Juneau’s Planning Commission recommended a portion of Honsinger Pond, a popular spot for waterfowl on the Mendenhall wetlands known locally as the “Field of Fireweed,” for industrial use on Tuesday.
Landowner Bicknell Inc. introduced the proposal, which seeks to rezone 23 acres of the 83-acre parcel from Rural Reserve to Industrial designation, allowing Bicknell Inc. — pending Assembly approval — to develop that portion of the land for industrial purposes. Bicknell Inc., a local construction company, is owned by local Spike Bicknell.
The recommendation from the Planning Commission, which passed 6-1, represents the clearing of a major hurdle in the push to develop the land. Two commission members were absent.
Bicknell Inc. tried in 2013 and 2015 to rezone the parcel for a mix of uses, both times being turned down due to public outcry and a lack of Planning Commission support. The Assembly last voted 5-4 to deny Bicknell’s rezoning hopes, but the 2015 proposal didn’t have Commission support.
With the Commission’s recommendation, the Assembly can be assured that the proposal conforms to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, meaning Bicknell Inc. will have a stronger case when the proposal next makes it to the Assembly agenda.
The Honsinger Pond parcel lies adjacent to Egan Drive south of the Juneau International Airport. Its location next to cherished, fireweed-filled wetlands has made it a point of contention with locals.
In past public meetings addressing the “Field of Fireweed,” local stakeholders packed the Assembly chambers.
Tuesday’s meeting — met by a few sleepy-eyed Assembly members fresh off a marathon Monday-night session — was sparsely attended. The few citizens speaking on the proposal didn’t address the issue on regulatory grounds but approached it from a common sense perspective.
“To drive by there and see that expanse, I think for every Juneauite it’s an uplifting experience,” Susan Erben said in testifying against the proposal. “I don’t know if they thought about this when they wrote the Comprehensive Plan, but it’s more of a well-being thing for living in Juneau.”
If the Assembly approves Bicknell’s proposal, the landowner still has several regulatory hurdles to clear. For one, he’ll have to find a way to access the plot, which currently has no public road. Bicknell would have to work out an agreement with the airport, which may require Bicknell to reimburse the Federal Aviation Administration for use of FAA-regulated access roads.
Additionally, Bicknell Inc. or any subsequent partners or land buyers would have to go back to the Planning Commission to approve many purposes allowed under the Industrial designation. CBJ Senior Planner Teri Camery, the city staff member responsible for reviewing the proposal, made it clear that the rezoning would not provide Bicknell carte-blanche to develop the land.
“Any uses that are proposed in the future will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis,” Camery said in her remarks to the Commission. Camery’s 112-page review of the Bicknell’s proposal concluded that the rezoning was appropriate under city guidelines.
Bicknell lawyer Daniel G. Bruce said his client has no immediate plans for the land, saying Bicknell needs to rezone before he can consider his options.
“That’s the way real estate development typically goes. You don’t know what the end user is going to want, are they going to want a three-story office building or a mechanic’s garage, you don’t know,” he said in a Wednesday phone interview.
Bruce did say that his client has been approached with a proposal to build a motocross park on the site. That would require additional permitting by the city.
The Honsinger Pond property was first developed in the 1960s as a borrow pit to support the construction of Egan Drive. Since owners have already undertaken gravel extraction on the site — creating the pond in the process — Camery said the city’s plan to rezone the parcel to Resource Development in the future wouldn’t be appropriate: that designation is reserved for lands whose resources haven’t yet been extracted.
Instead, she concluded that Bicknell’s proposal would be more in line with city regulations. When resource extraction has already taken place, Camery said, city regs require properties to be rezoned for other purposes.
Additionally, the proposal is backed by the city’s economic directives to find more industrial land, which is in short supply around town.
The plot is an outlier in zoning terms: it’s one of the few pieces of land slated for Resource Development which lies within Juneau’s Urban Service Area. Most lands the Comprehensive Plan has slated for RD zoning lie outside urban areas.
The Juneau International Airport has issued statements against the proposal, calling it “premature,” because of a lack of FAA assessment and the property’s proximity to a new airport lighting system. The airport did not say that the property cannot be developed, per FAA regs, but that the proposal would need “further assessment by FAA and air carriers and may have limitations.”
• Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com
Michael Penn | Juneau Empire The field between Egan Drive and the Juneau International Airport, owned by the construction company Bicknell, Inc., after it was bulldozed May 2016. The Assembly backed the Planning Commission’s decision last summer not to rezone the famed “Field of Fireweed” per Bicknell Inc.’s request.
