commission the ability to add site‑specific conditions — for example, gates, bollards or operating hours — to reduce impacts on adjacent properties. Staff pointed to a recent Interior Alaska Land Trust trailhead that was required to install a gate as an example of conditional‑use conditions intended to reduce neighborhood impacts.

Commissioners questioned how maintenance, liability and long‑term stewardship would work if trailheads are on private land. Andrea Jacobs, trail coordinator, said liability depends on ownership and the nature of the improvement and noted Alaska law gives some protections for owners of unimproved land. Spielman and Whiteside said the conditional‑use process and code enforcement provide tools to require maintenance plans and place conditions on approvals.

Mayor Grier Hopkins, one of the ordinance sponsors, told the commission he supported lowering barriers for property owners and nonprofits to create trail access: "Making sure we lowered the bar for property owners to be able to start a trailhead as they want…is really important," he said.

After public comment and commissioner discussion, a motion to recommend adoption of Ordinance 2025‑06 was moved and seconded. The clerk called a roll‑call vote; the motion carried 7–0.

The commission's recommendation advances the ordinance to the planning commission for review and then to the borough assembly; staff and sponsors said additional details about liability, long‑term maintenance and specific permitting conditions will be refined in those subsequent steps.