Land Use & Neighborhoods Spectacular, diverse landscape with distinct communities Most of the borough is remote, wild and held in public ownership: 70% of the borough is located within National Park and Preserve. The human footprint in this 12,000 square mile area concentrates in a corridor along the Parks Highway, the home of 1,800 year-round residents in a handful of small settlements: Anderson on the north is linked to the adjoining Clear AFS. At the borough’s southern end is Cantwell, home to the Native Village of Cantwell. In between are three primary settlements: Healy, which started as a coal town; the seasonal park entry lodging and commercial area known as Nenana Canyon, and McKinley Village. These three share connections to the flow of visitors into the Park, but each has its own unique character. Land Uses, Trends and Issues The description of land use in the borough combines many elements that have changed little over the years—mountains, rivers, wildlife. At the same time, other elements have changed greatly and are likely to continue to evolve. Important Wild & Pride & Pleasure in Changing Character Management of Borough- Natural Community Life of Neighborhoods & Owned Lands Landscapes Towns

The borough’s economy, fiscal Survey results make clear people New uses are changing the The borough has received almost 50,000 health, and quality of life builds treasure the small town, friendly character of some locations, acres of land through the state Municipal around access to a wide range of in the borough. Growth can particularly in traditionally Entitlement program. A recently-adopted attractive, untouched wilderness degrade these benefits, or residential areas. Some residents plan and Borough code sets out goals environments. Variations in land alternatively, help sustain them, see these changes as disruptive, and policies for the use of these lands, policies will help determine the for example, through helping to and hope rules might be created to including identifying areas for future future in these valued places. pay for new community facilities. protect neighborhood quality. disposal and for retention in borough ownership for a range of public uses.

Land Use & Neighborhoods Future Issues, Opportunities & Choices Manage Land Use? Two extracts from the Comp. Plan: The existing Borough Comprehensive Plan and the interviews and survey associated with this update highlight a range of land use issues, goals and choices. Highlights are presented “Doing nothing is not an option. below. Failure to act will result in erosion of our regional character, quality of life, and independence. Through planning and involving individuals of the Denali Borough, we can maintain and improve the qualities we like about this region.” “Ensure that the Denali Borough ‘Bill of Rights’ guides land use regulation functions to protect private real Protect Neighborhood Character property rights.” Few borough residents want strict, or even any, rules on use of private land. At One option to bridge the gap between those who the same time, residential neighborhoods have seen some big changes recently, want no growth, and those who want no regulation including new employee housing, motorcoach parking, and commercial activities. or management, is shown below: • Should the borough overall, or individual areas, have policies to reduce off-site impacts of land uses, e.g., setbacks, buffers, or other policies? • Should there be rules separating potentially incompatible land uses, such as No No MANAGED separating industrial uses or gravel pits from adjoining homes? Manage- Growth GROWTH ment Increase Housing Supply Many voices expressed desire for more housing options, for year round residents as well as seasonal employees. How best to respond to this need? Currently all land is zoned unrestricted except the • Improve access to and sell borough-owned land? or land held by the around the landfill which is zoned industrial. Any plan Mental Health Trust, the Alaska Railroad, the State of Alaska? for more land use rules needs to be realistic about • Work to find neighborhood-compatible locations for seasonal workers? the capacity of the borough to enforce them. • Create incentives to bring more existing private land onto the market. Improved access is one option; another more controversial option would be to “The #1 a property tax, giving owners a motivation to no “sit on” land indefinitely. activity of visitors Environment, Economy & Quality of Life throughout Land use policies can have big impacts on all these topics. Options to discuss: the world (including Alaska) • Strategies to guide growth and improve appearance & walkability of some is shopping, dining areas, like the Park entrance? Create a Healy town center? The picture at right and entertainment is a concept from a previous plan. in a pedestrian • Strategies to improve recreational opportunities for residents and visitors? friendly setting.” Example: a trails plan, more “front-country” recreation on public lands? - US Travel Assoc. • Strategies to protect views along the Parks Highway? to protect natural

landscapes (e.g., setbacks from streams, rules on off trail vehicles)?

Transportation, Access & Safety Transportation options, or modes, provide mobility (getting from one place to another) and access to How do people get around? important destinations. There are many modes of transportation in the Denali Borough, from freight trucks on the Parks Highway to shuttle buses to recreational trails. A 2015 survey conducted by the Healy Transportation and Pedestrian Safety Current Transportation Modes & Infrastructure Ad-hoc Committee found that residents Road System Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety travel around in different ways: • : Main • Informal multi-use trails developed 97% car, truck or van corridor through the borough, along existing rights of way on connecting all communities with Parks Highway and major roads 78% walk or jog Fairbanks, Mat-Su and Anchorage. • Safety concerns along busy Parks 55% bicycle • Denali Highway: Mainly unpaved, highway and Healy intersections connects Cantwell and Paxson • Multi-use path, signal intersection 43% ATV & 4-wheeler • Most major roads are state owned recently built along Parks Hwy. at and maintained Nenana Canyon Busy Parks Highway Corridor Alaska Railroad Denali Park Road The Parks Highway serves 1,000 to • Connects the borough to the • 92 mi from Park entrance to 3,000 vehicles daily, with the highest Railbelt at the Park (passengers) Kantishna mining district concentration around the Park entrance and Usibelli Coal Mine (freight) • Buses operated by Doyon/Aramark and Healy Spur/Hilltop Rd. intersection. • 1 in 5 visitors to Denali Park Joint Venture or private lodges, Average vehicles per day (2015) arrive by train (95,906 in 2015) primarily within the park Road Vehicles/Day • Coal transported to Fairbanks, or in • Vehicle access limited past Mile 15 Parks Hwy., north of Park 2,600 the past south to Seward for export. (Savage River) except with permit Parks Hwy., south of Park 2,000 Parks Hwy., Healy area 1,800 Aviation Motorized Uses Healy Spur Rd. 1,000 • 6 main airports, including facilities • Many people use ATVs and Healy School Rd. 830 at Clear and within the Park snowmachines to travel in the Otto Lake Rd. 560 • 3 main airstrips, and numerous borough or access remote lands Clear Rd. 480 smaller airstrips or helipads • Informal trails within right of way Hilltop Rd. 330 • Primarily uses: tourism (flight- along Parks Hwy. and main roads seeing, transport to remote • Motorized use is restricted within Nenana Canyon intersection, Parks Highway areas), private & recreation use, the Park and on some public lands remote emergency & fire services • Some conflicts with other users Road Maintenance & Construction Recreational Trails • Borough has no road powers • Many informal trails, no formal • Highways and major roads in the network established or maintained borough maintained by Alaska • Park trails maintained by NPS DOT&PF year-round • RS 2477 corridors preserve public • Other roads and subdivisions access, with others pending maintained privately by residents • Some trespass issues; Ahtna allows trail use with a permit

Transportation, Access & Safety Existing Plans Where Do We Want to Go? Healy Transportation and Pedestrian Safety Plan Issues & Opportunities • Developed by the Healy Transportation and Pedestrian Safety Ad-hoc Committee • Approved by the Borough Assembly in August 2016 • Focused on Healy (Parks Hwy mi 247 to 251.2, Healy Spur, Otto Lake, Hilltop, Stampede/Lignite) Overall Goal: Prevent vehicle-pedestrian related accidents and conflicts in a growing community. Goal 1: Infrastructure. Establish safe traffic and pedestrian routes within the community of Healy. Goal 2: Education. Promote a culture of safety Land Access Bike & Pedestrian Safety and mutual respect between motorized What are the priorities? What options to address and non-motorized user groups. • Improved access for future growing pedestrian traffic? Strategies to promote safety: sales of Borough land for • Multi-use trails on roads • Multi-use paths, turn lanes, wider shoulders on DOT roads residential uses? • Improvements at key • Speed limit and pedestrian crossing signage • Access to areas adjoining intersections (with DOT) • • Trails or safe crossings for students at Tri-Valley School existing development (e.g., Planned developments to Montana Creek area? create attractive, practical, • Access to remote lands safe walkable places Denali Park Transportation & Trails Planning Road Maintenance Trails Planning Vehicle Management Plan State funding likely to decline • Document formal and • Adopted 2012 • Should the Borough explore informal trail network • Slower growth of vehicles allowed within the Park over the options to adopt road • Set priorities & processes next two decades powers for local needs? for preserving high value • Shift future recreation demand from Park Road to “front • Should residents/land public trails country” activities at Park entrance and accessible areas owners have the option for • Public private partnerships • Respond to increasing shoulder-season/winter demand Road Service Areas, where for maintenance, events, Trails Strategy & Long Range Transportation Plan there is local support? education, signage • Planning in progress, summer 2017 Park Traffic Scenic Character • Possible trail routes along Parks Highway, additional access • Support more front country Given the importance of points to the Park from the north or south, connecting development, activities tourism, what actions to existing Oxbow & Triple Lakes trails • Connect trails within and maintain visual quality of the • Possible future shuttle system for improved access into the outside the park Parks Hwy corridor? Park or travel between destinations within the Park • Promote shuttle, circulation • Sign ordinance? • Develop or expand partnerships to improve visitor plan, better access to most • Keep vegetation as buffers? amenities and services within and around the Park popular destinations • Restrict development?

Healthy Local Economy & Borough Fiscal Health Economy Overview: Diverse and Highly Seasonal • A robust economy, based on tourism, coal, federal spending • A highly seasonal economy; swinging from Alaska’s lowest to its highest unemployment. • Access to spectacular natural landscapes – mostly undeveloped, mostly publicly owned – support the lion’s share of the borough economy

Tourism & Recreation

Denali Borough’s largest economic sector Denali N.P. More visitors to Alaska: 1,857,500 summer visitors in 2016,; the state’s biggest year Annual ever. Alaska continues to be a popular destination: “Alaska is exotic, but safe and Visitation, accessible.” 2000 - 2016

More visitors to Denali National Park: Growing from 375,000 in 2000, to almost 600,000 in 2016. Tourism businesses have been consistently adding capacity in recent years, or about 1 new hotel per year. Locally-based spending: Denali National Park visitors spend $600 million annually, Top 5 the 4th highest in the U.S., which supports about 2,500 local, mostly summer jobs. National Expanding Visitor Season: Visits to Denali outside summer are growing, from nearly Parks by zero 20 years ago to about 1500/month in the heart of winter in recent years. Visitor Quality of Life: Access to wild lands is a major reason people live in the borough. Spending

Federal, State & Local Coal, Electricity, Local Support Fiscal Overview Goverment LNG Pipeline? Services Bed tax pays the bills National Park: about 300 Coal: Usibelli coal provides Local commercial services are • In 2016, $3.5 million collected in bed employees, most are seasonal about 120 good paying, year- limited; most needs are met tax, about 2/3 of all borough revenue. round jobs. through shopping in Fairbanks School District: about 100 jobs or Anchorage, or online. • Denali Borough is a lean operation: GVEA: Operation of Golden Clear AFB: about 400 jobs, services offered are schools, solid waste, Valley Electric’s plant adds an Existing local services include: permanent and contract employees. land planning, and general additional 40 jobs (60 when post office, restaurants and Large upgrade project may bring administration. operating at peak). gas stations operating year- additional large, short influx of on- round, bank, itinerant medical • School district funding makes up about base construction jobs Alaska LNG Project: a major care, and some construction. 2/3 of borough expenditures potential project through the Denali Borough 9 full-time jobs, 1 borough. If and when this would The Healy medical clinic will be Other revenue and expenditures: mining part time, 1 seasonal • happen is uncertain at this time. closing, uncertain if or when it severance tax, fees and costs associated will re-open at this time. with solid waste service

Healthy Local Economy & Borough Fiscal Health Future Issues, Opportunities & Choices A Less-than-Clear Crystal Ball: External Forces

Stable Economy? By Alaska standards, the Borough economy is stable and diverse. But coal, tourism, and government spending follow national & global trends. State and Federal Spending What future at Clear AFB, with Park Service budgets, and with State support to borough schools and roads? LNG Pipeline Wildcard The proposed natural gas pipeline would pass through the Borough, creating jobs Tourism Attractions & Spending and potentially substantial property tax. The Park Service aims to slow growth of in-park vehicles, and to guide Climate Change Alaska’s climate is warming twice as anticipated recreation and tourism demand to “front country” locations and non- fast as global averages. What will this mean for issues summer seasons, and to rely on more on local private sector partners. from tourism to road maintenance costs? • How will this policy affect overall visitation (and bed tax revenues)? • What new, local economic opportunities may become available? • Could Healy and/or Park Entrance become year-round town centers for To Grow or Not to Grow? tourists (and residents)? Tough Choices Coal, Gas & Energy “Today, it’s tough to offer a 3-generation Usibelli Coal Mine currently serves the Alaska market. The future could bring economy: parents, children and grandchildren renewed exports, and/or growing pressures to reduce carbon-based fuel usage. can make a good living in the same place.” The survey results, while not statistically valid, showed Government Spending & Impacts on Borough diverse opinions among residents, but overall a real • About 79% of Denali Borough School District funding ($8.3 million) comes reluctance or opposition to growth. from state and federal sources. Alaska’s budget problems mean local At the same time, there was support for benefits that residents may need to pay for a larger share of local public services. How to come with growth: new facilities, capacity to define respond to reduced state spending on schools, roads, police, other services? and maintain neighborhood character, and expanded • $700 million is being invested at Clear AFS. Much of the technical work is economic opportunities. Some questions to consider: being done out of state, and producing few locally-based jobs and other • Is it realistic to stop growth? economic benefits. Could this change in the future? • Could tourism evolve toward all-season activities, bringing more year-round jobs? Would that be a Local Services & Facilities: Public and Private Sector net positive for the borough? The borough’s population is small and aging. School enrollment is flat or • If growth is guided in a way that matches the declining, and local schools have significant unused capacity. community’s values, can a growing economy and

• How will these demographic trends affect the borough’s economic health? growing population be a good thing long term? • Are there arguments for growth in the right locations, in the right style, as a way to sustain or improve desired local facilities and services? Examples “These days, no place stays special by from the survey: a recreation center, trails & roads, medical clinic. What accident.” - Planner Ed McMahon, presentation to about expanding services and shops serving local residents? the Borough, 1998